bbfan10 - other than the heliopsis, your list looks a lot like mine did the first year. My dogwood trees from that year are now just under 30" tall. Most everything sprouted with high germ rates except for columbine. I grew apple and pear last year for a neighbor. This year I'm growing apple, dogwood, Japanese red maple, threadleaf Japanese red maple, beauty bush, red twig dogwood, spirea & St. John's wort in addition to perennials including Baptisia sphaerocarpa 'Screaming Yellow,' white baptisia, pink turtlehead, Japanese anemone, crocosmia 'Lucifer,' hardy geranium & Jacob's ladder, among a long list of others. Glad you enjoy the photos. Posting them always makes me see the garden through others' eyes since I can see all the "areas in need of improvement" & work that needs doing. They are definitely coming along but they want to look like nan6161's garden when they grow up. Mine are still crawling on hands & knees. I guess I'll save the flats for the Spring then for starting my annuals? Why give annuals less soil to grow in than perennials? Annuals are garden workhorses that bloom non-stop from Memorial Day until the first frost and some even beyond that. Alyssum bloomed here until Thanksgiving last year. I winter sowed annual seeds same as for perennials. I don't do a lot of annuals but they develop roots same as perennials. I don't use flats for growing anything from seed now I've learned about winter sowing.

Still frigid here. Looks like we are going to have single digit highs during the up coming weekend. Tomorrow promises to be 30, whew, a heat wave!!! Well, the forecaster here was right as he did predict a colder and snowy December and January, I can only hope his prediction of an early spring is right. I will take it!! Oh, Rita, how are the chicks doing!? Cindy

Well I'm NOT a blue person. Indoors I have NO blue. My husband doesn't understand this. I have no idea why I feel this way. Outdoors things are different! I have a blue/yellow/white garden bed which I love. Yes, delphineums, catananche, campanulas, baptisia and more, are mixed with trollius, coreopsis moonbeam, peony Claire de Lune and low growing white clematis and aquilegia. It is a big mix and wouldn't be any fun at all without the blue! There are loads of clematis that are purple or blue/purple, but also some very nice blues I think. You do get into the question of "what is blue?" My husband and I think this could well be a male/female issue! Also, by saying a flower is blue, perhaps a catalogue gains more sales? * Posted by: coolbeans (My Page) on Sat, Feb 2, 02 at 13:12 This is my VERY favorite thread, and I totally agree with all those who feel that there is just "something" about blue flowers; they ARE magical, they ARE very special; and they make me happier than any other color flower. Don't know why...I just started a flat full of Bluebird delphinium seeds I saved from my one lonely plant last year. A bunch of them germinated, so now I can't wait to have a huge stand of them! Maybe they won't bloom this year, but maybe they will. And also "true blue" penstemons, I'm trying for the first time. I can't get enough of this precious color. * Posted by: Anne_Marie_Alb (My Page) on Tue, Feb 5, 02 at 17:47 WOW....... Did anyone realize that this thread started almost 5 years ago... on Feb. 15, 1997!!!!! I am amazed it has survived that long. Probably, the oldest thread still on the top page! I wonder if "Clare B" (who started the thread) is still an active member of the Garden Web!!! I personally love blue flowers (I mean blue, and not purple, which I also like). I can't believe how many blue flowers I am starting from seeds this year... and that was just a pure coincidence! I also love RED flowers.. Maybe, I should start a "red flower" thread! I will first check the archives! * Posted by: Clare (My Page) on Thu, Feb 7, 02 at 20:34 Yes, Ann_Marie, I am still here! I will be a bit sad to see this thread fade away when it hits the 100 posts mark. After that, the threads are closed. I don't think I have any true blue flowers still. "Victoria Blue" Salvia is the closest thing. I use it a lot. It is such a heavy, long bloomer, and about one in twenty of them will survive winter here. Just wish I could predict which would survive so that I could save seed from those alone and perhaps work up a more hardy strain. By the way, the Hydrangeas in Memphis, Tennessee are incredible. Some are so saturated blue that I'd have to call them navy. * Posted by: Dswan (My Page) on Sat, Feb 9, 02 at 22:37 I'm going to add to this extremely long thread only because there really is something to true blue. I grow from seed a very difficult plant to propagate called Penstemon cyananthus or Wasatch Penstemon. I cold stratify and plant these every year in hopes of gettting one or two in my garden every year. Absolutely gorgeous. * Posted by: Rosa (My Page) on Mon, Mar 11, 02 at 10:24 Did no one mention Gentians-now those are blue! (along with my favorite penstemson of course-some are indeed blue). * Posted by: pineshade7b ) on Mon, Apr 15, 02 at 11:02 i agree with gloria mc coy. i love blue and green , they are my favorite colors in anything. just look in my house and closets. blue..ocean, blue jeans, my own eyes are blue and my husband's are green. many reasons to answer -why blue. although i do not "hyperventilate" , if i should go into a nursery and ask for a blue -flowering plant and the staff looks down their nose at me, i'll know now that they are only doing it because they think I'M a snob. until i adopted gardening as a serious hobby i had no idea that blue was a "snob" color. i just naturally began to look into flowers in the colors i liked personally. you learn something new everyday. i would have been hurt and confused to walk into a nursery and be looked at like a pariah, what did i say? now i know, thanks clare. * Posted by: DesertGardner (My Page) on Fri, Apr 19, 02 at 12:38 Wow - I never knew there was such a controversy over the color blue in the garden. After reading all the posts, I now understand why some gardeners prefer the color. And I have to say that I've never met any gardeners whom I would consider snobbish. Most of them are really quite down to earth! (if you pardon the expression...) I recently tried planting a red, white and blue flower bed, with 'Victoria Blue' Salvia being my blue color. It's a little too purple and doesn't look right as a "patriotic" design. I will probably tear out the red and white and keep the "blue" (purple) since it seems to like this desert heat. Someone mentioned black flowers, and I remembered seeing black pansies in the most recent Burpee catalog. They're a beautiful velvety black with a spot of yellow in the center. I think I'll plant some this winter, and start an obsession with black flowers! (just kidding Clare...) -Kara [* Posted by: yeona_sky (My Page) on Mon, Jun 24, 02 at 0:37 I just bought a blue poppy and am nervously watching its progress. My success with blues has been an up hill battle, but that hasn't changed my desire to spotlight it in my garden. Why blue?, again it's a passion with me. Clare, I hope you get the last word on this thread, and I hope you understand Why blue, a little better. * Posted by: Duster (My Page) on Wed, Jun 26, 02 at 23:56 I agree with the many others about getting annoyed when purple is referred to as blue. Maybe that's why I take up the cause of truly blue flowers! 99% of my Delphiniums are the true electric blue ones. I'd love one of the Himalayan Poppies but just not right for my little yard. I like the blue flowers, rather than the blue foliage plants. And no, blue is NOT my favorite color - I have nothing blue in my home decor. I just like the uniqueness of the TRUE blue and my stubbornness to get people to stop calling it purple!!!!

I had almost that same menu for Thanksgiving dinner, and I served squash soup as a starter. Also roasted asparagus as another side, which is festive for a dinner party. Go to the dollar store and get some cheap glass mugs, they will look fancy when filled with soup. I have a set that I use for both hot drinks and soups. A great dessert would be warm vanilla pudding topped with warm dried fruit compote. I had that at a friends house in Great Britain one miserable winter day, and have been a fan of that comfort food ever since. I just mix whatever dried fruit that looks good that I can get, with some orange juice, a cinnamon stick, a slice of ginger, a touch of maple syrup, whatever floats your boat. Edited to add this link as an example of a cheap glass mug, from Dollar Tree, Clear glass mugs There are many different styles out there. Edited to add that if you are not used to the immersion blender and use it on very hot soup, it can splatter and burn you, but once you get the hang of it, it works great. However, I think the plastic ones will wear out faster if you use them a lot on very hot foods. At least that has been my experience. I usually let my soup cool before blending, if I can.