Karin, Harding Nursery 1995-2003 - Harding Nursery ceased to exist when my husband died Nov. 2003. An excellent reputation always! We specialized in Hostas, grasses , perennials, trees, crape myrtle, spirea and shrubs hardy to our TN environment. We sold wholesale to local landscapers and retail to local gardeners. Harding Nursery did not sell any kinds of plants other than brugs on the internet. Harding Nursery itself stopped marketing Brugmansia in 2001. LBJ was a venture I entered in late 2001 thinking it was a step up for me. I met and joined up with a source that had euro brugs! All I had to do was build the website and pass the order along from customer to supplier. Never had I been more excited about my future in the commercial brug world! I was so wrong. Instead I found myself caught in the middle of customer and supplier disputes. I removed myself from that whole scene. I do not fault the supplier totally. They had no idea that some of the most beautiful euro brugs they were growing were weak. Angels Dream, the first euro double pink in the USA, died. Later we learned it died in europe too. Also they could not foresee environmental brug disasters and California state government intrusions. If you knew everything these guys went thru during the LBJ days it would amaze you that they survived this horrible time. They are very successful today. Interesting that very few of the EURO brugs from the LBJ days passed the test of time. Im not worried one bit with the past LBJ issues. Im sorry it didnt work out but it certainly didnt ruin my life. Sorry to disappoint you Karin and company.lol! !:) The entire LBJ euro brug experience only confirms the truth of my opinion that brugs need to be thouroughly trialed and tested before they are registered or marketed. Nothing wrong with ebay karin. But there is something wrong with registering untrialed seedlings and using "registered" like it is a badge of honor and quality. In my opinion it is deception.

A Different Christmas Poem The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight. My wife was asleep, her head on my chest, My daughter beside me, angelic in rest. Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, Transforming the yard to a winter delight. The sparkling lights in the tree I believe, Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve. My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep. In perfect contentment, or so it would seem, So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream. The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near, But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear. Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow. My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, And I crept to the door just to see who was near. Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight. A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old, Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold. Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child. "What are you doing?" I asked without fear, "Come in this moment, it's freezing out here! Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve, You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!" For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts, To the window that danced with a warm fire's light Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right, I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night. It's my duty to stand at the front of the line, That separates you from the darkest of times." "No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me. My Gramps died at Pearl on a day in December," Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas Gram always remembers. My dad stood his watch in the jungles of Nam, And now it is my turn and so, here I am. I've not seen my own son in more than a while, But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile." Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, The red, white, and blue... an American flag. "I can live through the cold and the being alone, Away from my family, my house and my home. I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat. I can carry the weight of killing another, Or lay down my life with my sister and brother, Who stand at the front against any and all, To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall." "So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright, Your family is waiting and I'll be all right." "But isn't there something I can do, at the least, give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast? It seems all too little for all that you've done, For being away from your wife and your son." Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, "Just tell us you love us, and never forget To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone, To stand your own watch, no matter how long. "For when we come home, either standing or dead, To know you remember we fought and we bled Is payment enough, and with that we will trust That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

SHOOT!!! I just saw this.... My internet was out from a week ago Wednesday through last Sunday. Just getting caught up. And to top it off, I might miss the MN meet. Not quite sure yet. Been one of those weeks, has been these last two weeks actually!

LuAnn & Cynic, IT IS NOT A SPAM! Nobody is trying to sell you anything, nobody mentions one American company name; nobody is telling you what & where to buy! I just like the message it is sending. Believe it or not there are a lot of people who do not think twice about the product they are buying, they don't check where it was made and often are very surprised when you tell them. Lynn_d is right - "we need to wake up & realize that are killig our own economy". Obviously, it is easier to go to the big-box store (won't mention the name here) and buy all your gifts in one place (all made in China), than drive all over the city looking for small businesses. I'm not trying to sabotage any company, I just think there is a lot of truth in this message. "The human side of me (and I might well be the only one person who thinks this way) knows that someone across the globe isn't starving because of dotting those eyes." Duluthinbloomz4, I absolutely agree! Just remember that those starving people (often children) are working in terrible conditions and the actual benefits of their hard work go to the big corporations and their owners!