It was a fun little swap with some unusual offerings

I am totally looking forward to this and planning my offerings. In my past life, I was a serious hosta collector (ie, hosta snob) and traveled down to Plant Delights annually. Then came the divorce (a good thing) and the big dig and the double relocation......I could be bringing a $50 plant or a $5 plant....my priorities have changed and life is too short to figure it out. I am an impatient gardener....I want to try everything and it's killing me that I am starting all over again - I miss the mature garden...... I am fortunate I brought some of my garden with me (it was in the PSA, lol) and fellow gardeners (some complete strangers) are the most generous people I have ever met. And because of the generosity afforded me, I want that mature garden so I can pay it forward, again and again. I was upset that I couldn't attend the GW swap back in May.....but I wasn't ready mentally or physically....This event fits my mood and the amount of time required is perfect, even with looking up a few Latin names! Thanks for posting this.....now off to see how to get to R Street from the New York Avenue entrance....it's easy to drive in circles at that place.

I don't like global warming, because I already live where it is too hot. Some short term problems for all gardeners in all parts of the country: With longer growing season: More bugs. More plant diseases. Also, some traditional old reliable plants in northern areas may not perform as well as they did. (We can't grow a lot of things in the Deep South such as Hostas, Peonies...there are a lot of them!!) More serious: Loss of trees. This more of a concern in zone 9. We had a very warm fall, and the leaves on our trees were not falling. If San Antonio were to become frost free, I think many of our deciduous landscape trees would decline and die. That's scary. Fortunately, we got some decent cold weather and the leaves have finally fallen from our trees.

bob_n_bernie: I mean EXACTLY like that; and it appears another Dove has been caught by a superior aerialist. I think I may have posted this in the past, but I was washing dishes in the kitchen of my farmhouse one morning, about 10 years ago, or so, and looking out the window and the 18 inches of snow that had fallen overnight. All of a sudden I heard a "thump" on the roof, above my head, and saw a Mourning Dove fall out onto the snow, right in front of the window. It wasn't dead, but it couldn't fly, and was thrashing about in the snow, wings outstretched. I just couldn't figure why the Dove would fly into the roof--the roof was also covered with snow, and it should have been obvious to a (healthy) Dove. So I put my boots on and went outside to see about the Dove, and no sooner had I rounded the corner of the house, than a Peregrine Falcon took of from the roof, where it was perched, and flew toward the woods. It looked back at me a time or two, and seemed to be giving me a dirty look--as though I had spoiled what would have been a just reward for superior hunting skills. And I also realized, that the next time I witnessed such an event, I should wait a bit before sticking my nose in; I probably would have gotten to see EXACTLY what you photographed. And although it may be "gory" to some, it's "Raptor Reality" to me--it's simply survival, for raptors. I agree with gailr--great photo of a most-interesting subject. A beautiful photograph of a beautiful bird is a beautiful thing: one that tells such a story, as the one you posted, is doubly ineresting and rewarding. I have a photo that I took 10 years ago, or so. It's only a silhouette--all in black, because it was too far away, taken with an inferior camera I had in the car, but I still think highly of it. I was driving down the highway, and saw a Sparrow Hawk ascend from a field, toward a power line, with something in its talons. First chance I got, I made a U-turn and went back, while getting my 35 mm camera out of the glove box. I stopped opposite the Hawk, now perched on the wire, and managed to take 4 or 5 pictures, from about 50 or 75 yards away, before it flew off--carrying its prey. Later when I got the pictures developed, one of the pictures was exactly what I had hoped for--a percect silhouette of a Sparrow Hawk sitting on a power line with a mouse, hanging down, in one talon. Of course I would have liked to have a close-up of such a thing--but the Hawk and mouse, clearly silhoutted on the wire, was a rewarding accomplishment, also. Hawks won't always sit still to have their photo taken, particularly when they're aware of your presence. I had the photo enlarged and framed, and keep it on my wall in the country, to show to all those who accuse Sparrow Hawks of eatinng their "chickens", or some other ridiculous assertion.