I am a newbie so not much help, but I did grow New Day last year and LOVED it. It looks like it made it through the winter with some die back but I did not winter protect at all (with last year being my first year I just kind of wanted to see what would happen and what would survive, I do plan to winter protect this year) Here are two New Day blooms in a bouquet with Double Delight, Headliner, and a few other soft pinks (probably Bewitched) and Lady X. If New Day had not made it through the winter I would definitely be replacing it because of the few yellows I planted last year this one was the prettiest with beautifully shaped blooms. I am no help with New Zealand, just looked it up on hmf because of all of the praise in this post, it does look like a nice soft baby pink and I would love to add it at some point. You'll have to keep us posted how it turns out if you decide on that one. New Year has always looked pretty to me on hmf, I bought one last year but it was mislabeled. I just bought one this year so hopefully I can give it a go. Never thought I would enjoy those oranges as much as I did last year since I'm a soft colors fan, but I really wanted to give New Year a go and couldn't pass it up when I saw it last week in one of those bagged pots. We'll see. Thanks for your suggestion to not dig up stuff so early in that other post about SPing. I had no idea that some could show life as last as June, and that if it did come back I could replant deeper. I thought it was done when that bud union went through one of our winters above ground! Fortunately I only pulled out a few that showed no life but the rest I'm iffy on I will leave in and let spring work its magic.

Great discussion JL! I don't make resolutions, but if I did, it would be to accomplish my 2021 resolutions!! I was supposed to be on a one year sabbatical and it has morphed into two. I am trying to focus and not get distracted, but it is pretty depressing that my progress in that area is one step forward and two steps back. So trying to work on solving that problem. Like FOAS, I too have to come to terms with a health issue--high cholesterol. So trying to at least partially deal with that through diet. Not easy. One of the distractions is my mentally ill aging father, and he doesn't eat very well, so I have him over for dinner or bring dinner over to his house about three times a week. He hates almost all healthy foods and craves comfort food, which includes his four food groups--meat, fat, salt and sugar. Throw in some empty carbs for fun. For example, one of his favorite lunches is sloppy joes, which includes all of them! I could write a bestselling cookbook I think . . . Last night I made two loaves for dinner, one was meatloaf for my Dad and husband, and one was "wheatloaf" for me. Very time consuming. And I really should not have eaten the mashed potatoes which included butter and cream. I should have kept my serving of boiled potatoes apart from the rest . . . but I was rushing to get it all on the table . . . Interesting about that workspace. I am tangentally involved in creating a "makers space" in my Mom's home town, which is being sponsored by the Friends of the Library group there. They are turning some library storage space into a creative makers space and they have matching funds from the state so we are helping them raise the remainder. I was talking to a women in the next town up who owns a framing studio, and they have one up and running there. For years I've wanted to use my inheritance to do something for my small town, like buy one of the old buildings, refurbish it, and turn it into a place where "makers" could do their crafts, teach others, and sell stuff. However, unfortunately I am seriously planning on abandoning my small town over the long term, too much rising micro-aggression from racists and fascists. The people who are flying the hate flags and behaving confrontationally in public probably haven't considered how they are hastening the already precipitous decline in the economic and cultural life of this area. Who wants to live surrounded by that on a regular basis? Anyhoo, I digress. I'm hoping to learn more about how such spaces work, from a management perspective, as things progress in the places I mentioned. I am sadly, however, not much of a maker. I do canning and have toyed with selling some stuff, but would have to make it in a commercial kitchen, which is tricky. A lot of churches have them here, but they have to be inspected and meet inspection standards and a lot of churches have let that slide. I tried growing enough produce this summer to do all my tomato products but it was a PITA in the space I used--a community garden not well managed. I could buy bushels of farm grown tomatoes around here for a fraction of what it cost me to grow my own, when everything was factored in. So my dreams of running a little farmstead for even break even costs have died . . . So my sort of plan for the next couple of years has been upended. Not so much by the pandemic but the fallout of it. So trying to imagine a new plan, but really, downsizing and "Swedish Death Cleaning" were part of the old plan and since I haven't finished those, and they fit in with any new direction I might be moving in, I am TRYING to stay focused and get that done . . .

@girlnamedgalez8a - Hugs for you, my condolences. My MIL is in a similiar situation, my FIL passed in July. We invited her to join for NYE but she decided she was not up to it, she prefers to stay home. We will be calling her and my DD and SIL are going to stop by for a short visit on their way out, but for the most part she us on her own. Out traditional NYE is dinner out with friends, then we go home to watch movies until midnight, watch fireworks and off to bed. Some years I will do a NY day party. This year we are trying something different, we are going to our desert house and joining friends for a dinner dance at the club house. The dance ends at New York NYE time, then we move on to a friend’s CA NYE party. She is just a few houses away an easy walk home when done.

Sounds good! And a lot less work than the way I've made it. A friend is making pastitsio for New Year's Day, which is essentially the same kind of thing. Especially since an Itaian (not NYItalian, but from Southern Italy) told me the real secret to baked ziti is to use bucatini! I prefer ziti—they're thinner walled with bigger holes—but just right for pastitsio, which I don't understand...maybe more depth of pasta cuts the cinnamon better? Happy New Year!