I have been looking everywhere for Mother of Thyme seeds [the reddish 6" tall thyme], went to high ends nurseries to not avail...but with all the names you threw in that Re:...I may find it. By the way did any of You have Mother of Thyme in zone 7b? I have been very pleased with wildseeds farm in Frederisburg Tx, fast shipping, reasonable prices.

Brad, Luckily I keep a journal of all my daylilies or else I wouldn't remember where I purchase my plants since I have ordered from just about everywhere...lol. I am at about 500 now so nothing is best left to memory! To answer your question: Cat Dancer was purchased in 2011 from Earlybird (Robin Calderon). I know she was selling off most of her plants because of years of drought and now her website shows only a few plants left for sale. She was a very generous seller and her prices were extremely reasonable so it's too bad if she is no longer in business. BUT, I can tell you that Sara Knackstedt of Daylilies by the Pond sells Cat Dancer for only $5 and I have bought from her before and was pleased. She has a website and her prices are really low. You can still order til the last week of this month. Northwind Dancer came from Maryott's in 2011. I do not see it listed any longer on their website. Bombay Silk came from Harmon Hill Farm here in New Hampshire. Carl does do mail-order business but it was not on his 2014 sale listing. He may have it next year if he has enough so you could check his website then. I can attest that Carl sells amazing plants. Another option is Solaris Farms. They have Bombay Silk on their website for $14 although ordering is closed for the year. You could check in January when the new listing is out because they also have Cat Dancer and Northwind Dancer (which were sold out for 2014). Their prices are good. I have ordered from them and their plants are doing great in my garden because they are grown in a cold climate with no pampering. I even have several of their (Nate Bremer) introductions and the best one is Windy Place which I will be featuring it in a post soon because it is still blooming! It began blooming July 7th and is still going like the energizer bunny (sent up instant rebloom). I'm afraid that you probably won't be able to get any of Spirit of the Dove. It came from a very nice lady named Christine Weitz of Gladsome Gardens and it's her own intro. She still has a website up the last time I looked but is no longer doing mail-order business so she can concentrate on hybridizing. (And Liberty Banner, Walk in the Clouds, etc. also came from her since I have many of her intros.). Sorry. Hope this helps! Celeste

Here's my experience for what it is worth. Plants and pods are not going to grow any more at these temps. Because I only eat hot peppers that are ripe, I've got three choices with my peppers and tomatoes: 1) Pick the fruit and place on a paper plate inside. Some will ripen. I toss the rest. 2) Cut the entire plant off at ground level, and hang upside down in the garage. For some reason it seems more will ripen if left attached to the plant. 3) Leave the plant in the garden, and continue to harvest pods as they ripen up until an actual frost, which will render the remaining pods mushy and useless. I usually tempt Mother Nature by doing #3 right up 'til the day of frost warnings, then do as much of #1 or #2 as time permits. Since I'm retired, I can usually get away with this. After the first frost hits, I pull up all of the remaining plants and dispose of them to minimize disease the following year. Composting garden plants has proven very risky in my experience. I don't reuse the soil from containerized plants for the same reason. If you want to build up the humus, plant a cover crop such as winter rye, which you can till under in the Spring, but don't leave the old pepper, tomato or squash plants. Hope this is helpful - Rick

I am taking a moment to send out blessings/positive thoughts to all of your children and grandchildren for their health! 2011 was overall a good year. Any year in which we had no major illness or deaths is a good one. In the winter, my husband finally got a permanent job after a year of contract work. I rarely see him now because it's so demanding, but hey, we have insurance. (Ours was about to end.) In the spring, I found out I was expecting a 5th baby, who was born healthy this December. I made it through my work and got assigned to a special project and got a slightly better contract, so the recognition was nice. I am no longer speaking to my sister-- it's been about 6 months. With the help of this forum, I am able to accept it for the most part and remove myself from the situation. It's been a strange blessing. My oldest DD went back to school this fall after 3 years of homeschooling. She finally loves school and I feel settled about the whole thing. While this has been a hard year on me physically and mentally in many ways, it's been for reasons that are ultimately very good ones, so I am thankful. The only very sad thing was the loss of my friend's dad. In many ways, he was like an uncle to me. He lived a very good life-- and by that, I mean he was a very honorable and kind person-- I am so sad for my friend and her mom. The thought of a new year scares me-- will I be able to report good health next year? I am raising my glass of eggnog to all-- here's to a great 2012!