thank you for your input! It's nice to know I'm still "alive." Last year I wrote a note on this forum called "stopped dating." I really thought I had lost interest, then I met someone but that went to hell in a handbasket very quickly ...the "I dont get it, what happened" entry on this forum I wrote about 6 months ago. It's interesting, looking back now, at the personal growth progress I've made since that first entry. That is not to say that starting to date again is necessarily a "great personal growth" but rather all that happened inbetween then and now. I am not a fan of hidden agendas either. life is interesting, and is even more interesting when one realizes it really has a purpose rather than to simply endure the mundane daily routines.

Ernie I am bad to the bone but do not tell any one. Wackyweeder I wish you were here working your weeding magic on my weeds. OH My. Ernie you have me pegged for loving purple. Turquoise too. Yes I am doing The mannequin Thelma and have a couple more in my attic/loft to do. And two more I already did. I am going to have a houseful of Mannequins. I had to have cataract surgery last summer so had to put Thelma aside while waiting for my eyes to settle down after surgery. In the mean time I worked on other projects that were not so visually demanding. And there Thelma sits waiting in my dinning room. With no table. LOL. I really need to finish some thing before going onto the next thing and I am winding things up now. I want to finish my hallway wall and making a gazillion grape leaves and also need to cut probably the same number of grape vine pieces. This is so boring. I am mounting the green leaf glass onto mirror bits. Nothing artistic about it just boring. I also need to compete the arbor sections to install on the wall then build my grape vine. Then get some sort of lighting and I hope to no longer have a long dark hallway. Then I will move back to Thelma. I need to lay her all the way across my worktable and cutting table and need to clear room to do this. I am sure when you are ready you will start on your mannequin. they are fo fun to do and develop such a personality. In the mean time hubby has cancer so I do not want to get too tied up in a project while needing to tend to him. There is just so much do to all the time. Holding down the fort. The out come will be grim. :'( Soldering on............. I am glad I have my art and animals to turn to.

I bought my first hostas at Lowe's- was looking for something that would be pretty with the red Japanese maple I had just planted, and the Rainforest Sunrise caught my eye. Then I started looking at Pinterest and just HAD to have a Blue Mouse Ears. I bought that at a good local nursery, and put it in a pot, like I had seen online. The next Spring, I was eagerly anticipating the appearance of those 3 RS's, and it seemed like maybe they had disappeared. Since I was aware of gardenweb, I started looking for info- wondering what had gone wrong. . Bottom line- they're late sleepers. They came up eventually and are still fine.... but by then I was getting hooked on reading and studying about hostas, both in GW, and elsewhere. And because of that, I've given up buying them at big box stores or even the nicer local nurseries because the fear of HVX is ever present. So far- no problems with my RS's or BME's, but the virus can show up after many years' dormancy. I live close to a great hosta nursery- Made in the Shade. He has a large selection, and I've purchased a number of beautiful plants there. This year I've tried mail order for the first time. Got four beautiful plants from Hallson's. And I'm waiting for some ordered from Northern Grown Perennials. I shop the other nurseries and big box stores for other plants and shrubs, etc. But I walk past their hostas so as not to be tempted.

Hi Margee! I've been wondering that myself! I wish I knew the answer. I put out a roll call post a couple of years ago and got lots of replies, but still there is not as much activity as there used to be. That seems to be the case with a lot of the forum pages, not only the state centered ones, but the specialty plant forums as well; although it seems the rose forum is still pretty active. I really miss keeping up with the many friends I've made on here. We had a lot of fun with various games and funny posts! Some of the friends I've made here have became "in person friends" and we visit, chat, and trade plants all year. Now when many of us are more or less 'sheltering in place' it would seem a good time to revive the Texas Garden Web. So everybody whose reading this: post! Put pictures! Ask questions! I think it would help if more people who read posts would comment; even if just a few words. Sometimes we posters get the impression that no one is even reading what we put out there. By the way -- what variety IS that humongous rose bush??? :-)