Morning!! Margo, it's not as bad to take care of as people think. I think because its bigger, its pretty self sufficient. I do need to get in it every month or so and weed. My water plants reproduce so quickly they would cover the whole top if I didn't. What's nice is I put all the pulled ones in a wheelbarrow and bring them down to the veggie garden. Pile them up and let them dry. I about a week they are bone dry. So dry they crumble! I use them for fertilizer. I don't know if its the pond water, fish waste or what but those plants work almost like miracle grow ;) Shirley, we have a Master Gardener's plant swap usually every year here around Mother's Day. I say usually, cause this year we didn't have one? I was so busy at the time, never asked why, and till you just mentioned it forgot all about it :) My fair swap has been growing a little every year by 1 or 2 people. :) A lot of the same people come every year once they get hooked. The like the variety of different things I bring every year. What's awesome is that it all comes from the gw. :) The seed swaps in the fall produce nice little babies for my swap. This year I tried a bunch of Dianthus.... I have Ipswitch, Black Adder, Yellow something I can't remember, Black Magic, Fire Witch...as you can see I got most of these from the Halloween swap last year :) I also have some different Althea's that I can't remember right now, lol. The turtle is officially done. He's not a fancy turtle, but, he does look cute. ;) The kids are so excited I hope he wins. Taylor was looking through the entry list for ecology classes. She's entering photography, art (painting and sculpture), sewing, flower arranging (gee, wonder where she's gonna get those?), and house plant arrangement. I have 1 house plant in my house. Taylor's zebra plant. This thing has produced 8 babies! She took my tea cup planter and planted them around in it. She then used one of my old spoons and stuck it in. Made a tea bag tag to tie to the spoon, " Taylor's Tea" It came out so cute! Billy is entering art. He made the most beautiful pastel drawing of a fish this year in kindergarten. It won an honorable mention at the school art show. I framed it. He's also entering the house plant arrangement too. We didn't have any house plants for him, but, we did have some hen's and chicks. So yesterday we got a pair of his old sneakers, washed them, and filled them with hen's and chicks. They are so cute!! Little blue sketchers!! So adorable!! My neighbor saw them when she was walking her dog and asked if they were going to be at the plant swap...lol! I have to get a photo of them. Have a great day!! vina Here's a weird one...found this double gaillardia. It looks like a science experiment gone wrong, lol.

Really nice packages being sent out there! How FUN is this swap?!!!!!! It's so FUN that I couldn't wipe the smile off my face while I was going through my box from Vina! Vina was very inventive with the letters from SUMMERTIME ... check this out .... ....................OScolor = red>trich Fern Iris; Tropical BUcolor = red>tterfly ................AlliuMcolor = red>; Hair ...........Iris; BuMcolor = red>blebee Delilte .............Lily; NEcolor = red>ttie's Pride ........Daylily; PRcolor = red>estor John ...............EgypTcolor = red>ian Walking Onion ........................Icolor = red>ris; Boo .................Iris:Mcolor = red>ohawk Brave ..............Iris: REcolor = red>d Zinger (it took me some time to get these letters to all line up ... Whew!) Vina, I love them all! I'm so happy to have BOO back, and Red Zinger iris (Shirley had given me this years ago and it disappeared one winter). And a Fern ... Thank you! And believe it or not the Egyptian Walking Onion is new for me, it seems like it would be perfect for Shish Kabobs! This was a Super Box! sharon

HI Again I spoke to the crew leader Thursday. I showed him the property line and he put a brick perpendicular to the curb. Said he wasn't asked to cut the hedge back. I told him that when he is asked, that I have agreed. We shook hands. I responded with MY certified letter detailing the situation in the sort of painful detail one needs if someone threatens you with an attorney. I need to send my letter along with a copy of hers to the city code office when I can talk to them and see where to send it. I hate to bug them, but it's what she said she did... . Yes, I agreed to talk to her attorney and on and on. I have no plans to put up a fence. This area is deep shade now. A solid fence will turn it into a no grow zone like my back yard along the fence we put up for her years ago. I hope she cuts back the hedge to her property line and maintains it. I should get some new growth on the youpons and hopefully we will both be happy. I'll honor my word and not plant any vines next to the hedge. Once it's on her property it should be easy enough. Honestly, I feel excited and suggested she get the cutting done in a timely manner... by the end of August was my suggestion. We shall see. y'all have been a great help. You anchored me when I wanted to fly off. But when she said my vine was infringeing on her hedge and she needs access to it for maintenance. That was a joy. She wants the hedge and I am happy to let her have it....smiles. c

Wash and rewash everything in hottest possible setting. Use several rinses on top of it even if you think it is rinsed enough. Use one cycle after this without any detergent. Use extra detergent (at least double)in first rewashing. Switch detergents too.I had problem like this about year ago w/my BF clothing and some of the towels even thou I never had any smell, mildew etc. in my FL's.I posted info about this somewhere here before. My BF started throwing things away, but after I rewashed everything many times over, it stopped and we have no problems now. You can soak and resoak, ton of laundry together in the bath tub and transfer it in wash machine to finish it out. I use only Persil now which is the wonder soap for me. We have hard city water. I used Cascade on regular basis in past plus Borax, baking soda but it is just hassle to have all sitting around. I never used bleach b/c I'm allergic to it. I use splash of vinegar in the rinse. If you have some mildew in the machine and you do all the rewashing in hot and sanitary (preferably sanitary only)w/adding Cascade to it, it will help clean your machines inside too. When it comes to our laundry, I don't care if I use more water for all the extra rinsing. It is absolutely necessary for me knowing that no detergent residue is left in b/c my BF has bad dermatitis. Todays machine cycles don't rinse properly specialy if you fill them up w/ full load. Use mixed loads too. It helps a lot! CS did not work for me either. P.S. Interesting thing about Tide. I was almost out of Persil so I got some Tide powder and did few loads and my towels are getting grey again and my BF started itching and breaking out too! Even w/ all the extra rinsing! He doesn't know I switched. Can't wait for the Persil to come.