One of my fellow NC gardeners discovered zinnias this past year. She direct sowed seeds all season. I do the same thing with cosmos. I collect some seeds, but scatter most of the back into the bed. The plants sometimes bloom all summer and into fall, but the ones sown later in the summer tend to last longer and look better. I also do a lot of deadheading and pruning on perennials that I know will rebloom if cut back. I had two rounds with my monarda last year. Agastache does the same, although the second flush was smaller than the first. I've got columbines that should bloom this spring. I'll scatter Forget Me Nots in case the winter killed the seeds that I scattered in the fall. I also try to plant more bulbs each year when they go on clearance. I wish I could wintersow Stargazer lilies. I could, I guess, but they're so much easier to propagate from scales. I just remember how things looked in June, July, and August and how frustrated I was in September when I only had a few yellow flowers left. The odd hibiscus would bloom here and there. The Shastas were done and busy producing more foliage. The brugs were the highlight, and even they stopped blooming when the rains failed.

clay lady, we would love to have you join in! Just list your 5 themes and send me your e-mail address and you are in. However, I am closing the sign ups tomorrow morning so we can all start sorting, ordering, and packing up seeds - so don't take long to list your themes and send me an e-mail message. Okay? (Nothing like putting the pressure on, but at least you found us in time!) More information will come to you and all the others by e-mail once the sign ups close and I will start a new thread here on the Round Robin Exchange page so we can keep up with what has been mailed to me, received by me, and when I mail back to you and you receive your packet. I will include the full list of participants and themes there also. Looking forward to lots of fun. Happy New Year's Weekend to all! Jeanne

annab6...my oven cabinet is all one cabinet...just partitioned into a cabinet on top, opening for the ovens, and then a drawer on the bottom. The entire cabinet is 24" deep, so my tray space is as well. Two things about that: (1) The 24" depth allowed me to store my platters lengthwise and my cookie sheets the same way. (Notice the cookie sheets, etc. are on their sides & the platters are the "long way" in...no horizontal storage needed...I can fit a lot more this way. Did that make sense? BTW...my longest cookie sheet is 19".) (2) Behind the shorter items, there is some empty space...but I've been considering putting some seldom-used items there...for some reason empty space just seems "wrong"! (Probably b/c in my old kitchen I had so little space that I couldn't afford to have any empty space!)

I've been doing the "Flobbie" for a couple of yeas but a couple of weeks ago when checking out of Walmart I spotted a lady with the haircut I really liked and asked her if I could borrow her for a few minutes to show the hair dresser in the Beauty Salon. So I dragged her there and asked if aanyone there could cut my hair like hers and one gal Jill, said she could. I thanked the lady (who had a good story to tell when she got home) and Jill commenced to cut, wash, set and comb mine out. It was great. I think I told this story here sometime in the past week or so. I've been back once and plan to go the end of this week. It is nice to find a gal who does what you want her to do!!