Good morning to all! Lucy, I love that color of cosmos. When I sowed some poppy seeds in a long rectangular pot, I put a piece of lattice on top because I knew the birds would be having a field day eating up the seeds! Of course you can't cover up the ground when you scatter wildflower seeds so don't know what the solution would be. Hope more flowers are just slow starting for you.

Happy St. Pat's Day to all who celebrate. Sometimes I pretend the day doesn't exist and I'm mostly Irish with a touch of Scotland and Wales thrown in - all immigrant coal miners in the mid 1800's. DD is half. As a child growing up in Castle Shannon (a suburb of Pittsburgh) March 17th was the feast day of St. Patrick, not really the huge drinking event as it is now. The day began with a Mass in the Cathedral and then we'd march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade. I took step dancing lessons before someone decided that garish costumes and curly wigs were mandatory, sang all the old Irish songs with my dear Da, drank Brewley's or Lyon's tea with cream and sugar, and baked soda bread with currants with my Grandmother. We will have a special meal to celebrate this weekend when the kids come over for a birthday celebration. They always ask for corned beef and colcannon rather than the Irish stew or shepherd's pie we often had as kids. I took my son to Ireland for 10 days and we had great craic as they say - which means fun. He gallantly put up with me when I joined in the singing in the pubs at night but I spared both of us the embarrassment of dancing any jigs or reels. I hired a driver so that we could both sit back and relax and enjoy the scenery and not deal with the roundabouts and driving on the wrong side. DD's boyfriend is from London so we're trying to plan a trip to visit his family and then go on to Scotland or Northern Ireland. Maire

Alisande- Thanks for the link.... :-) You will get more probiotic benefit from the number and types of good bacteria found in kefir than from any brand of yogurt, including Stonyfield Farm. While most commercial yogurt products have 2 strains of bacteria, Stonyfield Farm has 6 live lactic-acid bacteria to set it aside from the rest, if you want to compare commercial yogurt products. This link contains a list of the number of bacteria and yeast found in water kefir grains: http://www.yemoos.com/waterkefirstrains.html Kefir contains “right-turning” lactic acid, and you can read the difference, and the benefits, at this link. http://www.genesishealth.ca/kefir-a-better-ancient-healing-food-then-yogurt/   I've been making yogurt for at least 40-years (back in my hippy days ;-). I consider Greek yogurt an over-priced fad with few actual health benefits. I can drain the whey from dairy kefir curd for a Greek-style kefir. I did the same thing with homemade yogurt long before it became popular. I first made kefir with the powdered starter until I could locate real kefir grains. Kefir grains are a living bacteria which renews itself, grows and makes more kefir grains; while yogurt bacteria dies after subsequent batches and has to be renewed with new cultures. You can get the "Heirloom Yogurt Starter Culture", which included viili, from Cultures For Health - http://www.culturesforhealth.com/heirloom-yogurt-starters.html  I've also made "Set Milk" http://www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com/category/set-milk.php  These cultures are from Germany. I always make my own quick and easy sour cream with cream and commercial buttermilk (which contains live active cultures). Homemade Sour Cream 2 c. heavy whipping cream 3 T. cultured buttermilk [You can easily make 1/2 a recipe if 2-cups is too much.] Place these ingredients in a sterilized jar; stir to blend. Cover the top with a coffee filter or white paper towel (secure with a rubber band to the jar). Let sit in your oven with the light on for 24-hours, until it has thickened. Put a lid on the jar and refrigerate for 24-hours before using. This sour cream won't separate, curdle and break when cooking with it. Sorry to hijack the thread about drinks for St. Patrick's Day, but one good thing often leads to another - cheers!

I already had some of theirs coming from earlier sales, so I ordered: Flamenco, High Society, Lagerfeld (to replace one that died), Royal Welcome, Soft Whisper, Sundance, Tournament of Roses (also a replacement) and Voluptuous. They did a sneaky late addition of some sale roses after I'd already placed my order, or I'd have ordered a replacement of Malibu instead of the Lagerfeld. Not that it's a bad rose, but it's available elsewhere and that one I'd prefer own root. Cynthia