I didn't bush-hog today.....DH thought my tractor sounded funny, so I stayed and got semi-caught up in the yard and garden. This was the year I mulched almost everything in the garden, even the sweet corn. You should have seen me (no, you shouldn't!) I crawled between the corn rows on my hands and knees to weed and thin the corn which is now about 36 inches tall. I kept thinking of snakes as I crawled along......We have seen so many this year. I am now watering and have been since 7 am this morning. It will take me 5 days to get everything. Christie, I finally planted all those old flower seeds I had and the zinnias came up overnight practically. I finished today with marigolds, more zinnias, cosmos, rudbeckias and whatever else I had. I am trashing the rest and starting fresh next year. The zinnias are saved from last year. Be interesting to see if I get flowers by planting so late and so hot. I know I will have to water them to get germination. Blooming now, more daylilies, a few shastas, larkspur almost done, two clematis (I think Polish Spirit and Etolie Violette), zinnias (seeded themselves from last year), gaillardias, petunias, stokesia, Annabelle hydrangea, melampodium, salvias, feverfew (I love this plant), monarda Marshall's Delight (and the delight of the hummers), a few geraniums, a few lilies, russian sage (I trimmed it this year and it looks pretty sad), asclepias, and who knows what else! Oh, I forgot my pride and joy: very dark blue delphs. These are from seed and I didn't know for sure the color. Hope they make it through the winter. Something came in during the night and pretty much wallowed my pumpkin patch....I could see dog tracks or something of that nature. Ruined some plants. I wish the garden was fenced. Yolanda, when you get to Ozark, you are pretty close to me. We live just northwest of Springfield. I have often told DH I would love to tour the old southern mansions in La. So far, he hasn't taken me up on it. The 1800's are my favorite period in history and my favorite novels are of the south during that time period and earlier. I sometimes think I was born out of my time. I could have lived the pioneer life. Let's hope for a cool down and more rain.... GD

Shirley, just because you said Lowe's had their bulbs 1/2 off I stopped by ours yesterday on the way home and their's were still full price! Everyone gets such good deals at Lowe's but ours hardly ever puts anything on sale that isn't 9/10s dead. I did need some manure so it wasn't a wasted trip and of course I saw other things I had to have. ;-) Can you please ask the Lowe's manager or your store to train mine? <:d>Theresa, I do the same thing when I look around. It just awes me that I have parts of so many people in my gardens. That's the way I think of it, parts of "them" because they put some much of themselves into growing those plants. My pal didn't post that she got her April package either but I'm sending everything with delivery confirmation so I hope she's getting them. I got a really great package from a trade on a differnt RR today. I've been very lucky with both my RR pals. I love this one too. I look forward every day to coming home and seeing what everyone has to say. Keep posting, it's like being with old friends. Nancy

Hi, Y'all-- Oh, WOE is me!!! I'm afraid I'm a DREADFUL Secret Pal. So that it'll get done, I've just gotta commit and PROMISE that I'll have a package out to my pal NO LATER THAN MONDAY (9-26); further, I wish to express my heart-felt apologies for the delay. (Now for the usual litany of whining and excuses...) I suspect my inability to get motivated is due, in part, to the oppressing heat, which we should've been relieved of by now (avg. temp here for late Sept. is around 86*...yesterday we hit 101* and today we expect 97*); my concerns about "Rita", and the evacuees from the Texas Gulf Coast (I offered my home as a shelter on the TX Gardening Forum), and her fallout (although I'm about 250 miles inland, forecasters here in the Dallas area are calling for a resulting tropical storm just short of a Cat. 1 hurricane); and a severe case of "light deprivation depression" (apparently I'm VERY sensitive to it, and I go thru this every year about this time, when the "daylight" hours are roughly approximate to the "nighttime" hours). Thanks, y'all, for your understanding, and for giving me a forum to associate with other people...I don't get "off the property" much... Best to all, Cheryl

Gullible-- The maroon base is that new "Fusion" paint by Krylon. (It's supposed to bond to plastic. I guess it works, since the planter was finished in June and spent the better part of the summer in the sun. So far, no peeling or anything.) As for the ivy, I stumbled on a bunch of sets of foam stamps at WM for cheap-cheap, then I just used that indoor/outdoor acryllic paint that you can buy super-cheap in the crafts dept at--where else?--WM (got a set of 24 colors, or something like that, for about $7). And I did the ivy tendrils freehand with the same paint. The hardest part of the whole process was rasslin' with that d*mn tire until I got it turned inside-out...wish I had a picture of that to share!!! Well, on second thought, maybe not *grin*. Rainbow-- I don't really do anything special for my plants. I guess the only thing I consider "special" is make sure everything gets a drink of MG on a regular basis (every one to two weeks, depending on what the weather is like). I have a daily routine, whereby, nearly every living thing around here gets watered first thing in the morning (while it's still *relatively* cool). First, guins and chickens are fed and watered, then keets/chicks if I've had a recent hatch. Make sure the float in the cattle trough isn't stuck and they have plenty to drink. Proceed to the greenhouse, water everything and pinch as necessary. Go to the screened-in back porch, water and pinch if needed; then work your way around the house, watering and pruning or pinching or deadheading as you go...'til I've gotten everything just so. I think the biggest thing, though, is getting everything watered early in the morning, when the plants are most able to take up the water. Most of my plants--except the ones on the back porch and the north side of my house--get full-blast Texas sun literally all day, from sun-up to around 6:00 or 7:00 in the evening. Even the things on the east side still get what is considered to be "full sun". If I'm just a few hours late with the water, you can tell...and if I'm not here for some reason and watering gets skipped just one day, I have to go into emergency mode to keep from losing everything... Thanks for all y'all's compliments...I'll be sure to post pix of my new bulb bed if it gives me the show I'm so hoping for. Best to all, Cheryl