Debbie, it's a good thing you lost 2 feet of snow because i heard a rumour that you might get another one tonight! LOL Typical March, eh? We haven't lost a lot of snow. It was really mild but we didn't get much rain. Icy out there now. And chilly. We've been spoiled this winter - it isn't even that bad out there but it seems really cold! I had my amaryllis in a dark area under some shelves. Maybe not dark enough. I'll try the paper bag thing next year. I did have the geraniums potted up for about three weeks and no sign of life. I just uprooted them all to use the soil for the three wave petunias that overwintered. I transplanted them into hanging baskets yesterday, and also did several more winter sowing containers. Anyway, i think next year, i'll just keep as many geraniums as i can inside. I've done that before. This one woman in the Seniors Apartments has a lovely one blooming in the stairwell. I'm so jealous! My impatiens should be ready to transplant in a couple of weeks. The petunias are still pretty small, and my pansies have really sporadic germination. There are a few things that were planted two weeks ago that still haven't germinated. Thankfully, quite a few of the Easy Wave Blue petunias germinated. The seeds seemed like they were crushed. This week, i'm going to do some more, and the little grandguy is going to come over to plant daisies for his mom. I'm also going to let him plant some marigolds and bachelor buttons because they'll grow a lot faster than daisies. I bought a small square tray with peat pellets in it for him today. Walmart doesn't have any of its bulbs out yet. People out west are snapping them up like crazy from places like Costco and Home Depot. We don't have those around here. We never got to Canadian Tire today, but maybe we'll try to get there later this week. I'd like to get some more begonias and get them started. I overwintered the ones i had right in their pots, just put the whole thing in the cool corner of the garage where we keep vegetables. I just brought them in, so hopefully THEY won't let me down! :) Well, that's about it for now. I'm off to surf a bit and then off to bed. Nighty night! Marcia

Hi everyone, The weather here has been up and down, it's crazy! Yesterday I was wearing my light winter coat in the garden today I was out there in the warm rain. I was going to weed, no bugs when it rains and the weeds come out easier, but then the lightening and thunder started. I am having trouble gardening this year. I can see better now but my arthritis is in my hips, back, legs, everywhere that is hurts to bend over. Going to see the doctor and tell him that I can only stand for a few minutes before it feels like my hip and legs are going to collapse. Someone told me it sounds like my sciatic nerve,,, all i know is it's really ticking me off cause I want to be in the garden! Anyways, I almost finished weeding one little bed, and putting mulch down and I will have to finish it another day. It does look much nicier now that the dandelions are mostly gone... I can actually see the hostas. LOL Son and grand daughter came over the other day and dug up some lilies from the back and moved them into the front gardens for me. I hardly ever go to the backyard and am actually hoping to saw up those timber beds and put gravel in the backyard and just put some big pots with annuals in them. That way I won't have so much weeding to do and I can just spray roundup on any that pop up thru the gravel. Rosie was asking me what the names of the different plants were and she wanted to help nannie carry the 5 gallon weed bucket, even though it is almost as big as she is. *L* Ever cute! I had son pull out Winnipeg parks rose and we planted some lilies from the backyard there. He didn't have time to pull out Morden Centennial but when he does I think I'll plant a hosta. My JP OConnell always seems to die right back to the ground even though it's planted in a very protected area. Marcia, I'm so sorry u lost so many roses and clematis too! Did u lose that pretty yellow rose I think it was a Morden something or other....can't remember the name of it. Marcia, how adorable is that baby and the grandguy too! Is Darius your son's daughter? And u didn't waste gardening time! How wonderful a new baby!! *S* Is that a pic of you holding the baby? Congratulations!! Here a pic of Cherry Berry Francis Williams, mom gave me this one so it is special. *S* Striptease I've got to go,,, have people coming to look at the roof tomorrow *sigh* Take care Debbie :-)

Hi there, Janet, nice to see you. Thanks re: flower pics. No, I don't have them hanging in my home, they are just some frames I used that I made using paint shop pro. Son came over today and he helped me do some weeding. My back has been so bad this summer that I haven't been able to do much, which is very very frustrating! My hostas have really been getting eaten this year compared to other years, I guess it was from all the rain so the slug population just exploded. I am going to Kentucky in a couple of weeks for a chat party bash. I am looking forward to it as we will be camping along the way and not taking the main hwys either, so I am hoping to be able to see a lot of sights. We are going with another couple that I met in a garden chat room, so it should be very interesting. We will be gone for a few weeks and I'm hoping I will get a lot of nice pictures of the fall colours. *S* Take care Debbie :-)

I'm a crabby gardener. This is what we have today: You probably have it by now too, Debbie. Sigh... It was just like this the other day, nice and colourful: So, winter has struck. The long-range forecast doesn't look too promising either. Big sigh. I did get almost everything done that i needed to do. The containers are dumped, all except two, and stored under the deck. Leaves are raked, but not all of them, and stationed around gardens and rose bushes to become mulch and winter protection. Cuttings are taken - two kinds of bacopa, geraniums, dichondra. Naturally, i don't hold out much hope of actually rooting and keeping these cuttings all winter, but i have to try, don't i? I didn't get all the seeds collected that i'd like to, but if we get some decent weather, that may still happen. Some things froze without setting seed, though. All my orders have come in except for two backorders from Veseys. I have no idea what i'm going to do with them if this doesn't clear up soon. Whose idea was it to order 16 poppy plants anyway?! LOL Everything that came in got planted, which is pretty good. I'd better find out what i did with that lemon lime amaryllis bulb so it can be potted up, maybe in a month. I'm sure it's just in a box somewhere. :) The wind is really howling out there now, and every so often the lights dim. I'd better get off here just in case of a power failure. 'Nother sigh. Good night!