It won't be long now! I know I have mentioned this before, but how in the world do they figure the zones. They have changed me to zone 7, previously I was just zone 6, so I would think we would have very similar growing seasons. My iris are at peak, heading downward now. I'm seeing more scapes on daylilies every day, although it will be a while before I actually see bloom. Although with 80 degree temps this week, it may be sooner than I expect. My Dutch iris didn't even bloom this year, & made no pretense of trying. Maybe they need more cold weather? Last year I didn't get any bloom on my Dutch iris, Eye of the Tiger, they looked crowded, so I divided them. I was sure they would bloom this year. I don't know...when I planted it I think I started out with a dozen bulbs. There were at least 100 when I divided, all in one little clump. Maybe they need to grow. My yellow Dutch iris has been blooming for years, hasn't multiplied much, but didn't bloom this year either.

We are currently in the middle of a "Holiday Seed Swap" if you would like to participate. The deadline for submissions is next week. See thread called, "Holiday Seed Swap 2013."

Lucky postum to have such good friends! Looking forward to hearing the "postmortem" ;-) of the project. What would I do if I could make over my house? 1) rearrange the walls upstairs to get rid of the "bowling alley" bedroom - one bedroom has 2) remove the bay window from the living room and replace it with a pair of plain windows like on the other side of (yes, I know we are in dire need of landscaping, it's on the list, along with a new front door, lighting and tearing off that listing side deck), put board and batten shutters on both sets of windows 3) upstairs bath from to ; this would technically be the children's bath (if the house were used by a larger family) so a partial wet room concept makes a lot of sense. Linen closet in hallway. 4) kitchen goes from to . 5) complete rearrangement of utility/laundry/powder room off kitchen, from to . 6) Remove ALL interior trim and replace with oak like in MBR. 7) Pipe dream: reside house in gray shingles with charcoal and white trim and purple accents

Minnesota suffered thru another drought this year. although spring was cold and wet. i managed to get a lot of spring pictures before that 100 degree temp hit. the convention got lucky as well. the heat hit a week after it was over.. so most of my pics will be in that early stage when they still looked good.