I agree with the above. Plus the fact that too much personal information gets divulged or can be mined by joining facebook. I'd rather limit my online participation to forums like GW and other, less inclusive, less wide open sites. I've been a member here for a long time....going on a couple of decades......and I have seen the same ebb and flow of visitor traffic through the seasons as we are now witnessing. January, February, March are always as slow as molasses but it will pick up when the gardening season comes into to full force in the next 6-8 weeks. And I have to say that the comments about excessive ads and pop-ups surprises me. I don't experience hardly any at all and just use Explorer with the standard firewalls. Didn't realize this was much of a problem anymore regardless of the Internet server one used...... I have to be honest when I say I read more than post. Most of the topics don't hold a great deal of interest for me and I tend only to respond to questions that get neglected or overlooked or when erroneous info is provided. Since conifers are not my area of concentrated expertise, I let others respond first - there is an amazing knowledge base here :-) But I still remain pretty active in some other forums. I also live in an area where the Internet is not widely available so I am not online at home. And since my work life is pretty seasonal and therefore computer access the same, I tend not to post much in winter anyway.

Hello ALL, I am so looking forward to meeting you all. I am not the best gardener in the world but I try. I have built a 44 foot diameter labyrinth in my back yard, a wooded lot but still half of it has good sun. I am trying to collect hostasfor the past couple of years to surround the perimeter, but I have a long way to go. So anyone with extra hostas, I can't collect enough of them for this project! I am also looking for day lillies, especially the yellow ones but any color will be helpful. I am also looking for the herbs: costmary, comfrey, Lady's mantle and sweet woodruff I have a very limited perenial garden so I am open to any extras that you might be able to share. What I have to share: the herb southernwood. It is a green feathery like plant. It is suppose to repel insects. I was told to take the greens and wood stems in early spring and put them around my echinecia plants to keep them from being attacked by bugs and it has worked for me! It is not evasive at all. It more or less stays right in the same place you plant it. I make snippings and root them for new plants. So if people are interested please let me know so I know how much to bring. Rose campion. It is has beautiful 18 inch silver grey stem with brilliant scarlet red small blooms. I have to say this plant is beautiful but it will spread seeds and within a few years you will have a lot. The plant isn't evasive per se it just seeds a lot. So I have given it, its own perenial garden so the garden just seeds itself and the wave of red blooms are stunning. I get so many compliments on it. It blooms in summer through fall. It is an old fashion cottage type perenial that would look great in any garden, but if you put it in with other flowers, just take note that you will have to cut the seed head before they are released or you will have to dig up the seedlings the following spring and put them where you want them. Again, if anyone is interested let me know. I don't want to dig up any more than people will take. Egyptian Onion. I love it. It comes out with the chives each spring, You can use it like thick chives or use the small shallot like onions that grow on the top. A pretty plant that is one of the first to welcome spring. I don't know what my spring soups would taste like with out my Eqyptian onions. Chives, I guess everyone knows about them Feverfew. A herb that is also an insect repellent. It grow aboyt 12 to 18 inches with a lot of greenery and beautiful small white Daisey like flowers. This does spread its seed through the yard but I would not call it evasive. When I do see a seedling growing in another part of the yard , I just dig it up and replant it with the rest of the feverfew. They are very beautiful in the summer and last quite a long time. Sun drops. Someone told me they were evening primrose sun drops. I don't know about evening primrose becasue they have bright yellow flowers that bloom during the day. They bloom the same time as the Rose campion and they compliment each other very well, color wise. Of the flowers that I have, I think these are the most evasive and WILL take over your garden if you don't give it its own spot. But they are very pretty. Echinecia. I have a few purple coneflowers that I could share, but I don't have too many of them. Cat Nip. My cats love it. I grow it by my kitchen door so I know where the cats are most o fteh time! Spearmint. Who can live without it! I am looking for pepermint if anyone has it. Purple Siberian Iris Lily of the Vally Red Dahlias I think that is about it I am cleaning out my bookshelves and will try to bring some gardening books. And I will try to get my husband to make apple knubby cake. You can e mail me directly at blaketaylore@yahoo.com if you want any of these plants or have any questions about them. Looking forward to the swap! Blake

Hi everyone! The BLUE SEEDS are in the mail! I didn't quite make it to the post office in time yesterday, so they went in the mail this morning. Thanks for all of the interesting seeds that you all sent in! Please post here when you get your seeds, so that I know that they arrived safely. ihana, no big deal! Just as long as they get here, that is all that really matters. For anyone who is interested, the color of the month for July is RED and Bonnie is hosting that swap right here. I also thought that I would post the remaining schedule for the Color of the Month Swaps. Here it is: July -- RED - Will be hosted by Bonnie (highalttransplant) August -- PURPLE - Will be hosted by Linda (lindaruzicka) September -- BLACK - Will be hosted by Janine (janine) October -- ORANGE - Will be hosted by Lynn (carsons_mimi) November -- BIG RAINBOW - Will be hosted by Penny (cybermeowz) December -- SILVER & GOLD - Will be hosted by Jeanne (sandlapper rose) Thanks everyone for a great swap! Penny

Hi and Welcome, Susan. I'm so glad you've enjoyed this Forum, and even more glad you came out of Lurkdom to introduce yourself. Sounds like you belong here with all those dishes and ideas, hope you can share them as you already know we are a bit photo-obsessed here. LOL With many of our gang outside in their gardens this time of year, tablescapes are what keeps us going during the summer. I'm inside till about Oct, LOL. Phoenix is a bit too close to another place (H---l) for my taste during the summer. I just need to learn this dish stuff so I can better entertain the gang here. ;o> hugs, Karen