It's a great addiction though, right? LOL..It can be costly but what the heck..There was only 1 plant in all the yrs of growing, where I paid over 40.00, well, honestly, it was 75.00..LOL..and that was a gardenia tree..I remember thinking 20.00 was extravagant, lol..Most of the time I look for bargains, or buy small plants..for instance, we went to HD last wkend..they had different size succulent pots..small was inexpensive whereas larger plants were at least 15.00+, so I stuck w/the small..I know they'll take longer to get to that size, but I figure I can buy more than one type for 15.00.. Speaking of succulents, I don't know how many ppl here enjoy them, but many HD's are having a huge sale and so many varieties..think they're getting plants from another nursery..they're fantastic..I found a baby variegated Kalanchoe for 1.99..it's really pretty, never seen one like it..it was the last left, so I grabbed it up fast..Toni

K- I've never figured out the correct shortened version of hippeastrum, I've seen hippe, hippi, why not hippy. A gift giving celebration would give me a reason to buy bulbs! Did anyone else notice that there was a mail order place with Trentinos on sale for under $2 each, sold in multiples of five. Maybe there is a better time of year to do this. Xmas in July kind of thing. That's the ticket. We make up our own Hippeastrum Holiday. All we need is a name and a date. We can take nominations for names and vote on the best one, and the winner will get some kind of prize. Who wouldn't love to have a treat from the "Veronica, the Hippeastrum Fairy". We could celebrate V. Read's birthday as the holiday. Or how about a Cybistatic Celebration, where naughty gardener's are visited by the pencil-thin wispy, Chico La Paz. Someone stop me, please. I like the idea.

My lilies have suffered the most. Several completely died back. They'll be back next year hopefully, but I don't know if it was the cold, the wet, or a combination of both that killed them back yet. If it was both, they may not come back. My nasty red climbing rose has blooms all over it, altho the leaves did suffer damage, and the ubiquitous black spot is taking hold. I don't spray it, it will just have to look horrible. I would love to give it to someone who wants to try to dig it out of a precarious location. It is planted right next to the house and there is a permanent plant shelf that has been there since I moved it, so it will be difficult to dig between it and the house (only about a 8-10" space"). I never use the plant shelf. It holds 3 pots and looks kind of like a book shelf, with only one shelf per stand. Kind of striking in appearance actually, but I'm afraid the wind in Oklahoma would knock down any pots planted on it. So, it's purely decorative in nature. What else suffered? A lot of things suffered hail and wind damage, like the petasites japonica, hostas, the acanthus, all larger leaved plants. Dawn, my elderberry leaves are turning a mottled yellow/green - does this mean an iron deficiency or what? They can take a lot of water, so I don't think it's that. I didn't think they really needed fertilizer, so I haven't fertilized it. Just wondering. Katrina, I'm glad your shrubs and trees are coming out of it. Just be patient. The temps have been so cool, that everything growing really well before they hit, has slowed down a LOT! For instance, my aristolochias were growing gangbusters, but haven't grown at all since the cold hit us. Lots of things just standing still. It's really weird, too, because I have morning glories popping up that I just planted about 2 weeks ago. Now, they need tons of warmth, so I'm totally shocked that they are coming up. Could be the soil is still warm, and just the above ground plants are being affected. Very strange spring IMHO. But, with the soil still warm, you should be okay and start experiencing growth once the temps warm up consistently again. Susan

When DS#1 was about 3 he was curious but afraid of Santa. I had not really introduced him to "the real man," just waited for him to be ready. He never was, he would only wave from a distance. So my father came to our house dressed as Santa, thinking DS would be excited in his own home. Nope. He wasn't afraid, but he didn't care, he just kept asking "Grandma, why didn't you bring Grandpa?" LOL! DS was only really excited when he came back to the door as Grandpa! After that, I just did not encourage or discourage the Santa game to any of my kids. If they talked about him, I asked if they wanted to see him, they would say no. When they made wishes to Santa, I played along, never just killed it for them. But it was never a big deal, we have no pictures and don't wait in line at the mall to see him. I still write from Santa on all their gifts under the tree. I don't put gifts under the tree or in the stocking until the wee hours of Christmas Eve. Why? I guess b/c that's what my parents did, so that's why I do. ;o) Santa is just not a big part of our holiday. I don't know if my youngest ever believed, he is 6 now. When he was 4 I heard a friend's grandma ask him if he went to see Santa and DS told her "You know he's not a real person, don't you?" as if she was very confused. After that, I just focused on telling him not to say that to other kids. I had to remind him again this year that it's a fun game parents play and that it is not nice to ruin the game for other people. I am not sad that my kids don't believe, it just does not matter to me. Creating the illusion never came naturally to me as a parent. If they picked it up from other people and joined it, I went along. If they asked me for the truth, I told them it's a game we play. I could tell them the bit about Santa being in all of us when we give to others. Generosity and compassion are values I try to instill. It sounds good when other people say it. But it's not words that sound sincere when I say it. I respect whatever others chose to do. But I cannot make sense of standing in line to put my kid on a stranger's lap or paying to have his picture taken with a stranger in a costume. I guess I don't suspend the disbelief well enough myself to play it up for my kids. It sounds fun when people leave cookies and make reindeer food and leave footprints... all the games to play it up. But I would feel silly doing it myself. I don't know if I'm coming across the right way, I'm afraid I sound like a Scrooge. I do not judge or scoff at families who get into the whole thing. It works for them, that's great. I just also think we're fine without it. High heels are very popular, too, but I feel silly as heck wearing those, too. ;o) I just can't dress up in something- clothes or ideas- that aren't me without feeling like I'm pretending to be someone I'm not.