Well, the party line answer is clearly both, and obviously for me too, there is enjoyment of the process and the results. I think that must be true for any gardener who is involved in the making of their own garden space and who isn't getting paid for doing it. But I find that as I get older and farther down the garden path, I would like to enjoy the results more, and I find that the process itself can sometimes be tedious, expensive, require too much patience, and overwhelming. So I am going to be brutally honest here -- while I enjoy the work of gardening to some extent, if I could hire more people to do more things for me and just enjoy the results myself, I would do it. The problem is that, for the most part, if you are a real plant geek like I am (and a whole lot of others who responded above), you can't really hire people to arrange plants for you in the way you want them. So there is a certain amount that you have to be involved with yourself. Being involved again in the creation of a new garden, and having left a mature one, I have to say that so far, I enjoyed the mature one more. The last few years I spent there I did work a lot in the garden still, of course, but the proportion of time spent just enjoying the garden was greater. That doesn't mean that I was sitting when I enjoyed it. It doesn't mean that I didn't pull a weed or two when I walked with a glass of wine in the evening. But after 20 years working on that space, the garden felt "finished" to a great extent. That doesn't mean that there would never be anything new. But the garden had a certain cohesiveness that is certainly lacking in my new garden. It also had as much seasonal interest as I could pack into 2/3 acre in my rotten climate. So, weather permitting, the garden always had moments of great beauty and enjoyment for me. But then again, I know that one of the reasons the garden meant so much to me is that I had spent 20 years making it. I had watched the trees, shrubs, perennials that I had planted get moved from one place to anohter (NAY he says, "I MOVED them from one place to another"...) until they finally found a place that they (and I) liked. Still garden making takes patience, and it is hard in the early stages not to want more results, with less work at garden making. I think that's one reason why, relatively speaking, I did not take many pictures of the new garden this year -- in the last year I was at my old place I took over a thousand, this year less than 100. A reflection that the garden was more about process than results, so far. One of the greatest times of garden enjoyment I ever remember in my old garden was after a big garden tour. The weeds were all pulled, the plants all relatively pristine (it was mid-June), the crowds were gone, my family and the dog were gone, the walks and drives all neat and clean, no cars or other distractions to be seen. Then I walked through and enjoyed my own garden, for a couple of hours, nobody but me and the hummingbirds and butterflies. One of the best times of garden enjoyment I ever had, along with very early foggy mornings and late summer evenings. Give me more of those, and less back-breaking work, any day....

1. Flower Walk. Like you, I take the Flower Walk every day, usually after work. I love to see what's blooming, what's going to bloom, etc. I pull a couple weeds--nothing major. 2. Photographing Flowers. I love to take pictures of my flowers. I share them with a group on this website and FB. I put many flower pictures on my Want List/Have List. 3. My flower addiction (hey, I'm not gambling or drinking) has spread to the local parks. I volunteer at the parks and take care of flower beds there. It's been a few years so they are starting to look much better. 4. Flowers by the Street. I specifically wanted my flowers to be by the street so many people could see them. They could drive by, walk by, whatever. Of course right now I'm thinking of putting up a sign such as, "You can pick you President. You can pick your Nose. But please don't pick the flowers." I think that's too strong, but I've considered it. There is a retarded girl who loves my flowers. Her mom and her caretaker bring her by. She likes to pick her favorite one of the day--depending on what's blooming. So I get that warm fuzzy feeling when I share my flowers with people. You might not see people enjoying your flowers, but I bet they do. Enjoy them the way you want and don't feel guilty in any way. If you like to sit in a lawn chair and sip lemonade...do it! I do also enjoy weeding when it's on my time. I like being outside in the air. I also like weeding and listening to my radio. My flowers are my joy and my THERAPY and my addiction. Pretty complicated, right? Right! Heidi

I love coffee! Hot coffee, iced coffee, coffee flavored desserts, cappuccino gelato. . . The list goes on and on and on . . . . .. You get the idea. Mornings I have one, sometimes two, cups of coffee with just powdered creamer, no sugar, no flavorings. (Much as I love coffee, I have never been able to drink it black.) I had been buying those bottles of Starbucks Frappuccinos in the grocery store, when one day a couple of years ago I realized I could make a reasonable facsimile a heck of a lot cheaper! And have a lot more favors. So now, on these hot, HOT afternoons, I enjoy my own version of iced coffee, no real recipe though. I fill my tall, insulated Yeti type tumbler with ice, add refrigerated coffee if I have it, room temperature if I don't, to within about an inch or so of the top of the ice. Add some cream, and some flavored liquid coffee creamer, stir, taste, and adjust amounts of whatever until it has the taste I want. I like a dark roast coffee, and I brew it pretty strong. My usual brand is either Dunkin Donuts' "Turbo" or their dark roast. I never thought about using sweetened condensed milk, may have to try that sometime. I like the iced coffee to be a just little sweet, with a only little bit of flavor. If I add enough of either to get it too the 'lightness' I want, it would be way too sweet or the flavor too overpowering, My current favorite flavors are caramel macchiato and amaretto. At one time, when I first started making my own, I probably had almost every flavor of liquid coffee creamer there is on hand. Now I usually keep two different flavors on hand. Oh, and I use the tall, slim, Yeti type tumbler because they don't sweat, and keep the iced drink iced for many hours. Or they would if the drink lasted that long. . . . . Rusty

I gave up my car when I moved to downtown Charleston, so I spend a lot of time just walking and riding my bicycle to get around the city. I used to do yoga and ballet, but thus far have not found any classes here that I can afford. I do enjoy cooking, but do not like to bake, as I seem to have no "sweet tooth." I love to try new dishes. I am in a lively French conversation group that meets weekly; our "leader" is a French native. I also enroll each semester in history classes at the nearby college, which is only 7 minutes away by bicycle. That enables me to utilize the wonderful college library. I enjoy being on campus and talking to the students. When I have free time, I also like to explore on foot the historic neighborhoods of Charleston, and take in the gardens. Day-trips with friends to visit the plantations are also enjoyable. I used to dabble a bit in genealogy, but seem to have gotten away from that. I do like to "surf" the Internet and am in a few "chatrooms" (forums).