Hi, I have these extras in my garden to trade: Allium - karativense - white Butterfly bush - purple Confederate Rose - white opens to pink Caster Bean plants Black eyed Susans Echinacea - white swan Fennel Horsetail Iris - dark purple & also some mauve & burgandy Karl Foerster reed grass Ribbon grass - strawberries & cream Lamb's Ear Lemon Balm Lupine - mixed colors Ligustrum - rooted - 12-18" Moonflower vine - lavender Red Hot Poker Passiflora - maypop Pineapple sage Mints - apple, orange, spearmint, peppermint Rose of Sharon - rooted,about 12-18" Salvia - Purple knockout sage Queen Anne's lace Umbrella plant Yarrow- yellow & red Please email me as I don't always check this post. Thanks, Annette

Wow, that's a lot of plants! I don't have a list of what I'm growing in my little gardens -- sometimes it takes me a couple of weeks in the spring to realize that that weird looking weed in the corner is something I've had for years. I just assume that more plants than not will grow in this area! One of the more unusual plants I grow is agapanthus. Not a particularly hardy variety, this was simply a florists' plant my mother gave me four years ago. But it's come up reliably every year for the past three seasons in Central Ohio. It's planted against a south-facing brick wall with excellent drainage, and apparently doesn't realize it's not in zone 8+ anymore! One of my mother's more spectacular plants is a 15 year old calamondin orange that arrived as a little "get-well" houseplant. It spends the winter on the unheated glassed in back porch in Cincinnati, and now stands over 6' tall in the pot, and is nearly 4' around. It always has flowers and fruit on it, and we've picked 200 ripe fruits at one time.

I received my wonderful box from Margaret this week having received my red shrimp plant a couple weeks before. Poor box - he was in "priority" mail for 6-7 days! All arrived well though, here is what I received: Six big beautiful succulents Spring Pot Percher Snail Pot Hanger Pruning Shears Bag of GREAT seeds that I wanted and the cutest garden turtle ever Thanks so much Margaret I love everything! Sue G

RIT - loved your selection of EvonA quotes... I think you would enjoy the Fraulein book... (And yes, it's on Project Gutenberg and also Girlebooks - another free book place to read on-line.) I've been struggling trying to find a classic that I can keep with and enjoy... So far, I've tried "The Longest Journey" by E. M. Forster several times but I must admit defeat with that, much as it pains me as I usually like Forster's books. The search continues... I'm also working on improving my writing professionally speaking, so I've picked up a book by Lee Gutkind, the "godfather of creative nonfiction" which is a collection of award-winning nonfiction articles and am trying to be more of a discerning reader to learn how to write such articles. I've been wanting to do some more writing at work, and have read over and over that to learn good writing, one should do good reading. Taking that to heart. :-) And just finished up a short and beautifully produced nonfiction read called "Plain and Simple" by Sue Bender, Bender is an artist and a therapist who went to live side-by-side with a couple of Amish families to learn more about their life and culture. In doing so, she learned more about herself (sort of thing). I first read it about ten years and it really seemed to resonate with me then. This read not so much, but that's the gamble with something you reread. Not a bad read, but not as en pointe as I had taken it earlier. (Different time of life, one supposes.) I'm also reading a non-fiction called "The Secrets of the Middle-Aged Brain" by Barbara Stauch - fascinating science/medical writing. I'll chat more about it when I'm done, but I think some of you may like this. Here is a link that might be useful: What is creative nonfiction?