They not only bring them back but they bring them back in good shape. If pbulbs are wrinkled because of lack of watering, I cut them off. Everyone knows by now how to take care of them, its only for a couple of weeks at the most as they get them some time after they started blooming so usually less than 2 weeks away from my care. Anyway, it does not seem to be a problem, I always get them back. Is there room for more? Is the Pope Catholic? Will Rush find more ways to rant and rave against Obama? Of course there is, there is always room for at least a few more. Big Bob just did me a big favor, so his recent transgression is forgiven. One of my daughter's 26 foot motor home was parked just inside the fence, street parking is not allowed in both her and my neighborhood. He crawls under that to escape the mid day heat. Recently he did minimal damage to the retractable step. It was obviously necessary to move the motor home just outside the fence which makes the side yard a little smaller. What good is a front/side yard anyway? All you do is spend money on it, lawn care, flowers etc, totally useless. Now the MH sits snugly in a corner, back to the house, side to the fence. The beauty of all this is that it frees up a great new growing area, full sun all day, no human factors to deal with at this time. I have to move fast before the more normal Homo Sapiens of the household find a use for this space such as BBQ, table and lawn chairs etc. It can be done, I'm going to start this week end. Nick

Hi Sharon, Just wanted to add another welcome to New England. My mom lived in Peabody until last year, and I used to live in Peabody, but that was another lifetime ago. It's a nice town. Now I live a little further south and west of you. You will get snow. My mom always used to get snow whenever we did, just a little less, because of your proximity to the coast. I grew up here, but I did buy the Northeast Gardening book by Sunset. I guess it's an ok book, I don't know why I bought it. A compulsion to buy books, I guess. :-) There is nothing like actual experience, and I have gardened and lived here all my life, so I can't really say if the info in there will be useful to someone from Calif. But just wanted to let you know that there is a Sunset gardening book for the Northeast, and it's a big thick book. Besides all the other stuff people have mentioned, I would recommend that you get a good book about New England wildflowers, if that interests you. (I have one, but unfortunately I can't put my hands on it right this second, so I can't tell you the title, but I'll keep looking for it) There are a lot of wildflowers and spring ephemerals that show up briefly in the spring along with the early bulbs that help make spring a joy after all the cold and snow. You don't want to pull one thinking it's a weed. Some ARE weeds, but others like bloodroot and jack-in-the-pulpit, are great to have. If I were you I would wait to order bulbs and see what you may already have in the spring. All the foliage from daffs and tulips and crocuses has died back, so like others have said, you may not know what else you have. Oh BTW, the fall foliage is a real treat. Just wait a few weeks. You don't have to go anywhere special to see it. Just drive or walk anywhere and you will see some gorgeous fall colors. Keep coming here to GW too, it will keep you sane in the winter. Alison

Nora, Thanks so much for your response...I feel so fortunate to have so many people respond over the past 24 hours. Your idea of a styrofoam ball with yarn is fantastic. My mom knitted and crochet her entire life...learned while in school in 7th grade and actually did it for a living while raising me and my sisters. Now, I have bags full of yarn and I've tried to encourage her, but she won't (I realize now it's probably that she can't). But, if I get the styrofoam balls, maybe, just maybe I can get her interested in winding the yarn around them. I cannot tell you how much this forum has helped me already...For 4 1/2 months, I've been so frustrated with my mom constantly refusing everything I've tried to get her to do. At times, she seems completely fine, so clear headed that I lose sight of the fact that she's losing her mind and at times have actually argued with her!!! How ridiculous! I'm beginning to realize that it's not that she doesn't WANT to do anything, it's that she CAN"T, or is AFRAID that she can't. I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like for them...what are they thinking, what are they feeling? How frightening it must be for them. These are thoughts that I torture myself with. I so want to cure her and take care of her; all I can do is be there for her and let her know that I love her and will always be here for her. Every day, when I leave the house (I go to my main office for a few hours 3 days a week) she asks me "where are you going?" and every day, I say "I'm going to the office" and she says "be careful and make sure you come home" and I walk up to her, every day, give her a big hug and a kiss and I say "I will always come home, and I will always love you." I guess that is all I can do..let her know she is loved and truly cared for and that I won't let anything awful happen to her. Now that I've rambled on so....I do have a question, if anyone is even still reading this...How do you manage caring for your mom knowing that she doesn't have a clue who you are? It must just tear you apart.One more thing Nora...nine years is a long time...how was she through the majority of those years? Was she aggitated? Did she get along with her caregivers? Did she put up a fight about bathing?...I'm done for now....thanks again...you've been more help than you can ever imagine...my heart goes out to all of you for taking the time to respond to me and caring enough to do so....

Yes, I have been getting these oddly formatted pages, a la Houzz, but not a la Gardenweb, for a while. The main menu listing all forums now drives me up the wall. I suspect they are trying to make all the GW pages like the Houzz pages, don't you think? They are poorly designed. Like I care to know who the top commenters are??? What's that all about? Hmmm, I have no use for that. Instead, how about some way to see if someone is logged on but.... top commentators??? Odd. Then they got rid of related forum links that used to be where those commentator names are. Then the main list of forums is now in random order instead of alphabetical so good luck finding something fast. Their 'Your Topics' in each individual forum page section seems to be an attempt to fix that problem but it 'learns' depending on what forums you go to (I am guessing). I hope that does not mean it forgets if I stop to visit a forum for a while. But it would be best to let me delete the entries or add them. The individual forum pages now extend further downwards automatically if you scroll to the bottom.... makes the bottom automatically "add" more posts at the bottom ad infinitum... just scroll down and-or hover the cursor there. Of course, it makes me wonder if there is anything at the real true end of each forum page because I tried... finding what is at the "real" bottom.... by scrolling down and down and down and down looking maybe for links for help? contact? about? but I saw nothing but more posts. Ha! They should have left "well working" and "useful" alone.