group Seedtraders group seedswapping group green thumb hi girl this is Donna Wilmoth please join my groups I hope you remember me I am doing 2 round robins I havent been on for awhile my dad had cancer he died Jan 09 but Im back now and ready to trade.

My sympathy to all living in this region of horrific winter, and late freezes this year.I am so sad-I live right on the lakefront in a small ohio community.My second rose bed(5-6 yr old plants) is nearest the brutul winds coming off the lake. .I lost eight roses this year!! My most mature and beautiful rose, About Face included.Had searched for over four years to find "Amelia Earhart"-one died and my fingers crossed for the second..The constant freezing and thawing was soo bad that they were heaved out of the bed!! My more protected bed on the east side of the house lost none out of 14... Only compensation is that I am getting a bit wiser and looking and both own-root, and the roses developed in Canada to replace...I WON"T be caught like this again!!!

Next to our place is a vacant acre lot where the house was removed about 10 years ago. The garlic from their garden kept spreading over those years. There was a patch about 30x70 feet and other clumps here and there. A neighbor who was related to those people told me that the garlic was German Red. I spent some time investigating. There were 9 inch or so balls of bulbs mixed in with rounds. The bulbs were small, maybe an inch in diameter. I planted some of the cloves and got bulbs as large as 3 inches in diameter the first year. I would guess that these wilded plants will tend to grow for many years without problem because the spreading is accomplished by the bulblets bending the scapes over so that the plant can move a foot or two each year. Garlic plants grown from bulbils grow plants that are said to clear any plant diseases that would continue in plants grown from cloves. The 30x70 foot clump was mostly to the north of a huge shade tree, with a 3 foot in diameter trunk. In the spring into early summer the only thing growing there was the garlic but then the weeds would crowd out the garlic. When the scapes were on the plants the clump was still mainly weed free. I'm guessing that the shade helped the garlic overcome weed pressure.

I have over 45 minis now with more in the works. Since I am pretty much out of room for giants, large and mediums I am reworking my want list by adding all sizes from the hosta registry so I know what I can squeeze in. I have a lot of Giants and Large that are spaced out for maturity which has taken up a lot of room. I have a few around my Empress Wu that will have to be moved out within the next couple of years but pretty much everything else has its own space to grow. As I watch certain hostas develop I am finding a few that I do not like and will have to get rid of like Whirlwind, Carnival and Twilight. My mature Frances Williams will probably go too. I already gave away a mature Love Pat because I don't like how the leaves hold all dirt and debris. I did keep a start from it since I have had the plant for 20 years. Someone gave me Abiqua Drinking Gourd as a gift so I can't get rid of that one.