Oh Irish Rose, That is beautiful,i am sure she would love to be the receiver of such beauty,so i will say,yes,for her. I was just talking to her on the phone(quilt mommy) my daughter is 41,she loves to garden,but with 3 children a budget is always on the table,we have talked WSing all winter,so she is very famular with what i have been doing,now she is ready to jump in and give it a try. She is like we all were when just becoming interested,nothing to share,so she feels like she should not ask,she feels gready,when i told her i already had a couple of people respond,she could not believe it,she said,"Just like that,people said yes"?They have seed? She is very thankful,and excited as well. She lives up north,3-way-to-long-hours- away from me,but we talk every single day. Thank you from us both,i will send you an e-mail ok. cAROL

Oh, yes! There are plenty of Canuck Hostaholics, yours truly certainly counts himself as one. I participated in the Hallson's Secret Trade this past year -it was organized by Natalie from Montreal, not sure she's on this or any GW forum for that matter- and it was great fun and very rewarding. In addition I approached a lady in Ottawa -Hi Dorothy- and we arranged a swap as well. For those interested you can read all about my Hosta adventures on my personal website. I'm on a small suburban lot, 50x100, so there is really only so much physical space I have for planting in the ground, but I do grow a fair number in pots. I'm up to around 45 cultivars and always looking for more. I have attached below a link to my Hosta list @ Hallson's which shows not just what I have, but also what I'm lusting after. Here is a link that might be useful: Pietertje's Hosta Lists

I really dont like it when someone uses a gardening forum to bash people they disagree with politically. I also tire of trying to inform people about the farce global warming but I will never give up (LOL). I put this together for another gardenweb thread when someone crying about how global warming was going to doom our children and how we need to follow the advise of the experts at the UN. Here goes... In order to put public policy actions in place to combat global warming which could have negative effects on economic progress, the following should be true. 1. global warming is occurring (probably true). This is not all that unexpected since we may still be coming out of the little ice age which we know occurred at least from 1600-1850. Also warming is much smaller when measuring from satellite rather than from ground based measuring devices that are affected by urban heat islands. 2. the majority of the warming is due to man-made greenhouse gas emissions and not natural (questionable). Correlation between rising temperatures and CO2 is problematic. Ice core data appears to show that CO2 increases follow or lag higher temperatures and is therefore an effect and not a cause. Additional, the percentage of CO2 in the atmosphere is small (0.03 percent). Mans contribution to CO2 is a small percentage of CO2 (5%). CO2 contribution to global warming is small (4%). Much of the increase in CO2 due to man entered carbon sinks and is not still in the atmosphere (50%). 3. unnatural levels of global warming will occur during the next century (questionable) IPCC predictions have ranged from a 1.5C to 5.8C increase by year 2100 over the last ten years (needless to say the best answer may be they dont know) Computer models so far have done a poor job at predicting recent and past results. There is still a poor understanding of the global carbon cycle which makes any climate change due to CO2 unpredictable 4. The consequences of this warming will be disastrous (unlikely) Typically only negative aspects of warming is noted, positive consequences should be noted as well *Nighttime lows may be higher in temperate regions extending farming regions north *Increased CO2 encourages plant growth *Some desert regions (the Sahara in particular) may see increased rainfall based on historical data In addition, if changes to the climate take place it will be over long periods of time allowing for the adaptation and migration 5. we have enough knowledge to put in place world-wide policy action that can reverse the warming (unlikely) Also, any solution must be effective and be better than alternative actions (or inaction) and not produce unacceptable new problems. The thought of political leaders from around the world sitting around a conference table debating the best policy to put in place (and enforce) in order to keep 2100 global temperatures at a +0C increase instead of +2.5C is laughable. Fossil fuels are the life blood of the human economic engine that has improved the life of nearly every person on the planet. The level of proof for those wishing to change or effect the way we live is very high. The proof so far is quite lacking in my opinion. In addition, the proposed methods to combat this theoretical problem have been either impossible to implement or likely ineffective. Let the flame throwing begin. :) BTW. The 2003 map was very similiar to maps from the 1960's. Zones were lowered during the 70s and 80s when the earth went through 'global cooling'. Kind of blows that GW theory a little...

columbia: That's a possibility. I'm sure I could get a ride from there to the MTPS. How far away from the MTPS site is it (If I remember right, it's only about 1/2 mile, if even that, but i'd still need a ride for that 1/2 mile, if I had stuff to bring to swap)? I don't get off work Friday until 6-7, so it'd be a stretch to get someone (from my family) to drive me there, then come back home the same night. I could probably swing leaving work a tad early, but no earlier than 5 & would still have to have 30-40 mins to get home & get stuff ready to bring. Heck, jim6b even e-mailed me saying he can't make it & would love to give me his 6 plants he wanted to take (lambs ear & 5 lemon balm). I could take those & do some swapping for him too, if I was able to go. I would be willing to ride along with someone from GW/here on Friday who could drop me off @ The Inn at the park, then pick me up to go to the swap the next morning (How much are the rooms there? I don't need anything fancy...cheapest possible would be fine, i'm sure). I don't know who'd be able to though. I know a lot of people would like to help, but have already made their transportation plans & stuff. It's not looking good right now for me making it there. I'm still picking at my father-in-law to see if he wants to go with me, where he would drive & i'd give him gas money & buy our food item we'd be bringing, but I don't think that's gonna happen. I really would love to go, too. :(