Yes, Lyle, I'm pretty sure people would be tickled pink to buy your --er, your friend's-- extra plants. If they are not unusual plants, price them about half what the local garden center is charging. If they are unusual or heirloom, you can charge more. It depends on how many plants you have and how fast you want them to sell. It works better if you do this every year. You will start to have regulars. Be sure to mention "unusual plants" or some such other phrase in your ad. When I sell plants, I post a picture of what the plant looks like in bloom, or if a vegetable plant, what the fruit looks like. I plan to sell my extras this way. I haven't sold plants in a long time, so I will probably make little cards with my address and phone number on it - sorta like little business cards - so that when people go to the garden center and compare prices and availability, or when they mention to friends where they got what they got, they'll be able to find me. I also ordered some "gourmet beans" and had to order a pound of each. The price was $3.99 to $4.99 and I had a few friends who were interested in them too, so I ordered several varieties. I have quite a lot left over that I plan to sell in little clear packages, 30 beans for 50 cents. I figure this way I can pay for my gardening supplies and for the seed I did buy before I discovered the seed-trader site, and I'll be proving a point to my husband who kind of guffawed at the whole winter-sowing idea. I have seedlings up now, about 30 different plants to be exact, with about 60 left that haven't sprouted anything yet. I'm zone 6. I will also be selling thinnings of things at this time -- Surprise lillies, grape hyacinths, violets, hollyhock -- things that are coming up in my yard right now that aren't where I want them to be. hope this helps! --Ilene

Thanks, all, for the advice. I sprayed the pumpkins again and stomped a whole bunch of squash bugs to death. (Does anyone know what the little tiny gnat-like bugs are that swarm squashed squash bugs the minute they are squashed?) I cut off all the bad vines and leaves and I'm inspecting the heck out of the onese that are left. So far, so good. If the bugs come back, I'll give up. I've had to baby these darn pumpkins so much already, I hate to give up without one last fight. The heat about killed them and kept them from setting fruit until just the last few weeks. I don't know, if my pumpkins will be ready for Halloween. This is my first year gardening and I think it will be my last year growing pumpkins! I'll let you know, if they make it...

Hi Marlene, Im not much of a rose grower either, but IÂve had surprisingly good luck with the five that were in at this house when I bought it. Mine are all teas, and IÂve already cut mine down for this yearÂto about knee height. In spring IÂll trim out any dead wood and give the canes a fresh cut. The year we got all the snowstorms, I hadnÂt gotten mine cut down, and I had serious damage to my favorite one, a yellow, when the snow piled up on top of it and broke a couple of the main canes. Now I try to be sure I get them done before weÂre likely to get any heavy snows. But if yours are climbers, and they bloom on old wood only, you wonÂt get any flowers next year if you cut them down before they bloom, so when you cut them down would really depend on if they bloom on old or new woodÂand if youÂre willing to cut them down short and let them start over again. With the mildew, I can give you all the canned answers from when I was in the green industry, but the ONLY thing IÂve found to help prevent mildewÂand rustÂand black spotÂetc., is to keep them really well watered. Every year IÂve been better and better about making sure they stay well watered, and this is the first year I havenÂt had a problem with any of the funguses. And when I first moved in (the people who were here before me thought they were taking care of the few plants that were here, but they didnÂt know ANYTHING about plants) two of the roses were badly infected with rust and mildew. I never used any type of treatment, other than picking off badly infected leaves (to the point of defoliating those two a couple times) and throwing them in the trash. I donÂt know what the oils doÂIÂve never used them and have never heard of them being recommended for fungus, especially in summer, but the fungicides you can buy, along with things like baking soda (milk is supposed to help too) donÂt actually "kill" the fungus. I donÂt think thereÂs anything that does that. They just help slow it down somewhatÂsometimesÂor help keep if from starting if theyÂre not infected yet. And, since I rarely get rain, the leaves on mine tend to stay pretty dry, but I donÂt make any special attempts to keep them dry. As a matter of fact, I water my grass after dark and IÂm sure the mist gets blown onto the roses and they probably stay wet much of the night when IÂve watered. I donÂt believe, anymore, that that makes any difference! They seem to get better and better, the more, and more thoroughly I keep them watered. IÂve also noticed, when IÂm in Illinois visiting family, or any of the other very humid places I get to, that I rarely notice mildew on roses, or anything elseÂyet, here in Colorado it seems to run rampant. Since high humidity and wet foliage is supposed to promote mildew, that seems just a teensy bit backwardsÂand I think that theory is bunk! Just my personal opinion! I have come to the conclusionÂrightly or wronglyÂthat stress (the plant--not you!) is the primary cause of fungus! If you decide to wait till spring to cut them down, I do recommend putting on a pair of leather gloves and cleaning off as much of the foliage as you can, and picking up whatever is around the base of the plants. Getting as much of the mildew as you can out of the area is always a good idea. With the mums, I cut mine down in fall or over winter when the weatherÂs nice. I got one of mine cut down a little over a week ago, and the new growth at the bottom will pretty much just sit there smiling at me till spring. Actually, my plants are getting old, and next spring IÂm gonna dig them up and replant new sections of the plants. If they knew that, they might not be smiling!!! The rest of them IÂll be cutting down as soon as I find timeÂso I can see that "new foliage smile!". And I cut the individual stems all the way downÂless than an inchÂto the new growth at the bottom. But I donÂt really think it makes a whole lot of difference if you leave the old growth on over winter, or cut it off! I just like everything to look "neat" over winter, and, also, if I wait till spring and donÂt get around to it until after theyÂve started to grow, itÂs harder to cut them down without damaging the new growth. With the Diascia, IÂm not sure what to recommend! I was at PaulinoÂs the year that one was introduced thru Plant Select, and at that time we were never able to decide for sure if it was reliably hardy. If IÂm not absolutely sure something is gonna come back, I usually donÂt cut it all the way down till I can be pretty sure of the weather in spring. So you may want to leave it just as it is, or cut it halfway down, but leave at least some of the stems/foliage on over winter. IÂve never grown it myself? I like winter interest too, David, but I guess my "interests" just fall along different lines! ;-) Skybird

Thanks guys for sharing in my happiness! :) I'm like an auction junkie. Every weekend we don't have something going on, we find one to go to. It's the best time ever. Fly .. No one bid on that flooring at all, can you believe it? Yes, it does need to be cleaned with a planer, then sanded .. but it was carefully taken up, de-nailed and the tongues are in good shape, so it should go back down just fine. The floor was late in the auction too .. I was freezing my buns off, but was so ramped up on hot coffee ( trying to keep warm ) that I was getting fidgety to bid. I think they made a mistake in calling the lot, hardwood flooring .. so unless someone knew what they were looking at, they didn't have a clue it was heart pine. The guy started off at $200, no bid .. $150, no bids .. at this point I'm trying not to bid, seeing where the money would start .. $100, nothing .. $50 .. crickets chirruping. So the auctioneer finally says who will give me something for it? So I throw my hand up .. $30 .. he's thinking okay we can start the bidding now. I have $30 .. do I hear $40, $40, $40 .. awww .. come on folks, $35 .. nothing. Meanwhile I'm trying not to throw my hand up and bid against myself, because 1) I'm excited and 2) no one should drink that much coffee. :D It plays out and my DH was impressed, but cut me off from the caffeine soon after. Yes, on the clock and the never ending math class :) I love it though and think it will go with a few things I have to place with it.