Zone 4a and this will be my fifth year doing this. I start around new years, typically with hardy perennials in my zone, shurbs/trees and seeds that i don't really care about (e.g. old seeds). I typically wait until late February to start putting out a lot of my annuals, and I leave the following til the end of march or early april: zinnias sunflowers ornamental millet abutilon dolichos lablab morning glories 4 o'clocks cosmos and pretty much anyhting tropical in origin Most of these will sprout if sown earlier, but their foliage is sufficiently tender that I lose them in the cold nights we have earlier in the winter/spring. If I wait til then, they typically don't pop til mid april or later and i typically don't have to worry about the seedlings freezing then.

i have done it only once or twice ... and i have used my felcos ... too much resin goo to get all over my hands ... under the nails of the pinching fingers .. smells wonderful.. but a few days later.. you are still stained all black ... just surgically get your pruners in there ... and snip away ... on a pine ... if you remove the whole candle.. there is a chance you will kill that branch, back to the next branch ... pines do not have dormant buds .. and you must leave some fresh growth so that buds will set at the appropriate time of year ... top pic on the right ... see the little buds ... if you look at a given branch.. from last year.. starting at the trunk ... you can see how much it grew each year.. and come to some prediction of how much this springs growth will be ... personally.. i would not go more than half ... take a pic if my words dont make sense.. and perhaps we can edit it copy/paste this link also: http://www.conifersociety.org/cs2/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=3 at xmas tree farms.. they do this with machetes .... in a few grand swipes around the tree ... all and all .. it shouldnt be all that mysterious .. IF you have the courage .. lol .. ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Well, all a tart is is wax with a concentrated scent. I made several tarts at Christmas time out of gulf wax (parrafin - found in grocery store). I used the same scents I use for candles or soaps. The problem was the scent only lasted about four hours. Half of that of the store bought tarts. As for your candle wax. Is it parrafin? Parrafin burns through and through - meaning there is no wax residue left over at the end. The wax always burns away, which in my opinion is very nice. The candles last much longer that way. If you don't know the differece, buy a cheap taper candle from the $1 store, and buy a nice paraffin taper from another store. Burn them side by side and see the difference. So - if it's a parrafin wax candle you are chunking up I think that it would work fine in your burner. If it's a wax candle I don't think it will make it. But then again, It's just my thoughts on the whole thing. HTH CraftyGirl

I've always thought the remembrance candle was lit DURING the service, up front, in a little pause/ceremony. Just after or just before the vows, I don't remember. But the officiant makes a 2-sentence introduction, and pretty music is played, and the bride and groom go together to light the candle. of course, the only weddings i go to anymore are Catholic ones, and Catholics have the "light a candle as part of a prayer" tradition or rite. And so there's this quiet moment of prayer during the lighting--prayer of thanks for that person's life, prayer for comfort for those who miss him/her, and even prayer TO that person that they intercede before the throne of God on bride & groom's behalf. (an interesting part of the Catholic faith--shared by us Lutherans, I have found out--is that people who've died are still alive in heaven, and can add their prayers on our behalf to our own) Your son and his bride might ask their officiant what he/she thinks. If you light it before the ceremony begins or before the guests arrive, then those people don't get to participate in that moment of collective remembering. But of course, you can have your statement of sentiment steadily communicated. I don't think there's any hard-and-fast rule; just whatever they like.