Hey seamommy! I'm not an o/c sicko and I doubt you are, either :) I'm what most of my friends and family call "super-organized" (with a roll of their eyes). Part of it is my love of order and dislike of chaos, but part comes from years of training in the science field. Scientists (and those who work for them) have to be listmakers, obsessive record-keepers, and they are usually short on funding so knowing what you have and what you need is crucial. Yes, I'm guilty of the spreadsheets, the lists, the garden plans, a garden journal, and a garden/home/yard "idea" book. Sorry to scare you, Diana ;) It really helps to keep my gardening in perspective, though. It's great to be able to look back a year or two to see what worked well, what didn't. Also, inventory helps me to prevent excessive seed purchasing - sometimes;) I've been keeping a garden journal since 1994. The past few years have lots of family/general interst entries, too. I tried keeping a separate personal journal, but wasn't very faithful, so I just do it all in one now. In winter, I record temperature, snowfall, birds I see at the feeders, animals I see around, etc. Summer is much the same, but also records of planting dates, harvest dates, etc. I also have garden photoalbums (heehee). Mostly, I keep the garden pics on the computer now, but I have several books too. I don't count pots though (well, not regularly anyway). Balsam

"Wade (or anyone else that knows)- I am also new to DL, so I was hoping that you could explain why evergreens are weakening the gene pool/why they are weaker than dormants?" asks fairysoapgirl. Weaker than being the operative phase... what has been discovered is the daylilies of today share a goodly percentage of the same genes. As the Ev plant habit is mostly employed in hybridizing today, this effect is being intensified on the Ev side. When plants are only selected on face/bloom characters and plant habit is neglected.. resistance to disease isnt selected for.. the plant suffers. This is not due just to inbreeding... in the end its a selection problem in originas again the plant habit isnt often being considered. Then even while two plants used in a cross do not appear closely related by looking back a generation or two.... bringing the whole lineage up from 5-7 generations tells the complete story. In many cases the plants come from the same genes.. via different paths. To the credit of some southern growers using primarily Ev genes, a few are selecting against rust... doing no preventative spraying and choosing their mates from stock not affected with or showing little rust sign. And in all fairness not all southern growers neglect plant habit. Again ..selection is the key element. One can easily select quality plant habit from Evs.. as any other growth habit. Yes theres definitely some dogs out there from prominent programs. Rotters.. poor growers.. yet to single just one out here isnt fair. To share ones experiences with such plants is valuable.. so long as the complete set of circumstances via the event are in view. Plants easily are victim to poor culture... can encounter excess high heat via shipping.. and problems can arise not really the fault of the shipper or the plants genetics. Gather the facts first. The dormant habit is not free from weaker genes.. by any means. A few of the older varieties of the Reckamp strain show very poor growth vigor, frequent bud dropping and in general arent good garden plants. In recent years Roy Klehm has largely taken over that strain and dealt successfully with some of these minor issues. Some of his newer plants are excellent. I share NY Ritas enthusiasm for the cutting edge true northern hybridized daylily. The fact is most of the cutting edge feature from points south does not make the trip far north.. either in genetic transmission to hardier stock.. or show these characters when grown in our relative cold compared to their origin warmth. When someone objectively adds the net gain from each generation grown north.. or south for that matter... very few plants are worth the time as parents.

A plastic owl is very unlikely to chase the bluejays away, since bluejays will mob an owl. So save your money. Birds make noise. Live with it. Get ear plugs, of move into a high rise apartment in the middle of the city. (oh wait, there are birds in the middle of big cities). If you live in a neighborhood where there are houses and the houses have yards and plants, there are going to be birds. You can't change that. Your kid makes noise. Your cat makes noise. Your neighbors have to live with that. You are not going to find a place where you have quiet. If you are near people, people make all sorts of noise. If you are out in the wilderness, animals make all sorts of noise. if you are out in the country, farm animals and tractors and dirt bikes make lots of noise. You don't have many options other than to live with noise.

I have sold a bunch on both and I would recommend going to Craigslist first. Mostly because it's free and if you live in a more populated area there are a lot of people checking through there all the time. I know here in NY stuff disappears as quickly as it goes up, so the turnaround is great. If nothing moves you can always put it on eBay, just be aware you will have to pay the fees. Not sure if you are trying to sell any rugs, but I found this great comparison article relative to Oriental Rugs. It compares the pros and cons of selling on each, which could be applied to most anything. Hope this helps and best of luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Selling Oriental Rug or Persian Carpet