Good question Marcia. I've been contemplating filling in between stones with creeping thyme, too, now that I know it will winter here, but I'm worried about weeds starting to grow amongst the thyme. I have grass in my chives and it's impossible to manually weed. My neighbor laid a bunch of stone a year or two ago and she filled the cracks with course sand from an old river bed. It should discourage most things from establishing and also make for easy pulling. I'll have to ask her how it worked when I see her next. This would be a lot of work, but maybe laying a bed of sand then fabric, then rocks, so that the rocks have something to settle into. Then fill in the cracks with the sand. It might doubly discourage the weeds from establishing. Toots

Wow Randy, It sounds like you're going to have a great garden. I'm jealous. This year we decided not to grow a veggie garden because of the drought and our being on a water well. I grow so many tropicals and perennials that I was afraid I'd run my well dry if we failed to get rain. I have bought some habanero plants to set out, and DH will probably grow a few tomatoes, just nothing like we usually grow. I will be so happy to get our new house built and get on rural water so we don't have to worry about running our well dry. My Red Hots are growing beautifully. I haven't had any blooms yet since I put them in the ground this spring, but the Schitzopetalus you sent me has been blooming. Ooh, I love those plants. I'd like to trade you some bananas when mine start putting off pups. I think you'd love the pink velutina and maybe some others as well. I'm going to store my Musa 'Ice Cream' in my brother's greenhouse next winter, as he keeps his very warm, so maybe next summer I can get bananas to eat from it. :) Susan, I got robbed on my Lutea!! I should have ordered it from B& B instead of eBay. I've had it for over a month and it still hasn't sprouted, but I am holding out hope that it will come out of dormancy eventually. What a rip off of my $20. It's the worst auction I ever won on eBay! Oh well, if it doesn't grow I'm going to buy another one because that is one plant I just have to have! You will love the Chicago Harlequin. They put off babies like crazy.

I drove past where a house used to be today that I spent a lot of time in as a teenager. My friend Marci lived there and I spent many nights there...and days...lol...Such good memories. I used to run into her Mother at the store every now and then...but haven't seen her in a few years...I'm hoping she is in an apartment...but I don't know if she is still living or not... Made me feel sad...I sure wish I would have known when it went down...I would have ask for parts of it. patti

Me either, functionthenlook. The woman who sold it said she didn't use it because she is a "from scratch baker" and had no use for it. I took that to mean there may be a school of thought out there that bread made in a bread machine doesn't count as homemade. I like to bake things like pita bread, English muffins, pizza dough, dinner rolls and hamburger buns. Looking into the future, I see the machine as being a huge time saver when it comes to mixing, kneading and proofing the dough for me. My first loaf is rising and it's looking pretty good!