Thanks everyone! I did accidentally sow some tenders (before I realized they should have been done later) so I was worried. What has sprouted for me so far is not tender so for now I am ok. I did some marigolds, petunia, nicotina and some others that might be considered tender so I wanted to give them their best shot. thanks for helping the worried newbie! Karen

You might start with African violets. They have a long and complex hybridization history, so crossing any two varieties is likely to give you lots of seedlings with considerable variation. Some offspring may throw back to wilder types with what are considered undesirable characteristics (e.g., dropping flower petals after only a couple of days), but others will surprise you. I assume you have a diagram showing the reproductive parts of the flowers and can get pollen to the stigma. African violets have pollen sacs that often have to be cut open with a fine and sharp knife blade to get the pollen out. Once you have delivered pollen from one plant to the stigma of another, the ovary will swell up fairly dramatically. Wait a couple of months, and the ovary will turn brown and begin to split open. Harvest the abundant, dust-like seeds and set aside for a few days to let them dry. Then sow them at the surface of African violet mix and keep continuously moist till seemingly thousands of tiny seedlings appear. I keep the seedbed in a Zip-Loc or similar sealed plastic bag till I see sprouts and then prick out some of the plants for trnasplantation, as many as I can make room for. Keeping the seedlings in the bag after they sprout can lead to rot, so I remove them into the air and set them in a bright location out of direct sun. A north window is ideal. Growing garden hybrids is trickier. Many cultivated plants from the local Home Depot or seeds from the large seed companies have been hybridized to produce the large, showy flowers many gardeners seek out. Many of these varieties will revert to a much less attractive wild type if hybridized. You could experiment with crossing different types and colors of petunia to start, since they are easy to cross and produce a lot of seeds quickly. From seed to blooming adult can take just eight weeks or less if you care for the seedlings properly. Give it all a try. I hybridize a type of succulent plant called Haworthia from South Africa and get some very cool plants when I achieve a successful cross between two different species. biosparite

Ah, thank you, Linda and Mitch...love all those suggestions and will probably include them all. There will also be a veggie platter, so they can dip those, also....This business of becoming a Grandmother is taking its toll on my thought processes, I think! Too exciting!!! ;-) Many thanks...Lynn!

Thanks for the votes of confidence. I really thought I'd be starting a riot. So many people have told me just to leave it alone, it's fine, classic white kitchen, etc. But it's just never felt right. Now I'm excited about it! The rugs were just cheapies from Kirklands. So not worth heart failure, Amy! Believe me, paint would be the most mild thing that has ever been on them. Dog slobber, muddy paws, hair, pancake batter drips, grease splatters, various sundry spilled drinks, etc. all adorn those rugs. The beauty of the pattern is that they show nothing, and they're wool, so they've so far been indestructable. Just to set everyone's mind at ease, the pic of the paint tray was at the very, very end of the project, and there was only a few drops left in the deepest part of the paint well. No rug was harmed in the filming of this project. :)