Thanks for the kind words. :o) Jan, The bear is one of my favorites and was an end-of-the-year gift from a student 15 years ago. He is concrete and soooo heavy. I drag him into the garage every winter...oh my back! LOL

I haven't started much yet. I have a bunch of geraniums. Most started from cuttings, but some started from seed. They take a long time to mature from seed. I have some begonias that I saved the tubers from last year. They are just starting to leaf. My Impatiens I intend to start tomorrow. I grow tempo Impatiens. They put on a great show and are the earliest to flower. I prefer them to the doubles. Anything else will be started in the greenhouse next month. I plan out my beds in a half hearted way when I'm contemplating my flower choices. I keep a book with genuses and their varieties that I have ordered and make notes in it about them during the summer. Over the years I have discovered which plants like which conditions in my yard. I mainly order the ones that have performed well in the past but I'm always open to new ones and include some of them in my order. Some of these I would grow again--others not. I always say I'm going to cut back but I always grow too much. I have a neighbor who is a gardener and we swap plants. I usually grow Petunias. For grandiflora I like the Storm variety; The blossoms don't droop in the rain. I grow the Grandiflora glorious mix double petunias amd the milliflora Picobella. The last are small plants with small petunia flowers that work very well for edging a bed. I don't grow the trailing petunias because I don't have many hanging planters or a place to put them.

I hope you had a lovely, memorable birthday, Annie. Good wishes for a healthy, happy, fruitful year ahead. I also add my thanks for your many gifts that you share with us. ole joyful

HBD Annie, thank you for the daily and monthly posts and for sharing many sound opinions. Now show us how you celebrate !