I enjoyed re-reading all of these. I have a couple more tips. If you don't have a full 8 hours of full sun, but do have 4-6, and you want tomatoes, plant them anyway. Your yields won't be as good, but I've found this year that if you prune the plants, you will get a decent number of large tomatoes. I'm not preserving my tomatoes in any way, so this only applies if you want a few tomatoes to eat. There are a lot of lovely veggies and edible plants that will grow in partial shade, so do your research and you can still grow veggies and edibles without a full-sun spot. Eat your sweet potato leaves. They are yummy. The tender tips are good raw and the older ones cook up well. The tubers will still form, even if you use some of the leaves. Most ornamental sweet potatoes don't have edible leaves (they taste horrible). I use regular sweet potatoes as ground cover just so I can eat the leaves. I never dig the ones in the ornamental beds, and they come back every year, providing ground cover, food, and a never-ending supply of slips for the edible beds. If you have earthworms, cultivate them by giving them lots of organic matter to eat. If you don't have earthworms, get some. They are nature's little fertilizer factories. You can buy red wigglers from just about any bait shop, or go out into the woods early in the morning and dig some up. They are abundant here in FL. Grow flowers! Even in veggie beds, they attract pollinators and better than that, they feed your soul. That's all. Lots to do today since we're having what I hope is our last freeze tomorrow.

Neil- The Master Gardener program is great but is supposed to be for amateurs, not pros, and particularlly for those wanting to volunteer in their communities. Short of degree programs in hort and botany from institutions of higher learning, many community colleges have good landscape design certificate programs for landscape professionals wanting to know more about plants and horticulture. Also, actual gardening, horticultural, and design experience. There are gardening schools like Ann Lovejoy's in Oregon and those associated with large botanical gardens; also on-line landscape design degree programs. The one through the Univeraity of Guelph in Canada is supposed to be one of the best distance learning landscape design programs. I have learned a lot from attending workshops and licensing/certification programs offered by state universities; MA, VT, and NH cooperative extensions; Northeastern Organic Farmer's Organization, NH Forestry, Fish and Game, Conservation Commission offerings; the annual green industry convention in Boston; books, journals, magazines; the Internet, especially GardenWeb and Google. Self-teaching through experience and trial & error. Hooking up with experienced gardeners, naturalists and the like willing to share their knowledge: a mentor. And experience, experience, experience. Best, Ginger

Comprehensive financial planning involves a lot of issues - legal, familial, financial. If you are comfortable handling EVERY aspect of your lifestyle situation, then by all means go to a 'specialist', e.g., a broker or investment advisor for your financial affairs. There is nothing wrong with this; I do all the integrated estate planning for my DH and I. But the time I spent working in the CFP's office, as I mentioned, made a BIG difference in my understanding of the various issues that clients and their families face at various stages of their lives. However, many people are not knowledgeable or interested in integrating all their affairs in a comprehensive and wholistic manner. As has been often proven, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, as is doing things half-way but not thinking things through to their logical conclusion. And even if you are comfortable handling every aspect, is your spouse? Are each one of your children? Do they all work together well? Be honest with yourself about these questions. So many people accumulate a sizable estate, only to have the family fight over it, or waste the assets because they really don't understand the various tax/legal implications of their inheritance. There are still way too many people in this world who are less than 60 and think that having a million dollars means they are on Easy Street for the rest of their life. My MIL, for instance, thinks that if she wins the lottery for $3M, that's more than enough money for all three of us - she, my DH, and me - to take early retirement and live in comfort the rest of our lives. By the time you take Cash Value instead of Annuity Payments, that $3M is down to $1.6M. Taxes will take another 40% between Fed and State. Hmm, she's down to $960K already, and even just the dividends off that have popped her up 2 tax brackets in annual income. Nope, not a lot of money at all, in reality. This is why I insisted we find a CFP to handle her affairs. Her financial knowledge is nada/zip/non-existent. Her DH left her financially secure, but completely ignorant. And at age 79, she isn't about to learn how to handle her affairs. She is the poster child for an elderly person ready to be swindled by the first smiling, friendly, respectable-looking broker who's introduced to her by one of her 'friends', who are as sophisticated as she herself is - which is to say, not at all. For instance, do your children and spouse know how to handle an inherited IRA? Do they understand the difference between an IRA that has never been drawn down, vs one where RMDs (Required Minimum Distribution) have started? Do they understand the tax implications of selling out of mutual funds? Do they know where to go to get the cost basis? A good CFP has the fiduciary responsibility to see that your assets are passed along in the best possible manner and that your heirs have all the information they may need to make their own decisions about what to do with their inheritance. This is why only certified planners can do "financial planning". It isn't a simple "nuts and bolts" affair for everyone, although it can be for some people. But the more assets you accumulate, the more value comprehensive financial planning advice is likely to give not only you, but your heirs. If the shoe fits, you can wear it but you don't have to. However, there's no doubt that a sizable amount of $$$$ has gone to lawyers, state and the Federal governments, from estates that could have benefited from the original owners spending a relatively small percentage on their assets on quality professional advice.

Thanks everyone for the kind words of support. I wasn't intending to have a "pity party" by any means. Just basically was frustrated at losing so many roses and had to sort of explain the whys. Sheila, I hope you have fun building your new garden! I know what you mean about the drip emitter-thing. I don't use many of those, I use mini sprayers on stakes, attached to the drip line with the 1/4" "spaghetti" line. Sometimes trying to move or replace them it's hard to find where they're connected. So much overgrowth of weeds and layers of pine needles! LOL OMG Seil, you mentioned violets... I forgot about those infernal things. Wild violets grow everywhere here. I kinda gave up for awhile on digging them out too. But where I am digging them out, I'm finding tons of snails and other undesirable critters. Auuggghhh!! Rebecca, speaking of grass... the other side of the yard from where we've been working is overgrown with Bermudagrass. I hate that stuff!! My husband tried digging a bunch of it out a few yrs ago, and he told me I was probably going to have to dig out the roses and start all over again!! I said "no" but we may have to do that!! Thank you Rose_crazy! I certainly appreciate it!! Thanks Jim, Mustbnuts, Towanda and Buford for your encouraging words! Cynthia, you are so right. I really need to get cuttings of some of my really rare roses out there so they are not lost forever. My plan was to send a lot to John Bagnasco, but he's soo busy with his radio show and all the other things he does. Maybe in the fall.... Thanks Patty. I know you're right. It can only get better. I know I will eventually find a job, but it's really an eye opener after two and a half decades of not having to get out there!! Oooh Diane! What wonderful Benardella rose is that??? I really must get his ROEDEAN and ZEBRA out to someone to propagate them!! Nicole you're so kind. Yes the financial part is very discouraging. We had such plans of retiring a little earlier than maybe we should, but now we can't afford to. And not being able to find a job is really frustrating. I just don't know if I'm not good at interviews, or what. Or they just seem to want stronger younger people. I am however enjoying not working, and it's going to be a rude awakening when I do go back. It's almost 11 months since I lost my job. I'm getting set in my ways now. Crap, maybe I sabotaged myself in the interviews.... I dunno. The interviews are so different from yrs ago. So many weird "scenario" questions. I just don't get it. I mean I'm only looking for a minimum wage retail job. Not like I'm going for some big high-paying corporate career! Sandra, thanks so much!! You are so sweet! Yeah, we do have that work ethic that so many of the younger generations don't seem to have. But it's funny. In my case, they chose to let me go... one of the more knowledgeable employees in the dept, and kept the two newer employees who are very nice retired gentlemen, but they know little to nothing about gardening. And one even said he didn't want to learn the dept... he just wanted to stock shelves and talk to people. If anyone needed help with actual gardening questions, he'd pass them off to one of us who knew about it. Oh well, I guess it's not about the quality of the employee, it's about the pay grade. I was making $3.50 more than minimum wage, and only working 24hrs, where the new guys were working 36-40hrs at minimum wage. So the new boss gets more for his money that way I guess. But... customer satisfaction apparently wasn't an issue. Go figure... Thanks again so much you guys. I'm tryin' my best to get the rose beds cleaned out. But we pay extra for a third green waste can, and they only pick up every other week. I already have 2 1/2 filled up and have another week left before they pick up. So I can't get much done this weekend. My husband could make a dump run, but well, this weekend is a holiday one and we have family coming. So it'll be aother week before I can really clean up more crap outta those beds. I just wish they picked up the green waste every week. Oh well, we can only do what we can only do! LOL