The national service weather forecast has something I've never seen for Nashville... 100% chance of Severe T 'storms! We had straight-line winds blow through Tuesday night at home and the power not only went out, it went out for as far as the eye could see, including businesses and street lights. They came on and went off all night, rather like generators were coming on and running out of power too. Strange. Stay safe Dorph. Learning kids can wait, otherwise there won't be no kids to learn. Our classes start next week. Senior seminar and Foreign policy this time around. Only 4 classes left to achieve my undergrad. It's going by so quickly. Shoot, I'm still trying to time when I'll file my intent to graduate form. I'm afraid if I do it, they'll find more classes or I'll be jinxed some other way!

Forget 'weather' and instead think 'climate'. All herbs originated from Somewhere, and once you know where Somewhere is, you can find out what the prevailing climate is Somewhere. Hence, you can find out just what conditions each herb prefers, and you can do your best to emulate those conditions. For example, from your list: Lemongrass is native mainly to South Asia. Climate in South Asia is tropical or nearly so. Tropical climate means hot and humid all year round, with frequent (often daily) heavy rain. Rain runs off quickly except in monsoonal seasons where flooding can occur. From that, you can deduce the following: lemongrass likes the heat - that means HEAT. It likes a lot of water, but prefers that water to drain away quickly. You can also deduce that: it doesn't take kindly to frost, and may not survive a severe winter. It may need to be brought indoors if you want to keep it alive, but it must have plenty of water. From the fact that it's called lemonGRASS, you can deduce that it likes plenty of sunlight, and that it can be cut down heavily and still grow. Cut, grow, cut, grow. You can research the rest of the herbs on your list in the same way to learn what is likely to do well where you live, and what won't without special care. Obviously, outside its preferred climate, a plant won't behave it quite the same way as 'at home'. It could grow more slowly; it might die extremes of weather (too hot or too cold); its growth might be stunted. Etc. Take a look, while you're researching, at the temperatures the plant prefers to germinate from seed. That will tell you a lot, too. If it lives at high altitudes, it's probably accustomed to cooler temps, and its seeds might like refrigerating or freezing (stratifying) before they'll germinate. So - botany and geography can't really be separated, when it comes to plants! I live in the subtropics, so most plant will grow here all year round, and do very well, But I can't grow things like French Tarragon or Meadowsweet, and coriander is a winter-only crop, because even in shade the temperatures here are just too hot for them. The link below is a good starting point for finding out the native habitat of a lot of herbs. The URL below is a good site for learning about the kinds of conditions herbs require (including in many cases, temperatures). http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/D_search.html Here is a link that might be useful: herbs and spices

Floral_uk, that's just what I was hoping. I was planning to go ahead and give it a try anyway, but I definitely feel better about it. Getgoing, my poppy order actually won't be here for 3 weeks! I was planning on scattering some seeds at the end of October and hoping for some seedlings in the spring, but otherwise would start them indoors in the spring. Sweet peas, bah. I have terrible, terrible luck with both sweet peas and nasturtiums. I've tried the 24 hour soaking...I've tried nicking the shell...nothing. I did manage to get one lowly nasturtium to sprout this year, but I do agree that it's a bit late for sweet peas. I have quite a few varieties so I'm going to try to grow a couple in pots, so I can move them to shade in the afternoons. I heard that they aren't big fans of transplanting so hopefully this will work!

Funny you should write today--I logged in by chance to see if anyone else ever responded to my post. Good timing. We liked Marvin Modern windows, but they are really too modern for our house. We liked the VistaLuxe WD and Weathershield options better. Both have flat grid options inside and beveled outside, resembling the way a traditional steel window looks. We would have gone with VistaLuxe but heard at the last minute that Kolbe was sued by Sierra Pacific for infringement on the way the corners of the casements are built. Kolbe had to change the design, and we heard they did a poor job of it--rumors they have customers out there where the corners on new windows are separating. There are a lot of complaints about Weathershield on the forum because of poor seals in their glazing assemblies and overall poor build quality (I don't disagree with the build quality issues in some of their lines other than Vue). I learned that Weathershield is now using Cardinal glass for their glazing assemblies, which is the same source used by Kolbe, Marvin and other high quality manufacturers. In person, I thought the Weathershield Vue windows and patio doors were heavy, constructed well, and finished as finely as Kolbe and Marvin. As such, we went with Weathershield Vue windows. They have been ordered, but not delivered. I can update when they are installed if you like. Best of luck in making your decision.