It's difficult to give recommendations without knowing your zone or seasonal growing conditions, but I would strongly urge you to try growing a variety of annuals and reliably "quick" perennials this year. It sounds like you don't have any gardens in place now, so use this year to experiment and practice. Even if you put in perennials this year for bloom next year, the plants will probably not be what you hope for (depending on your growing conditions). I'm in zone 5, and everything is at least a week early for me this year. My yard is currently flush with forget-me-nots and violets. Bleeding Heart and Primrose are flush with blooms. Centaurea Montana is starting to bloom, as are my earliest bearded iris. My lilacs are just about in full bloom now. Soon I'll have lily of the valley blooming, Dame's Rocket, tons of peonies, ... May is beautiful and very fragrant here! My June-bloomers will be tons more bearded iris and siberian iris, poppies, sweet william, asiatic lilies, matricaria, campanulas, honeysuckle vine, trollius, and so on. Plants with great foliage are beautiful and really light up shady areas -- I love to mix and contrast foliage colors, textures, shapes, and heights. I use a lot of hostas, heucheras, ferns, etc... and it's easy to tuck in annual impatiens to brighten dark spots.

Hi all, Nice white fluffy snow here, hope it goes away soon I want to play some golf! :) Jen, I get tired of eggs too but I work nights so for breaky I can eat lunch or dinner meals too. If you like smoothies you can add some soft tofu to them and also use soy milk. I know that may sound horrible, but you really cant tell and all you end up with is a nice fruity creamy drink. Im not sure which Woe you are on, so you may have to adjust the other ingredients as well. They sell all kinds of soft tofu, even some low or no fat ones. Many cultures eat fish for their morning meal, so you could go that way too! ;) Amy - Im glad your having fun in game, and including your art work as well, how fun! Patti- Sorry the struggle continues, sometimes they are so darn stubborn and cheap! I hope things work out for you and Dave. BJ - sorry your swamped, watch out for the gators! Gretchen - I agree the superbowl really isnt a family event, but they sure try dont they. I have no idea why people who dont watch football all year would care to see it. It would be like watching the season finale of a sitcom you havent seen all year.. I didnt get to see Janets assests, but she looks too much like Michael now anyhow so it would of just been freaky! Besh - Hope you enjoyed Pats day! NHSuz - saw this clip and I thought you may get a laugh out of it. have a super day all, im 2 days into the SB diet and WoE is me! John Here is a link that might be useful: The best horse in Europe

OHHHH you guy's are soooo funny!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You all know that I love you too. Let me start off with Amy. Haha, I did what DeeMarie did and opened my package up in bed - nice way to start the day. Amy gave me notecards with her artwork on them - so you already know how beautiful they are. My birthday card was a beautiful underwater scene with a birthday cake LOL. It is so cute. Amy also gave me a gift certificate to shop at her site - can't wait to go there and check it out again. Amy - thank you, you will never know how much your gift means to me - you should've kept the envelopes, I don't think I will be able to ever part with the cards LOL. I sat there trying to pick a favorite and couldn't (leaning towards the pink roses and orchids) - they are all so great. You are so talented. Marci - thanks for the 50 confetti, I decorated a table this morning with it LOL. Love the GIF, of course it is coordinated with my confetti - you are one of a kind. Several months ago I told each of my immediate family NOT to give me any surprise party - you don't know how embarrassed and uncomfortable I am with that. I begged my DH to squash anyone's attempt to do so LOL. I think I'm safe. I celebrated Saturday night with close friends, Sunday with some girlfriends and last night DH took me to our favorite italian restaurant in Saratoga Springs. I wanted to go out last night as we are going to a slide show tonight - friends went hiking in Nepal/Mt. Everest. DH gave me tickets to see my favorite performer BETTE MIDLER on 3/17, we are only 3 rows from the stage (on the floor) YIPPPPPEEEEEEE. Kathy - very funny - you have my kind of sense of humor. Thanks. NH Suzanne - I'm waiting for the AARP envelope any day now LOL, thanks so much for the great e-card. Love you too. Maddie - I knew you and Dee would be serenading me this morning LOL. I am also honored to have you as my friend. DeeMarie - I was right, you really are a brat (old person comment) LOL. Thanks so much for the song - I have to say your singing voice is really improving LOL. Okay this isn't funny, but my lower back hurts me and I usually have no pains - this is just a coincidence, RIGHT???

Hello! We took our kids to the Pittsburgh Symphony this morning and I get the afernoon off!! I thought I'd check in and see how the birthday party for DeeMarie was going! LOL Dee - I am so glad you liked everything. I smiled at the thought of you sitting in bed surrounded by presents!! What a great way to start off the day. I was hoping you wouldn't be mad at me for the chocolates, but I had wanted to include somthing chocolate to go along with the card (Maxine of course!). I picked Anderson's because it is local and unique to our area. I started out looking for a Michel Delacroix print for you and couldn't find one in my price range. Then I remembered that I'd seen designers take apart calendars for the art work and I went on a search for the calendar. I found it at www.calendars.com. It makes me so happy to hear that you want to frame the pictures!! The Wendell August plant is in Grove City, which is an hour from here and I took a tour of their facilities once. I was fascinated by the craftsmanship and attention to detail, and I love to give their items as gifts. One of my preschool Mom's started a business making and selling the soy candles and body basics. So I asked her to make me up a sample bag for you. I love the body cream! I hope the rest of your day everything you hoped for. NHSuzanne - I popped in this morning before I went to school and I saw your post asking whose birthday it was, but I thought you were kidding. LOL I used a Banner site that uses odd fonts to create her name gif and I saved the banner as a graphic. I know if your computer doesn't recognize a certain font, it won't show up but I thought I had it covered with the gif. I wonder if anyone else can't see Dee's name? And thank you for the compliment about my packages. I am going to Curves at 3 today. How is it going for you? Raeanne - Have a great time in NYC. I have only been there once and someday I would love to go back. (My real dream is to get nominated for What Not To Wear and go there with a $5,000 credit card in my name!!) LOL Gretchen - I would love to read your Jodi Picoult book when you are done. And I will send Harvesting the Heart your way when I am done with it. I love that we can help each other out this way! Has anyone emailed Joanne or KYSusie about the SS get together? We haven't heard from either of them lately and I wonder if KYSusie is reading the threads and how Joanne is feeling. Gotta grab some lunch before I head to Curves. I love these short days! Marci