The difference in success from year to year involves so many variables. I've been WS for 6 years now, and even with that amount of experience, the differences from year to year, do vary every year. My success rate has always been at least 95%; success defined by me as germination of any kind in a container, not the number of seedlings germinated in each container, I do try to keep records as to where the seeds came from. Such things as trades, commercial seeds and what co. they came from, my own collected seeds. From year to year, not all seed will germinate the same, even for me. I always put out the perennials first. Being in New England, I do have a few months to get them out and get the cold that they need, BUT, 2 years ago we had the strangest winter. 60 to near 70 degrees in January and I know people that had WS their seeds in Dec. and had seeds germinating in January because it was so warm. Those plants didn't survive. I had a late start that winter and ended up not getting my seeds out till mid February and they germinated fine for me, I didn't have any germination too early. So for me, I learned that I can start in mid Feb and it won't be too late for me. BUT, I've also had some serious cold snaps as late as mid May and if I had not covered my tender annuals several nights in a row, I would have lost all of them. So variables are major things to deal with. Weather is a real problem. One year I had 8 inches of rain over 2 days and all my containers where floating in the backyard and the ducks where swimming right beside and around them. Most survived, but there where some that survived the floods, only to be eaten by the invasion of slugs that I had never had before in 29 years living in my home. When we sow seeds that we traded for, we take a risk. Where the seeds collected when they where ripe or where they too early? If too early then the seeds will not be viable and will not germinate for you. The same thing can happen with commercial bought seeds as well. I've had my share of "no shows" in containers from commercial purchased seeds from big name seed companies. I've gotten my money back, but still had no plants from the seeds I planned on. Watering can be a problem, which goes with the weather. this year has been the craziest weather I have seen in 28 years living in my home. We've gone from freezing temps to 80's and 90's, with temps not staying stable for more than 2-3 days at most. 80's and 90's in early April are not normal where I am, but we've had them. We've had frosts long after it should not be happening and may happen again tonight. I've never had to water my containers before the last week in April to the first week in May at the earliest. This year I have had to water every other day since the first week in April. Germination for me has been very eradic as well. Same seeds, same kind of containers, sowed the same day from the same collected, traded or commercial packet and containers are germinating days and weeks apart. My datura are usually about 4 inches tall now, and most have not germinated yet. They need steady 70 degree soil temp to germinate but they haven't gotten it. And, we have not had a lot of rain. lots of days with rainy showers that moisten the top of the containers but not enough to soak into them. Over 6 years of WS, I've learned to just go with the flow. Always expect good germination in terms of container numbers, sow more seeds than I will need in more containers, which usually will cover the beds planted. Assume that some will not germinate and that's just the way mother nature is. Remember that no matter how you look at it, you will have more plants than you would have if you had to buy them and just WS next year and keep going. The only way you will have a sure fire way to have every plant that you want, no matter what, is to buy them. That's far too expensive for me to deal with, considering the number of beds that i have to fill and keep filling. WS does it for me and I wouldn't do it any other way. Fran

Eternal Warrior, Larry Grace, Nordic Night, Westminster Lace, Chris Salter are ones I'm thinking about. BUT before I jump and buy any more I was researching which ones to avoid paying top $$ for. I don't mind taking a chance on plants but don't want to lose a chunk of change when the dl dies. I do have some Salters but most are too new to tell how they will be until this year. These are the ones I do have: Bahama Butterscotch David Kirchhoff Ed Brown Grace and Grandeur Coming this spring is Painting the Roses Red, Moonlit Caress. I appreciate all the feedback. Julia

I completely agree with Heather Rosales. I too purchased a Viking built-in all-refrigerator in 2010 against my better judgment. My first problem was that I took delivery of a unit with a bent compressor, so I had to fight to get a replacement unit. In retrospect, I suspect that they replaced it with a refurbished unit because since then I have had ongoing issues. Almost all of my friends make jokes about my fridge issues because they have been following the saga. I had one or two warranty visits to address temperature issues during the coverage period. The warranty was also a problem because I purchased the unit almost a year prior to it being installed due to a renovation that needed custom cabinets that went on way too long. So, I lost a year of warranty time. Since then I have spent over $1600 in service fees (with an authorized service company to try to get it not to deep freeze all my food. I was given multiple reasons for why it was not working properly all of them completely hypothetical while each theory costing me money. The most recent episode involves the same authorized dealer deciding it needed a new door seal/gasket which took almost 3 weeks to deliver due to it being supposedly back ordered @ $700 cost. I am not sure if the seal was or was not the issue because the seal doesn't keep the door closed at all! There is absolutely no suction whatsoever in the door. In fact, the door looks open all the time now. Now they installed some type of temperature measurement device to monitor the temperature for the next 3 days. This experiment seems futile to me if the door doesn't close properly. It would be like trying to test air conditioning with all the windows and doors open. I am going on 26 days without a functioning refrigerator this time around. The other thing to be aware of it the quality of the crispers. They break very easily and the cost to replace them makes it impossible to replace. Of the 5 crispers, 4 are broken. I was quoted $700+ to replace 2 of them. Even the service company doesn't recommend replacing them due to the cost. I have had two other homes where I inherited Sub-zeros and I NEVER had one issue with those units. One of them was ancient but it was a beast; never failing me. I called Viking Range LLC and they don't seem to be interested in assisting. They have a customer care team that provides the token empathic statements but they don't seem willing to do more. In Canada, I noticed that even the authorized distributors listed on the Viking site don't actually carry Viking products despite being listed as Canadian distributors. This is a very telling sign! I would be happy to just trash this unit and caulk it up to a super bad consumer purchase but not only would I have to spend money to replace the unit, it will also require a new custom panel and custom trim work. STAY AWAY FROM VIKING!

Thanks for all the kind words everyone. I'm sure you are all right, I won't even be able to tell next year. That really wasn't even my biggest concern, it just felt wrong digging into a strong healthy plant and cutting it up. The root knife just seemed brutal. I split my Teaspoon for someone else as well, but it was in a pot and I just sort of pulled the roots apart and and got a nice little chunk with minimal damage and no broken leaves. Took the opportunity to freshen the soil a little and it was good to go. Jo, I'm laughing about your comment when you read the 'my hosta list' part of my story. More experienced gardeners here than me! Ken, no Dorothy Benedicts here so I didn't have to worry about that LOL. But I love the idea of a give away hosta nursery. Unfortunately every spare bit of real estate is being swallowed up with new hosta. Maybe I could try something behind the fence in the veggie garden.