What a post! Would it bother you if I copied it and sent it to my greenhouse teacher? From working at a garden center: "What are these?" -"Fluffy seed pods from a Clematis" "No way, they never had them before!" -"Yep, that's what they are." "I want a SECOND opinion" -"Sure, hey ... do you happen to know what these are?" *Quizzical look at me* "Clematis seeds..." *Some more argument from customer on the subject* "Well, they're hideous." Yeah, that was an interesting one. It's not uncommon to have customers ask for a second opinion on an insect problem or something like that when they don't like the answer. I was really taken back by this one though. Many conversations begin with: "You know that tree in that yard by the church on ivelivedhereallmylifebutneverheardofit street? What is it?" You can never own too many pairs of Crocs. Keep pennies on hand for the kiddies to throw in the fountain. Harry Lauder's Walking Stick makes a wonderful conversation piece next to the cash register. When ordering petunias, if it doesn't say "wave" don't bother. People have no idea what they're exposure is like. -Use words like South and West, then ask them questions like, what time they eat dinner in the summer and where. If the answer is 5:30 on the back deck, ask them if they have to wear sunglasses or a sweater and go from there. If customers start a pile of plants next to the register, organize them by price. There is one customer every day that wants you to landscape their entire yard 10 minutes to closing. Know and accept this fact. Know plants in this order: -Vague description -Culture requirements and common name(s) -Deer resistance -Scientific names

Ctiger - I have thought about using a tapener, however, my reservation with using one is my monofilament wire - having to cut thousands of pieces of tape from my vines leaves a HUGE area for an "oops" while cutting the tape away from the wires - one little cut, and it would slice right thru my wire - remember - it is plastic, not wire. The bands that I am currently playing with seem to be working pretty good - so I will update once I see how they do over the next year. BradyB - a movie??? Oh my - there would indeed be some moments for certain.... Milehighgirl - I think I am more crazy than anything!!! Actually my grandparents were known many years ago over many counties for their produce - that was their way of living...peaches, greenbeans, corn, watermelons, squash, etc. My mom grew up working in the fields (she hates it by the way - even though she married a farmer!!!)....which leads me to my parents - farmers - and my dad always had a melon wagon at the end of the quarter mile lane with the melons in it...you would drive by, pick one out, drop your money in the box sitting in the wagon and go on your way....very cool, and really, usually the money box did not come up short. So, I guess this madness you could say is in my blood.... Murky - I doubt my labor will be repaid....ever!!!!! I paid my two 13 year old kids their salary for the year of $100 each.....even though they fussed the entire month of the season...they really didnt do a whole lot - but did help me pick around 170 pounds for our local winery which is going to make blackberry wine with our berries (cool huh!!!) As far as expenses - I will break even next year. Mind you, I had all of the end post, t-post, tractor, etc. from prior "adventures" around the farm. My expenses where: plants, monofilament wire, wire stretcher for monofilament, t-post connectors for the monofilament wire, drip-line irrigation, vine clips, different vine clips, more vine clips, weed killer, digital scale, picking buckets, directional u-pick signs, plastic bags for buckets, june bug traps (they were horrible about a month ago, and still have some out there chomping on some fruit/leaves)... the biggest expense was the plants themselves, followed by the monofilament wire and drip-line irrigation - I would buy the 2 year old plants again (almost double the price of one year plants), I would DEFINATELY do the monofilament wire (love it so far) and the definately the drip-line irrigation - little expense, absolute BREEZE for ME to install!!!! On the trellis design - I am not certain I like the 3 wire set-up - reason being is of course - LOTS OF LABOR tying up everything - I am currently talking to one university who is contemplating handling their canes a different way which has my interest - possibly not tying canes but doing a rather "raspberry" type of support as the middle or top wire (a sandwich of two wires) - my only hang-up is what I have encountered over the past few weeks after the storm...canes being blown over to a severe slant - so I would have to think of something to keep them from being able to do that....I do see some sort of revisement in my trellis design, I just haven't came up with what as of yet!!! I just ran out to take a few photos I will see if I can get them uploaded - a few different ones.... The one on this post - is the "beast" in its entirety - 9 rows, 200ft each of Triple Crown blackberries...... June bug leaf damage, size of triple crown canes, a "completed" plant - pruned and ready for winter, one of the "beast" yet to be tamed (i.e. - unpruned, leaning from weather, spent berry greens still on),

As a veteran dog breeder, I'm no stranger to culling... it's an important part of a breeding program and must be done to keep the genetic pool clean and strong. Though it sounds like a cruel practice, it has to be understood that it's the responsible thing to do when we change the natural reproductive selection process. In essence, we're playing God... and it's only right that we do it properly. Nature culls... we must, also. Culling plants will be a lot easier, and even compost plays an important role in the gardening process... at present, I'm only sprouting a dozen or so seeds at a time, and I'm doing this because space is at a premium! I need to re-think and re-vamp my indoor gardening areas. This first year of collecting parent bulbs and watching them bloom, and then pollinating and harvesting seed, has been mainly a learning experience for me... I'm still very much a novice when it comes to Hippeastrums! I had originally intended to keep very detailed records and begin a breed file, but I must admit that I got lost in all the wonder and beauty of my bulbs, and was very lax in my record-keeping! Next bloom season will be the beginning of much better discipline in the record-keeping department, and I'll actually start crossing with a goal in mind! I haven't thought particularly hard about what end result I'd like to pursue, but I have all summer to lay out a plan for next year. Being such a novice of flower breeding, I still have a lot to learn... before I began participating in this forum on a regular basis, I didn't even know it was so easy to breed flowers! I just found out recently what actually happens when a speck of pollen lands in exactly the right spot at exactly the right time! I didn't know that it grows an extension, cell by cell, until it reaches the ovary and penetrates the embryo sac of an ovule! And I didn't know that once the two cells, that of the pollen and the ovule, come together and form one cell that then divides to form what will be seeds, it's called a zygote! It's all so amazing! So, in short, culling won't be a problem... once I figure out what the direction I take will be. I had terrible results breeding my cybisters, and most of this years seed is just hybrid variety self-pollinated seed. It gives me something to test out my growing set-up with, so next year I'll be prepared. Lora, your crosses sound awesome, and I can certainly understand how it can be hard to choose keepers out of a batch of those seedlings! That would probably trip me up a bit, too... finally getting seed from a difficult cross you really wanted to work out, and then not having enough room to keep all the babies! Jackie, I don't know for certain, but I would think breeding hippis is no different than breeding daylilies or iris... you really have to give the plants more than one season in order to get accurate evaluations... in dog breeding, we can only get accurate evaluations from mature animals, and that can take a few years! I would think plants need to reach maturity in order to really perform as they will for the long haul... In any case... breeding anything takes a certain level of objectivity and responsibility in order to keep that species genetically solid. It also takes patience!

Sorry Alana! I'm stealing box #9. Current Standings Player #1 (Lisa) has Box # 3 (Denise's stolen from Karen) Player #2 (Mariann) has Box #12 (Lainey's stolen from Carmen) Player #3 (Denise) has Box # 2 (Mariann's stolen from Karen) Player #5 (Tracy) has Box #14 (Frozen-Alana's box stolen from Sue) Player #6 (Karen) has Box # 9 (Pat's stolen from Alana) Player #7 (Sue) has Box #5 (Tracy's, stolen from Lisa-frozen) Player #8 (Shirley) has box #10 (Carmen's, stolen from Barb) Player #9 (Pat) has Box #8 (Frozen-Shirley's) Player #10 (Carmen) has #1 (Lisa's, stolen from Karen) Player #11 (Becky) has Box #13 (Margaret's, stolen from Mariann) Player #12 (Lainey) has box #7 (Sue's) Player #13 (Margaret) has box #6 (Karen's stolen from Denise) Player #14 (Alana) has # Updated Number of Possessions Lisa- box 9, 5, 3 Mariann- box 12, 13, 3, 12 Denise- box 5, 12, 2, 5, 6, 2 Tracy- box 12, 14, 12, 14, 4, 8, 14 (frozen) Karen- box 3, 1, 3, 2, 9 Sue- box 3, 8, 14, 5, 8, 14, 5, 3, 5 (frozen) Shirley- box 10 Pat- box 8, 4, 8, 14, 8 (frozen) Carmen- box 12, 14, 12, 5, 1 Becky- box 13 Lainey- box 7 Margaret- box 8, 2, 6 Alana-box 3, 9 Alana's turn. Alana, have fun with your family gathering!