Thanks, Vera! I do have a container each of verbena, marigolds, and zinnias. I will get those babies covered tonight. Thank you! cheers, Nora Belle

It has been pouring down a cold rain all day. This worries me more. Even though I "plant high" the ground is just saturated. Just before this rain, we dug out the top borders above the edging, installed a pipe and gravel so that my slopes won't wash away. So many torrential rains this winter. For those outside North Carolina who don't know -- we get more rain than Seattle! Only, we have more sunny days (at least we used to). My rain garden plants are happy, though! The pipe/gravel directs the runoff to them. Cameron PS I wish we could add agastache threads here on the salvia forum. That's what I collect! I have two new varieties on zone trial for TN Nurseries.

Portland, Oregon got snow on Sunday and it's been so cold that little of it has melted. We are not set up for this! School was closed Monday, Tuesday, and also tomorrow. We don't have snow plows, we don't use salt on the roads. It's supposed to snow again tomorrow and again over the weekend. I've lived here 15 years and have never experienced this. (By the way, I moved here from Northern CA where we never got snow!) I love the snow, though. Probably because we don't get it very much. My kids are thrilled with the snow days, even though they start their 2-week winter break next week. I teach preschool and we had to cancel our Christmas Program tomorrow. The kids worked so hard rehearsing for it! (We will do it after Christmas.) I'm sure I've gained 10 lbs. being home all day with little activity.

I'd give y'all some of my homemade challah, but it's best eaten as soon as it cools. The Baltimore real estate agent is trying to play games. My real estate agent is trying to get her to back off. I have killed myself caulking, painting the stair risers, sanding, polyurethaning, decluttering, etc. to ready my place in NYC to sell. Gotta sell before can buy. I've been doing so much in the way of cosmetic touchups that I had to go to the eye dr. for inflammation in and around my eyes...must have touched my face while having some nasty stuff on my fingers. Eyes are responding well to steroids, thank heavens. I'm wondering if I should get some dowel rods and stick them into the ground where the hostas are dying back, so I can readily find them to dig them up and pot them, if the happy situation of sell-buy does come about. No one has yet answered my question of whether I should pot my hostas & heuchies up in those fabric Gro-pots (not spinout bags) with lightweight soil before the ground gets hard and frozen. I don't want to subject my plants to transplant unless I'm definitely going to move. What do you think?