Thanks all for the comments. I signed off last night early as my eyes were steadily closing and I zonked out. This year I'm hoping not to downsize as much as resize. I find gardening to be a great source of exercise after our long winter. I believe the seedlings are taking up too much time and space so some will definitely go this year.I still have several double plantings of the same cultivar and then there is the ones which look so much alike that one will leave. Not to mention the clumps that need dividing but that will now wait till August/September. Clematis: I cut all of mine back to about 6 inches or less in the spring for the first 3 years of having them planted here. I give them a dose of alfalfa tea in the spring and makes sure they have mulch to keep the roots cool and hope that Mother Nature provides enough rain. These are all planted in sunny locations with a minimum of 7 hours of sun each day hence the need for mulching. Clematis like water but has to be well draining soil. Next year I'll only cut them back to 12 inches above the soil. I did notice that Blue Angel did not grow as tall as it did last year. I'll check out the others posts this afternoon once I finish my housework which is my least favorite task. Julia

But that's exactly what made it SO very cool, Zach! Whouda ever thunk they'd be out driving in the foothills in SUMMER and have it suddenly start snowing! And they were the most beautiful, huge flakes! All of a sudden it looked like we were in a real life Christmas card! The snow all by itself would have been enough to make it unique, but then with the winding road, the pines ALL around, and these amazing antique cars--many of them "open" like olde cars were, and with many of the drivers and passengers dressed up in period costumes... It was just one of those Pinch Me! Am I really awake? situations!!! The snow only lasted a few miles down the road. It WAS summer, after all! And by then we had gone past the whole long line of antique cars--and I started to wonder if it had really happened! This current snow "storm" has been kind of interesting so far. The weathermen are talking about rain, but I've had snow here, in some degree, all day. Most of it is melting from the bottom, so I have no idea how much I've gotten, but I think the "water" is going to add up pretty nicely. I just checked radar again, and it looks like there's another pretty heavy band starting to move over me, and the 5:00 news was saying there could be a really heavy batch moving over around 10:00--one guy said it could possibly drop 1-2" an hour! Like you, I think I'd rather have (a nice slow) rain, but I'll take the precip however I can get it right now! I went out mid-morning and "flipped" the snow off of the tulips I still have blooming, and shook off the last of the hyacinths and "braced" them in an upright position with some medium size "decorative" rocks! Couldn't tell if they had just "bent," or if they had broken, and they were way too cold to explore further, so I'll need to wait till they thaw to decide if I need to cut them and put them in water, or if I can leave them outside to finish blooming. If any of your things do "break," Zach, AFTER they thaw you can cut them and stick them in a vase! Here's an example! https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/uP4UvISdLyFUiCNcFEboHvA0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink A few of those broke pretty near the flower and wouldn't "stand up" to be able to take in the water, so I slit the side of a fairly big straw, cut it in "appropriate lengths" and put a "cast" on some of the stems that needed it! https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cpmBJ8rexgAa5P9el0Twt_6s-IMVlkvC9mxRaV1guoo?feat=directlink This is where they were cut from--after I dug them out of the snow! (It had melted off enough for the flower petals to "thaw" before I brought them in!) I know this isn't a "snow thread," but how are you doing down there on the south end with the snow today? Skybird

Ann- That's great! I'm glad someone appreciates her things and is getting so much use from them :) Para- I'll check on that....I can use all the help I can get! My mom is moving in with us (me and my husband) so I am estimating, we each need to get rid of 1/3 of our stuff. That sounds a bit extreme, but we all are looking forward to pooling our resources and living together. And it's a good excuse to get rid of what we don't really use. That being said....1/3 is a lot! We can put stuff in storage (and we do have some storage on the farm) but it's still not being used. So, tools and other 'outside' stuff will be fine, but books and other 'weather-sensitive' items will fair better with someone else. And I don't want to pay for a storage unit, for stuff I really don't use.

Thanks very much for all these good suggestions! I have been slogging through site after site until it occurred to me that I should get sort of temporary pillows since the sofa is short term. Pier 1 had these that I think will do very well----the Aubusson I like and some custom pillows with those Ralph Lauren fabrics (some are PERFECT) can wait until I find a keeper. These are the ones I have picked. All either on sale or less than $40!