Buford, Buford, Buford . . . Are you NEVER going to figure out how this works? Ofcourse they don't count, silly! Not only do they not count, but those four will occupy space reserved for roses that you DO want, so when you (finally) get the four that you do want, those four don't count either because the stress of delayed gratification PLUS the hassle of fitting them in cancels them out TWICE, see? So you're getting a total of nine roses, only one of which you have to count -- PLUS you then have a bonus of four roses that you get to add to next year's order(s). So that's an even dozen new roses that actually don't figure into your total. Now do you understand?

I remember the days before I-Village bought the gardening website. We had a guy called "Spike" who would send us to Disneyland link if he didn't like the tone of our messages. One fellow posted too many pics "hosta of the day" that inspired our friend Papou to take notes on his new beds, and that fellow Hank Zumach was banned. That was back about 2001, I think. Where would one go to suggest pinned threads? I cannot find a moderator link for Tamara. I never got an answer when I repeatedly reported a spammer on the bathroom forum that took up more than whole page of posts for a few days within the last week or so? I've been here a long time. Too long, I guess. I have seen the FAQ first set up, then updated, but now much of that info is out of date. It seems to me that between the Hosta Library and the American Hosta Society websites, all those bases are covered. -Babka

Know Pop is glad he's at the game!

Trailrunner, your home is just so beautiful and it seems to be full of who you are as a person. I don't know your story but I too have one of my own. The sentence that began "All any of us can do" really spoke to me today and I don't even know what words I can say to thank you for them. I don't mean for this to be an OT not by any means, but I try to surround myself with things that are attractive to me. The beauty might be in the character of your unupholstered chair or the unknown history of memazz's bowling pins or a painting that tells a story to me. My family doesn't understand the importance decorating has in my life, and luckily doesn't really have any influence on what I do - I couldn't imagine that battle. For me, it is the desire to surround myself with things that I find beautiful and items that evoke happy memories that dictates what I do. My rooms would not be in any magazine and pale in comparison to rooms I have seen in this blog (like your dining room) but adding something or altering a room bringing it closer to being "me" is what I strive for. Sitting in a chair in my LR, with my coffee, watching the cat as she sleeps next to "my" chair - no one else likes the color but I think it is "gorgeous" - with the colors of the vase (which I picked out just knowing that it would cast the most magnificent shadow) in the window beginning to creep upon her fur is more beautiful than any diamond I could own. So again, without meaning for this to be OT - I tend to look at people's rooms as more than what is "correct" as to how much of their personality is there. So many of your pieces from the stories you have told seem to tell some of the stories of your life. Do you like I, place what may be to most people, a greater desire to surround yourself with things that elicit positive thoughts. I find that not many people understand that it is more than just accumulating or matching "things". How much does ingesting your personality matter when you are designing a room?