Hi Im interested in a trade I have perennial rose milkweed and I also have white milkweed the seeds I gathered from the white milkweed are out of the wild I also have other kinds of seeds on my have list. I love clematis of any type if you are interested let me know. I also have a few hyacinth bean and some coral vine seeds.

Arthur, it's a 2 sided coin. The strength of a large group allows them to do things that we would like to imitate but cannot. They offer 2 programs each evening, one for beginners and one for the more advanced growers. When we have a speaker talking about Draculas, Masdies and Pleuros, I gringe as I know that 90% of our members cannot grow these things. Other than general interest, a talk like that has no practical value. The raffle plants carted home by people have a low survival rate. The San Diego society has a subgroup of species enthusiasts who meet separately. As many as 30 experienced species growers create a stimulating experience. San Diego has the only huge group I am aware off, I suspect most other metropolitan areas follow the LA pattern of several smaller groups. When the large society puts on a show it's a thing of beauty, our shows are nice but amateurish in comparison. I like our intimate medium sized society but I also see the benefits of a strong group. I guess you cannot have both. In my immediate area, 4 societies are spending 4 speaker fees every month. If that could be combined we could afford to go beyond the local talent and import notables from further away. If we could cooperate to the extent were we would rearrange our meetings to be back to back, that would also help but even that is not possible. Each group's specific night is set in granite as they have met that particular evening for 30 years. Nick

Liza, the whole Gardenweb website has been flukey the last several days. S L O W to load, even on my high speed cable. One day I logged on, and I got the message, "You're not a registered user, or if you are, you need to log on." That happens way too often, for who knows what reasons, but I just log myself back in and alls well. I heard a brief news report late last week that either then, or for the next several days, we are experiencing the effects of some new sun spot erruptions. Maybe that's the problem, or maybe Garden Web's server system has the flu! Susi.

I agree with you Klimkm, We have a neighbor who always made a point to come on our property - daily - and then rub it in our face. He would brag how he had keys to our home with the prior owners. He would come and touch the garage hours after I painted it to see if it was dry, and then tell me about it later (and he's walking all the way across my lawn to do so). He was really upset when we moved some pavers that came a foot onto our property along the side of the garage. Then he was even more upset that we put up a fence, and literally for two years, every time we walked outside our house he was making a comment that we're trying to keep him out of our yard. Yeah, we are. Deal with it! He would complain that the lawn mower doesn't get all the grass along the fence, so not only does my husband mow what isn't our property on that side, but I also go over there and pull the grass along his side of the fence so I don't have to hear him complain. If I don't, he sprays grass killer and kills my plants in the process. He's an old, rude, chauvenistic man. Really nosey too, like creepy nosey. There were days that I'd check through my window to see if he was out there before I'd head to the garage, and I'd move swiftly because I was so tired of hearing his complaining. I think a lot of long time homeowners don't deal well with newcomers and are afraid of change, especially the older crowd. They are accustomed to having rights to property that doesn't belong to them, so when you block it off, they take it personally. I told my husband that I wanted to put the fence up right when we bought the place, but we waited. Looking back now, it would have been easier if we had done it right off the bat. That was the neighbor to the north of me. I'll call him Joe. The neighbor on the other side of me recently purchased the home, and we both agreed to fence on that side between the properties because she also has little dogs. The neighbor on the other side of her now complains to her about the fence she put up. He's an old retired guy too. The neighbor behind us basically threatened to replace OUR fence in the back - it was an old ranch style fence that went around the perimeter, but the previous owners stapled this ugly lattice work on it for privacy and put it this really shabby "patio" (if that's what you want to call it) back there. It did look bad, and I can only imagine how tired they were of looking at it, but at that time, we were planning a wedding, doing major remodeling on the interior of the home, I was taking care of a sick parent, and money only goes so far. Replacing the fence at that time was not a priority, and everyone in the neighborhood could see everything that we were doing with the place - we were complimented all the time. So, we put up some cheap, Home Depot wooden fence in the back and along the nosey neighbors side that very weekend that she threatened us with replacing OUR fence. It's ugly, but I don't care. I planted trees along the perimeter, and I don't have to look at it. I don't think that people should threaten homeowners with replacing their own property. In contrast, she has this ugly wooden, broken down playset that stands about 20 feet tall, and that's what we see when we look out into our back yard. The green tarp on the top of it became frayed over the winter, and we looked at that thing blowing around all season. It's horrendous. I miracle grow my trees in the back every week. They cannot grow fast enough. The same neighbor - we have about 3 feet between our garages in the back where her garage meets mine. We have our wood pile back there, and it does not go beyond our property line. We have about a foot back from the garage. She takes broken cinder block and throws it back there. There are chunks laying everywhere, and most recently she had a pile of unbroken cinder blocks up against my wood pile. I could not even access my woodpile (it is under a tarp). So, after having had problems with them in the past, we decided to send them a certified letter and kindly asked them to move the cinder block away from my property so I can access my woodpile, so as to "avoid potential injury" should I fall on those rocks. It was moved within a week. Damn right if I fall on those rocks my homeowners insurance is going after her homeowners insurance(there have been other problems with these same neighbors, and I can say with confidence that they do it intentionally).