nmgirl - they had the Lynn Olsen book OK, but it was going to be coming from Amazon America anyway, plus it was going to cost £74.48 plus P&P, instead of $30 plus P&P. The two books I ordered from Amazon America came to $56.46 inc. P&P. That's an almighty difference. I'm not going to buy from Amazon UK in the future without checking on Amazon America first. £74.48 = Â107.44 (plus P&P on top) for just one book from Amazon UK $56.46 = Â46.40 (inc. P&P) for two books from Amazon America

Hi Dusty, In addition to the other book I posted here, I also have Rock Gardens & Alpine Plants by David Joyce, 1985. It only cost $6.95 but it is a good book nonetheless. It takes you from the construction of a rock garden, to selection of plants, propagation of plants, to how to deal with pests and upkeep of the garden (winterizing, etc.) The reason I bought the book though was because of all the lovely pictures (many) of plants I can never hope to grow in Zone9. Even so, I have a few hens and chicks melting in my back yard at this moment. We not only have extreme heat but we also have extreme humidity! Incidently, I would like to thank you for posting the info about blocked email addresses on your member page. I have been trying to figure out what to do about it and have been searching all over info at the My Yahoo mail site. Now I know I need to change some options on my member page at Gardenweb. THANKS! Barb

My opinion? That he's right. That nature doesn't care where she scatters her seeds - we are the ones who care whether a trillium or an English ivy takes root in our soil. Our feelings of beauty and of wonder about native habitats are chosen out of an asthetic appreciation of unusual forms of nature. It is, it seems, a very similar feeling to that which made the old Brits collect seeds from very far away - native plants have become exotic to us. Another point in this discussion: In the most recent Fine Gardening, there was a short article about the difference between "aggressive" and "invasive" - the idea being that bamboo is a pest when you can't get it out of your yard, but it won't colonize a local nature preserve like gooseneck loosestrife will. You sound like you're battling aggressive and invasive plants, and I applaud you for it. But when we battle the reaching grasp of the wilderness, we're doing what every human civilization does - trying to clear a little plot of land for growing what we love.

Yachter, you could buy a board at Lowe's and have them cut it into "blocks" for her if that's what she wanted to make. However, I would imagine she would be more interested in creating banners for her room, signs on cardboard for her door at home like "no boys allowed" or like Jeanne suggested she could make cards for friends or scrapbooks for her pictures. There are tons of ideas out there, I've seen those $1 wooden frames from Michael's decorated with scrapbook paper and then some words. I just did three square glass bowls for Halloween, I'll have to get a picture taken of them to show you. Another fun thing is to personalize water bottles, book bags, and note books. These are not inexpensive however because you have to buy the cartridges for the letters and shapes and those usually run around $30 on sale. Once in awhile you can find some for less. Luvs