Yes this new garden is probably going to be the smallest and most slapdash garden I have ever started out with. It couldn't be helped, it was this way or no garden for spring. I knew I could never survive winter without some hope of a garden! The lasagna style garden formation has worked out quite well over the years for me. This time however it was a formidable prospect. Our property was abandoned for several years so the grass was waist high when we purchased it. My husband knocked down the grass then mowed it quite short. I sprayed the area twice with roundup (which I wouldn't normally use) and then I planted a bunch of roses, 7 varieties of species lillies, dozens of bulbs, some hosta, catnip and a few reliable perennials, willy nilly. I was fairly certain I could have heavy losses from frost heaves but it was the best I could do that late in the year. Happily, I located the garden in a spot where the snow naturally drifts and collects all winter so it looks like I only lost one plant. The tulips and daffs are blooming beautifully and cheer me immensly! I have stacks of newspaper I scrounged for and saved all winter waiting to be put to use. My DD brought me a dozen bags of mulch for Mothers day too. I am waiting for the soil to warm up more so that I can lay the newspaper down and cover it neatly with mulch. Because I didn't get a vegie garden area going last fall either I am going to plant vegies in the flower bed. Lots of empty space for them there while the perennials take their first year of "sleep". Instead of towering spires of delphiniums and alce it will be heirloom tomatoes and bean pole towers. It will be cool I think! Right now though I am glad that I live in a rural area because this years spring chaos mess would never fly with in town neighbors. We have 5 acres we are cleaning up and clearing brush on here. We are also clearing out the area we want our new home to be built on (and building it ourselves!). I suspect no matter how hard my husband and I work this summer that we will never be caught up and untidyness will rule!

I find it interesting that JoAnn's refers to their more expensive fabrics as "quilt shop quality." Guess they are admitting that their other calicoes aren't as good. That said, though, all of my early quilts were made with JoAnn's $2.99-$4.99 fabrics - either on sale or with coupons - and even the triple Irish chain DS#1 has on a bed the dog takes over when he's at work is still looking good after almost 10 years of use. My theory on JoAnn's more expensive quilting fabric is that they don't expect anyone to pay that price, but are still making a nice profit when it is purchased with a 40% off coupon! I splurge at my LQS ($7.95-$8.95) when I take a class there, and I bought all of the fabric for DS#2's wedding quilt there. They were great about helping me with the colors and have been supportive throughout my making of it. (Pictures in another week or two!) I scout the internet too, thanks to all of the tips I've read here. I recently bought wide backing fabric from Eleanor Burns for $7 a yard. To really make it worth my while, I bought 5 yards of 3 different fabrics I was sure I could use. That brought my order up to $105 so I qualified for free shipping.

Thank you so much! I took a look at other pics, and I think that you are right! I live in Northern Iowa, and it appears that he may be a bit out his normal range. What a treat! I will have to see what he likes to eat, to help him stick around. He does seem to like the grape jelly I have out for the orioles. Thanks again! MonaRae

Lacey...that's an interesting observation. Because plain-old soulangeana and stellata, at the very least, seem to be totally standard landscape material anywhere along the I-95 corridor, as far as I can tell. Probably one of the top 5 flowering trees in SE PA/CB/Balto/DC area gardens if considered as a genus. I second hairmetal's listing of Abies that will grow here. My Abies firmas are loving the wet year and one of them, I am not kidding, looks like it will easily put on 4' of growth this year. Yet they have not been particularly bothered by the years with bad dry spells in summer (2010, 2011, and 2012) coping with bone dry soil only a year after they were planted in 2009. Yes, I have a high water table and moisture-retentive soil and no, I'm not saying everyone in the high plains and desert southwest should start planting Abies firma! But they are not as fussy as might be expected. And as for other species, though I don't want to see an Abies pindrow planted at every gas station, they are very exotic looking to my eyes at least and would certainly excite more collectors of the rare and uncommon if only they knew about it. (The big 15 footer at the old Dilworth Nursery stood out in a whole field of exotic conifers like a glistening, plastic seeming subtropical outsider. Wow...if I'd known the nursery was going to be destroyed, I would have paid a pretty penny to move that onto my property. I sure hope it didn't end up as mulch but I have a bad feeling it did.) And though I doubt it's quite as hardy as Abies firma, it's proving to be similarly easy to grow. Mine were perfectly fine after these winters but I wonder how the one growing at the Arnold Arboretum fared. As an added benefit it is fragrant while Abies firma is not. Other promsing Asian firs include A. delavayi. Could be too soon to say for sure but my own-root ones seem to be doing well in these recent wet, muggy summers. Spruceman's big grafted one in his dry, windswept upper Shenandoah valley garden was a little stressed out appearing, but the overall look of the plant was noteworthy: somehow *very* alpine looking. Even more so than certain Abies koreanas I've seen in Midatlantic area gardens. Probably looking like what a straight species A. lasiocarpa might look like. A species which is ungrowable for most of south of the Great Lakes and New England.