bbfan10 - other than the heliopsis, your list looks a lot like mine did the first year. My dogwood trees from that year are now just under 30" tall. Most everything sprouted with high germ rates except for columbine. I grew apple and pear last year for a neighbor. This year I'm growing apple, dogwood, Japanese red maple, threadleaf Japanese red maple, beauty bush, red twig dogwood, spirea & St. John's wort in addition to perennials including Baptisia sphaerocarpa 'Screaming Yellow,' white baptisia, pink turtlehead, Japanese anemone, crocosmia 'Lucifer,' hardy geranium & Jacob's ladder, among a long list of others. Glad you enjoy the photos. Posting them always makes me see the garden through others' eyes since I can see all the "areas in need of improvement" & work that needs doing. They are definitely coming along but they want to look like nan6161's garden when they grow up. Mine are still crawling on hands & knees. I guess I'll save the flats for the Spring then for starting my annuals? Why give annuals less soil to grow in than perennials? Annuals are garden workhorses that bloom non-stop from Memorial Day until the first frost and some even beyond that. Alyssum bloomed here until Thanksgiving last year. I winter sowed annual seeds same as for perennials. I don't do a lot of annuals but they develop roots same as perennials. I don't use flats for growing anything from seed now I've learned about winter sowing.

Hi Jane - it's Maureen - you've been helping me with orchids...now maybe i can help you with hibiscus. I have a few tropical hibiscus that i've had for 3 yrs. I still have 3, i did have 5 but 2 of them didn't make it overwintering. But that being said, i bring my plants inside when it gets cold (not yet in my zone) and let them go dormant in my basement....they don't go completely dormant but drop a couple leaves. I water just enough to keep them alive, not too much or they will die. They bloom better each year for me so i would definitely put it in your basement if you can. I get very very little light in my basement and they do fine come spring.

THANKSGIVING TO ALL!! I was thinking earlier today that we should have the turkey tonight and have those wonderful leftovers and sandwiches tomorrow with our feet up, watching the games! I love my friends and family and consider ourselves extremely fortunate today. I find myself being more compassionate and giving on a local scale and would do more if we could to provide shelter and food and clothing for those that need our help. Best wishes to all of you with loved ones overseas in the military. Good health and good cookin! Annie1971

I am also ready for spring and it is peeking its nose out in Georgia. Yea! The star magnolia is covered in blooms, edgewarthia has a few open blooms per cluster-smells wonderful, camellias, daffs and crocus are blooming. I have had 2 crazy roses that have kept at least one bloom all winter that sadly had to be cut back this week. The forsythia has 1 flower open on it. I've been trimming and cleaning up stuff for the last 2 weeks and the burn pile is taller than me. The bluebirds and robins have been back for 2 weeks. I hope we don't get any surprise very cold weather in the next 6 weeks. If we do it will pinch everything. It has been mostly a warmer than usual winter with just one really cold spell. We will have the bugs this summer since none of them died this winter but I am okay with that. Sciatica is awful and acupressure got rid of mine. Now when it twinges my DH puts his elbow into the hollow of my hip, holding pressure for the slow count of 20, and kills it before it gets worse. I did the stretches etc. w/out relief and this got it better.