Thanks all. HALF MOON KEY has that color of pink that I just love. Same as NO MORE TEARS. Love them both. And JAMAICAN LOVE is just wowing me this year. Got to get back outside and finish some work we started yesterday. Weather is holding today, ie no rain, just clouds rolling in and out so far although a couple of times we thought we would have a downpour. Might feel good to have cool rain drenching us. LOL Julia

Thanks all! Yes SISTER LUCIENNE is a Shooter intro, and I really like it. We have had record temps (tripple digits in the Seattle area is almost unheard of, and we have had them for two weeks!) and this DL has held it's beautiful color dawn to dusk. Granted, it is in part shade, but I have learned for the first time this year to appreciated something that is still vibrant when I get home from work! Debra, if your's is redder, I would be thinking that it may not be the right plant, as mine has been one of the more consistant in color of any in my garden. As for PAW PRINT, I only added it last fall, but from what I have seen so far, if you are thinking about it, GET IT! It's first blooms started before our outrageous temps, but it has still been lovely at the end of the day when it has been very hot, and it is totally packed with blooms. I was terribly afraid that I would not get the watermark in my "cool...ha ha ha" world, but every bloom has been wonderful. I am doing a budcount analysis this year for all of my dl's (Thanks Rita, for the inspiration to really SEE what my plants are doing), and I would bet that even as a first year plant it is in my top 20%. The pic of WOW was taken early in the am, so the color by evening was much more washed out...it is not a real good "color holder" when the heat is on I am thinking....

Thanks dmkelly. Even though those Walmart bags are only 50â a piece, it still is expensive when you add it all up with the peat, pine bark, bat guano and all the remaining ferts. I really thought raised garden beds would do well and they do seem better than just in the ground but the Walmart bags out performed my raised beds by far and I used the same soil mix for both. Sorry I haven't grown anything else in the bags but peppers. Everything else I much easier to grow. Peppers are very particular. These bags require much more water and more fertilizing. They are very well drained and will leach out nutrients quickly. Whenever it rained for a long time I would go out there in the rain and fertilize them with a strong solution. Iron fert like you would use for lawns helps and to combat calcium deficiency I use calcium acetate, quick lime mixed with vinegar and allowed to settle.

Hi Madonna, I'm so glad that the Mandarin Orange Cake turned out to be a success for you! I really enjoy the icing for it, and it hits the spot every time. I hope the gardening season is successful and we don't have a dry summer like we did last year. It's rained overnight for the past two nights, thankfully. I have a rain chain hanging from the gutter, and they're so much prettier than a downspout. As for my costume, I will be keeping it a surprise. There's more work going into this one than what I did for Cruella, as a friend said she was going to help me. It's another female character, not exactly Disney, but similar. Speaking of which, I'm hoping to go see Maleficent when it's released. Brad AKA Moonwolf