Thanks for the compliment Amy, but if you've been gardening for 15 years, you are about the same as me experience wise! Don't sell yourself short. I've probably killed 3 plants for every one i have alive today. LOL. Campbell rd is really cool, esp during their sales. The only other penstemmon i've done well with is husker's red. I have 3 of those that have been happy for a while now. So far Alicia's small and smooth beardtongues look good, but they've only been in a month or so. Since they're native i have high hopes. I'll set aside the next dehlia's i can dig for you. Probably next spring. I still have some seed set aside for you from when you were going to come to the swap & didn't (larkspur, poppy and nigella), but will have to give you fresh next time i get down to bb's instead. Good to know Alicia, thanks for posting. Maybe i'll pot up some and if it decides to be showy pop it in, and if it's just dribbling i can leave it out. That's how a lot of it works anyhow. I know the ones i got from campbell rd last fall were gorgeous, but you never know if something's potted if it'll really bloom that way/time in nature or if they fiddled with it to sell it.

Hi Laura, sorry I missed your post, you posted just 1 minute before I made my post haha! The beaches in bermuda were definitely the nicest I have ever seen. There were plenty of large rocks around the beaches, but the sand itself was really soft and fine. The beaches around my area dont compare at all! Definitely one of my favorite vacations even though I was only there for 5 days. My plumerias are doing really well. The cuttings you sent me are growing really well, the Scott Pratt is doing especially well, it put out a ton of growth this summer. The California sunset is doing well too, but I think I will give it more sun so it grows a little faster! My largest plumeria is approaching 13 feet tall (pot included) and is now the tallest tropical plant in my yard (even larger than the Adondila I bought!)so it's going to be a real challenge finding a place for that one inside. It has 3 inflos on it now but I can only take pictures of the blooms from my upstairs window! It's about a week or 2 away from blooming. Looks like it's going to have to get cut back next spring as much as I hate having to do that to my plumerias! I havent posted too many pics of my plumerias this year because they all bloomed so well last year that this year there have been barely any blooms at all. My plumeria Divine put out 2 flowers from the inflo that it made indoors and it is just now starting to make another inflo. My Pretty Princess has always been a late one to bloom and it's inflo is still a good month away from blooming. I hope it blooms before it's too late! Hopefully it will be a warm fall and nmaybe next summer the plumerias will all have enough growth to bloom like crazy again. I hope your plumerias and tropicals are all doing well! -Alex

Sarah, As puffed-up and cold as wild hawks might look, they actually much prefer cold winter to hot summer. They wear the same clothes in each season. Heat is tough on hawks. They can handle it, of course, but they don't like it. That's one reason red-tails often soar high into cold air in the summer. In the winter, the birds much prefer the cold. They are well prepared for anything nature throws at them.

Rosa, I'm probably missing something or just don't understand, but if you are going to use the placement you show above, is it really faster to do it as a 9to4? Why not just do the white and snowflake sections as sashing? I'm pretty sure the quilter who used red as the center square in her 9to4 was Bozogardener. But I think she used the more typical layout and after cutting the 9 patch placed 2 of the reds point-to-point. I could be wrong because it was a while ago. I remember it because that thread inspired me to try one! Whatever you choose to do, it's a fun pattern and I'm sure you'll like using it. Kate