What to do while waiting: 1. Buy your soiless mix. You can make you own, or buy miracle-gro, promix, etc. But, as mentioned above, you may not be able to find it in February! 2. Start prepping your containers: put in the drainage holes (nice big ones), throw away the screw cap, cut off part of drink containers to be the lid, etc. Research all the different ways we do them--there's more than 1 way to prep a mik jug! 3. Make your labels. Pencil or _paint pen_ on old cut-up window blinds. Other methods do have failures. (Black sharpie usually lasts, but not for some folks). My first year wintersowing, I put off planting a LOT of stuff because I needed to go look up more info about color, height, bloom time, water needs, annual/perennial, etc.. Now I put all that on the window-blind label. That takes time, although it's really useful come spring. So, start that now! I like looking plants up in Plantfiles, because it has all that info on one spot, plus people's personal experiences. I google with the plant name, plus the word "zone" or "plantfiles."

That is a nice sized 'The Blues'. I got one last year, but it's only about 12" tall, but pushing some beautiful new growth this year. I'm sure that one was a large chunk of your budget, I know what I paid for my little one last fall. Not trying to hijack the thread here, but I have a question regarding the Whipcord. I have seen several discussions that have said that the Thuja plicata 'Whipcord' and the Thuja orientalis 'Filiformis' are the same plant. Is there any truth to this? If memory serves me correct, the Whipcord was found in a bed of Thuja plicata seedlings, so it was naturally assumed (most likely incorrectly) to be one, or am I off my rocker? I am growing the 'Filiformis' and agree that it looks identical (or at least very very very similar) to the 'whipcord' pictures I have seen. Tish, even if they aren't the same they are darn close. I got mine last year and only paid about $10 from evergreen nursery plus shipping for a very nice sized plant. And Ken is correct, the itch will come back like a bad case of poison ivy, and eventually you won't be able stop scratching! Eliot

palmbob, Just to clarify, the beagle photo IS a sample of ringworm for comparison. Now, in response to your comment about vets and all the opposition. I don't have a problem with the profession per say, the problem is finding one who is on top of their game, truly engaged and good at diagnosing. For example, since July of last year, our 3 year old Lab has had lots of issues with gas and tummy pain. Gastritis was an obvious diagnosis, but once she was diagnosed, she immediately was put on some CRAPPY and expensive Royal Canine for gas dog food, reglan, and allergy medications; there was zero interest about her current diet or what may have actually been causing the issue. Neither the change in food or the drugs helped her feel better and shortly afterwards, she also started having issues with incontinence, so back we went. This time we were told it must be the spay, common problem, happens all the time. Again, with just an assumption and no real worry about the cause, the vet put our girl on a pretty potent drug to help control urine leaks. She was just 3, the whole thing made no sense to me and regretfully I went along with it. Now she's gassy, vomiting, unable to control her urine and not one of the medications or that crappy food were working. We were at the vets all the time for months with the same problems and an expense in the thousands, but our dog was getting sicker, not better. Obviously something wasn't right so I started doing my own research. With in a pretty short time, I came to understand that the original problem, gastritis was actually just the result of the beans added as a protein booster in her high quality Acana dog food. The vomiting and sick tummy was due to her eating too fast and air from drinking a lot of water. And I found lots of feedback from other owners who's dogs had also experienced incontinence after their dogs were put on the Royal Canine prescription food; which by the way has nothing in it to require that it be a prescription, its just a way to charge more for the food since it is sold via the vet. Don't believe me? Research it yourself, IT IS A COMPLETE SCAM! While you're at it, read what is in it and where it is sourced from. It is questionable that Vets even agree to sell it or Hills, both of which are very low quality foods. Without a moments hesitation, I immediately took our girl off every freaking pill they had ever put her on and changed her food to Holistic Select. It's the only Grain Free food (without beans) available that is also made in the USA and locally sourced. I also raised her water dish and bought a slow go food dish to keep her from eating too fast. The difference in her health was almost immediate and its now been 2.5 months without one problem! The food is amazing and with no thanks to any of the vets she saw, she is happy, healthy and has the softest shiniest coat I have ever seen on a lab. No more gas, no more sick stomach, no more incontinence. Why couldn't the Vet have initially just asked about her diet is beyond me (cha-ching!) but it really irks me. We trusted them with a beloved member of our family and paid thousands for one misdiagnosis after another. At least when that plumber comes to fix a broken pipe, I know when he is done, the pipe will be fixed and I didn't waste my money. Since these days most of the kibble foods now have beans in them as a cheaper protein source, I just wonder how many other dogs are experiencing similar issues with gas and are also misdiagnosed. Shame on the Vets who say they are not nutritionists and therefore only treat the symptoms as opposed to actually trying to figure out the cause! This is the bowl I use now, its a bit more pricy but worth every penny because it works!

Oh, yes, I use prednisone for my dogs every summer. Benedryl does nothing for them. Prednisone is sort of a long drawn out session and is nothing to fool around with so just be sure you give it exactly as it is prescribed and don't stop until the last pill is gone. My one dog was started on it as the vet advised but after about 5 days I could see it wasn't taking effect so we had to put her on a heavier dose and she's doing much better now. I've had her on it for about a week and a half now and the other one just got put on it today. One thing I was told and since found out for myself, if your dog has trouble this year, expect it to happen every year. Just seems to be something they are allergic to in the warm weather.