Hi Jeff, I have posted that one before, Haworthia pygmaea f. crystallina, to the best of my knowledge, but this is the first time it's been outdoors for any length of time...At least it tanned, and did not burn, unlike some of its less fortunate brethren in my care lately. Nice Aloe flower stalk, nice to see the genuine A. vera. Veritas! Christopher

medo,I do believe I read somewhere you need at least 3/4 mile to reduce cross pollination! I am keeping certain ones in pots ,I plan to bag flowers and/or hand pollinate. The pink one was supposed to be Violet Feather,but turned out pink! I am thrilled to death with it! :D One thing I really like about MG's is they are full of wonderful surprises,and I am not picky anyway,I love them all! :) So my first attempts at hand pollination will benefit my buddies! ;) mnwsgal,I would be glad to share seeds from the pink one with you. I was so happy to see it! I really wanted a MG that was a lighter shade of pink,so when that opened I was in no way disappointed it wasn't a violet color.The Honeysuckle smells fantastic,although it is crazy growing,I find it worth the effort to control it! Besides I love the look of it,I have a well established driveway wall full of it,I love the way it cascades down! :) stagerat,Thanks so much for the compliments,I love taking pics,especially of plantlife. This season you guys will be seeing lots of them, I am sure!;) Northerner,thanks so much! Actually the purple flower is Dame's Rocket. I am finding I like this one a whole lot,it seems like it compliments whatever it is near.I really love MG's too,I was so happy to see how many different ones there are. I think each year from here on out I will only plant 2 or 3 varieties at a time....lol...we will see about that! ;) Thanks Karen! :D terrene,that would also be Dames Rocket,they really love it,I see them frequently hanging around since it bloomed. I am going to have to learn my butterfly cats,I would really like for my whole yard to be a sanctuary for butterflies and birds. So far I have succeeded in providing for the birds,they really like my yard,and I have already seen birds this year I didn't see last year ,my goal is to learn more about both this year! :) Carol,I will have seed for those African Daisies at the end of the season,I potted them up with a Chocolate Mint and plan to keep them away from the others. So if you would like some, remind me if I don't contact you,you are more than welcome to them! The Gilla sure is pretty isnt it? I absolutely adore them,next year there will be lots of them,although as fast as they came up and bloomed, I probably have time this year to start some more! :) Carrie thanks so much! I only hope my gardens look as wonderful as yours by the end of the season.You are also welcome to any seeds I have at the end of the season. I will definitely post more pics, if you promise to do the same! ;) Thanks Alyse! How are things going for you? I bet things are shaping up there also for you! I have found a few deer resistant varieties I think you may like,and some I just happen to have extra seed for! ;) I will be in touch! Here is a pic of the latest MG to bloom,it was supposed to be Pink Shibouri,but I am loving the color it turned out,hopefully the other one is pink,that would be awesome! :D

Marco, the concept of size and spacing comes up here a lot. It really comes down to a person's preference on adding and removing items to visually satisfy them on what they want to see. There are many folks who often times plant an area, dig it up a year or two later to change the look, then dig it up again two years later to change it again, etc. When this is done with flowers no-one seems to think twice. But when this same concept is done with trees many folks feel differently. For those folks, it is difficult to understand not wanting to plant a tree, give it space to grow to its normal mature size and shape, and then enjoy it in all its full grown glory. But there are two issues with doing that most people run into.... 1) Most people do not have the living space to grow hardly any trees to maturity much less have more than a couple in their yard. 2) Many people do not have the patience or desire to wait 10-15-20 years to see how that tree will turn out. So instead they choose to garden the way they feel fits their visual desires. Here's three garden variations of members from this forum - is one more correct than the rest ?? Will - He is in major collecting mode. His desire is to built a massive collection of as many conifer varietals as he can...the true collector. In order to do this he buys most of them at very young stages and plants them very close together so he can enjoy their beauty over the next 5+ years as they blend together and then is prepared to begin making decisions on moving or removing specimens as they out grow their planting beds. Myself - I would love to collect but do not have the patience or space to do so. I love unusual conifer varietals so I developed my residential landscape plan to fit as many of these unusual type specimens in as I could and still keep enough functional property space to do the other things I wanted to do in my yard. I tried to buy larger specimens for more instant gratification, was prepared to pay more for doing so, and have spaced my plantings wider than Will's but will also have to begin making decisions in the next 10-15 years on what will stay and what will go. I think Dave probably fits in this category with me as well. Dax - He is another true collector but has the space to plant his garden over a very large area, allowing him to space each tree far enough apart it will never have an issue with overcrowding. He also is an example of extreme patience because he plants mostly from seed or seedling and is willing to wait many many years to truly see the forest someday that will be the fruit of his labor. None of these three examples in my mind is wrong. All do what they need to do to enjoy their gardens. For me its all about growing things at all and keeping the planet green in any way possible and not about whether I killed a tree that outgrew my space. Off soapbox now mark

Oh my goodness, thank you for the lovely compliments, support and well wishes. That's so nice. I really appreciate each one. I am still scratching my head over the mantel arrangement and the large hall arrangement. What's the difference between a large hall arrangement and a large bouquet anyway? I think for the large bouquet I'm going to use a large white wash pitcher with Annabelle Hydrangea. No fillers, just clean and simple. And for the large hall arrangement, I'm thinking of making a topiary using an ice bucket for the base filled with floral foam and top with moss. Then using a ball of floral foam covered with moss and roses for the top. I'll see if I can find a super straight stick for the trunk, if not I will use dowel. But I'm not sure this will be large enough. Well, I will just have to try it and see! The frog vase isn't a vase at all. It's a tobacco jar that was passed down to me from my Grandmother. It is much older than I and is one of my favorite family pieces. I don't think he is a character from "Wind in The Willows". Cindy- I bet your bouquets were wonderful. What a nice way to brighten your work space! Becr- I sorry here hear about your rose. I will also cross my finger for you. The varieties of rose I used are; Elle Margaret Merril New Dawn Morden Blush Belinda's Dream Knockout Graham Thomas The Fairy Alba Mediland GGG- Thanks for the great tips! I will try and keep that in mind. prairiegirlz5, Keeping notes is an excellent idea. Thank you :0D Once again, a huge thank you to each and everyone of you. Carrie