Thank you for all the kind comments everyone! Jenny, It was load after load, trust me! Today my Pacifica is getting a good cleaning and a nice bath, and a long break after all her hard work. She deserves it. It really did give me goosebumps when everything came together. It wasn't until I had laid the flagtone that I really knew what I had designed and created was a piece of heaven. I can't quit looking at it. That may sound silly, but I surprised even myself. I've always been very creative, but to see an idea of this magnitude come together better than I expected, was profound. Plus, I'm a very determined person when I make up my mind about something! I haven't decided if I'm going to put fish in it yet. Thank you again for the wonderful comments. Mindy

I'm glad you like looking at my plants :-). FlowerLady: the veggies grew well because we had suitable weather for them during the summer: light rain every day. In fact, I have had several crops planted in the same beds. Now as we're approaching cold and dry season, I'm planting potatoes there. Will follow-up with some photos when I'm in Dalat again. jkom: Vietnamese food is rich in vitamins, I think, as it contains many kinds of vegetables in the recipes. We always have at least three kinds of food on our table: meat/first stew (or cooked in similar style), stir fry vegetables and vegetable soup. Of course we change the meat/fish or vegetables every meal, but it's most likely those are the main "courses" of our Vietnamese diet. I'm glad that you like our food. I like Bun Thit Nuong, too. It's delicious especially when you have the right "nuoc mam/fish sauce" mixture! Wow, my mouth waters as I type this LOL. Annette, my Medinilla is doing very well but hasn't produce any blooms yet. I had been keeping it in partial shade but last month when we were at a restaurant and seeing their medinilla loaded with blooms was in full sun, I moved mine out onto our front porch. It sufferred a few leaf burn. I don't know how it is now because I've returned to our Saigon home for 10 days now. But I hope it's OK. Here's a pic taken a while back. About two more weeks and I will start the daylily seeds, Annette. I'll update you regularly how I'm doing with them. Xuan

Hi all, I am in zone 2b and I have ummmm well alot of iris....in the hundreds. I have all sizes. Yes I have lost a few, but I wouldn't say it was really because of the cold winters here. The winters here provide good snow cover and that means many plants that wouldn't normally survive this cold, will because they are protected. Where the problems come in, is the wet springs. If the drainage is good you will have better success. It you have a bad winter, then yes expect to lose a few. A lot of freeze thaw will also kill plants. I haven't lost any once they get established. I will lose a few in the first year...and yes most multiply well once they get established. Also rebloomers don't have time to rebloom for us.....however here they bloom after the tall bearded finish which extend the blooming season into July Aug for me. Many of my iris came from Chapman. Also have a look at Trails End Iris. I know you are in Calgary, but maybe a trip to Hole's in Edmonton would be worth the trip. They also offer mail order. If you read the info on Chapman's website...he didn't have a good winter last year.....and lost many iris.....so it happens to everyone. Sierra

Thank you for replying telling me how thing's are for yourself's. When my grandfather past away in 1978 we all knew it was coming, seen his health decline from heart problems. Grandfather was my first lost from illness and I was specially close to him. My granny, grandfather's wife lived 19 years past his passing away and I would go over and sit with her for a few hours, she'd talk of how much she missed him and was so alone without him. I was very young at the time plus busy raising my two young kids, didn't realize just how bad it was for her being without her spouse. Not only having to deal with her loss she also had to put up with my uncle her first born son, he wanted to put her into a nursing home right away just to get her out of her own home so he could do as he pleased. My dad and her would not hear of it and she wasn't ill nor was she having any health problems at that time. Later on in the late 80's she started going down but it was slow she started forgetting the great grand kid's names till it came down to not even knowing her own kid's names. My dad would go over to see her and she'd ask who are you...well, where do you live. It is sad and so hard to see and watch a loved one go down. My dad has his up's and down's. When he is feeling good he loves to tell jokes and friends of his beg's him to tell them. Here lies one problem: being that he does live so far 23 miles from me it is not easy going over everyday like I do. My own home is suffering some cause I cannot get around that good myself. Like the other day I left dad's house around noon time so I could come home and do some house work but I had a bad bout with my leg and foot, the pain was so bad that it kept me up at night, I could not get comfortable no matter what I did. I'm going to the doctor today to see if something can be done for my foot, It might be a spur in my heal. Plus my husband keeps me up sometimes with his snoring .... he's going for a sleep study tonight. My DH also has a bad gall bladder and will need surgery and we've been checking out trying to find a good surgeon for him. First one we went to had the personality and a wet noodle LOL, Really that surgeon left us feeling very unsure about letting him do surgery on my DH. It is wonderful to have an outlet an outreach like this where as long ago it was much harder to find someone to reach out to. Thank's again for listening to me ramble LOL