Had to respond to this. My bulbs just arrived from Holland today-earlier than usual. Being married to a Dutch DH, of course we grow bulbs: mostly tulips-lily, fringed, Rembrandt, Darwin, doubles, the new giant, etc. I think my favorite is the plain ol' Darwin. We plant 300+ fancy and Darwins in the "Welcome Garden" every year in clumps of 10. They come in packs of 10 directly fron Holland. Every year, we order them at the Tulip Festival in Orange City, IA. Yes, the fancy ones, in fact most tulips are annuals now. I would like to find some of the old fashioned perennials, I suppose they may be species tulips. Has anyone found good species or pernnial bulbs anyplace? We grew 'King Alfred' daffys, but quit planting them, cuz we always miss their bloom, since we snowbird. We had a lot of clumps, but I don't even know if they still bloom. I lined the front beds with grape hyacinths (Muscari). I had to replace a bunch every year and finally decided they just don't do well enough here. My border always had holes in it, so I just let them die out. Alliums are a different story and if I get the right cultivar they are wonderful and winter hardy.I love doing paperwhites & amaryllis in the winter and seeing the little scilla early in the spring. I enjoy the neighbor's crocus, but have no success with it here. gramma jan

Coastal- I love willows! We have a few standard willows, down by the creek, but I really want to plant some weeping willows, too. We had one as a kid and it was wonderful. They're so graceful and pretty...and they make a great hide out, too (LOL) It sounds like you're from the South...do you miss it? My dad is from South Carolina...it's so pretty down there, especially in the spring! Blfenton- Too bad about the camillas. That's so disappointing, when you look forward to something blooming and then the rain hits. We had that happen last year, with our lilacs. I look forward to seeing pictures of your garden, it sounds beautiful :) Aloha- Hi! Lush and low maintenance...sounds like a great combination. I don't have software, but I draw a lot of sketches (as you probably know, LOL) but it does help with planning the garden. I still end up moving a few things, but not as much as I would otherwise! Macybaby- Our climate is more like yours, cold and dry, with lots of wind. It's been tough on the roses, but I haven't tried burying them like that...thanks for the tip! Maybe that will work on a few of the more delicate ones. You're lucky about the deer! Mine love to wander around in my gardens, but only at night. During the day, they pretend to be shy and don't come up to the yard at all, but you can tell they've been over to visit, the next morning. Luckily, they aren't finding too much they like to eat...the few daffodil and hyacinth leaves they've tried must taste pretty bad, because they haven't been eating any more. We'll see what happens, when the tulips start blooming...

Because they wear identical uniforms, I can't swear that it was the chipmunk above checking berries that ended up dusting my piano this morning. The cat with chronic pancreatitis is feeling well, thankfully, but will never be a killer. Ivy was out for one of her 43 morning jaunts, but without permission or a watchful human eye, she ran into the house holding a chipmunk kitten-style in her mouth. She trotted right into the living, collapsed on the soft rug to play with 'Chip', and spat him out at which point he ran directly around to the back of my studio grand, shaking in disbelief between the sound board and the wall, and was now covered in dust of various, somewhat interesting designs. Whizzing the handle on the LED crank flashlight while opening the front door as wide as possible, I spotted him cloaked in a nose-covering web from last Christmas, got a yard stick, and convinced him to seek the light. He ran outside through the open door using at least 64 legs, and what I remember most is 'Chip' lives here because I feed the birds and he eats seeds. I probably should dust more often. Meanwhile, out back, this Jay makes it all look so easy. Jane

Claire, It was lovely here today as well, up into the mid-50's. I went for a walk near one of the oxbow ponds and although the water still had ice on about half of the surface, the birds were enjoying the entire area. Ravens and gulls walking on the ice, geese, ducks, and 2 kinds of mergansers in the water, and chickadees and a mockingbird in the shrubs on the margins. There was also an eagle overhead, but I didn't have a camera with me. Do you put the lawn dragon in the same spot each season or does he migrate around a bit? Jane, your chipmunk looks about set to pop with all that seed in his cheeks. I love the kestrel photos. Kestrels are another favorite bird of mine; they are quite common in Ohio, and their rarity here was one disappointment when I moved to New England. I love the feather patterns for both sexes, and also like watching them fly - they can hover to look for potential prey.