good moring everyone!!! I dislike deer!!!! now I got that off my chest!!! Dot you caught me!!!! I'm soooo hooked it's sad!!! My dog show friends think I've gone lunie and I have. Lunie for Daylilys!! Dl are just the PERFECT flower and plant! Not to many I don't like---the forms,color and their whole being is just "way past kool" I just bought one name that! ---on top of everything some have pedigrees too! Good luck to all of you with your new "PLANT KIDS" can't wait to see pictures this spring!!! NOW off to war with Bambie!!! cole Gardeners GROW!!!!

Finally, made it over to Mahoney's sale. My second visit to this sale. I normally try to avoid Mahoney's for lots of reasons, but eventually, I end up there looking for something. Didn't see anything I wanted in the tent. Furniture, umbrellas that I am actually in the market for but even on sale are more than I would spend. They had fabric hammocks, that were very nice, but were $250. and then 50% off. They still had a huge stock of them. Had a LOT of pots left and some were pretty good prices, but nothing appealed to me. The good news...I did find a few more plants to make the trip worthwhile. Not a lot of the perennials in the perennial area were looking worthy of taking home. I have bought a lot of good performer plants by finding them on sale this time of year and looking for one that is actually growing well. I figure if it has made it through the whole summer in a pot, with who knows what kind of care, and still looks good, then it must be pretty healthy and vigorous. Many of them had already been cut back, but I picked up a Nepeta 'Cool Cat' that was new to me and was cut back but had a fresh crop of leaves and blossoms. Plus a fern that looked like it was spring, it was in such good shape. There might have been more there then I was interested in, that was worth buying. I wandered around behind the greenhouses, and did find tables of potted perennials among which were the Hellebores. Plenty left, and I couldn't bring myself to put one in the cart. They weren't looking bad, but something about them....and many were not labeled. The groundcover area, I had already done first trip...great prices $2.50 for some...ajuga chocolate chip, some arctostaphylus. They had more in the shrub department where on the way to the register, I ran into some fresh as a daisy pots of Penstemon Pike's Peak Purple. Attractive to hummers and the buds are just getting ready to open and also 1/2 off. They also had some Agastaches starting to bloom and Lobelia Queen Victoria that was also just starting to bloom which I almost brought home. Found a Lavender 'Grosso' and an Alchemilla erythropoda Alma that had a tiny leaf with a white edge, both for $2.50 each. Six plants for $35. not too bad. I really didn't need anything. :-) I ran across an interesting website on some of the newer perennials they are coming out with [linked below] and had actually started a list of some items I was looking for. I ran across some of them at this sale. Some were great, others were disappointing. The Hosta varieties on the website had some gorgeous photos, but the actual plants in person were disappointing. They did not look vigorous, which is one of my pet peeves with Hostas. I was very happy to find Tricyrtis 'Imperial Banner' which is variegated. All in all, I am finding I am much more skeptical and cautious of buying all the new hybrids coming out. I have gotten burned a few times by trusting that the pretty photos they entice you with represent plants that are ready to market. Hostas that don't thrive or don't come back at all...it was the 'Patriot' for me. Echinaceas that are just what you are looking for with the gorgeous colors, but again, very expensive and I have been very disappointed with how they performed in our garden. Heucheras that petered out, like 'Amber Waves'. A 'Chocolate Chip' Ajuga that didn't winter over [and I am giving it a last try]...ajugas shouldn't be hard to grow, right? Anyone else finding new hybrids that are not disappointing? I have my eye on a new Ajuga..'Toffee Chip'. I don't know where this sudden interest in Ajugas is coming from...lol. pm2 Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Crossing.

Jean/dirtpig, here is a pic of my MY Ways taken this season. This is it's first time to bloom for me so it may get better but I liked it. I love all the pics you are showing. That Linda Daniels is magnificient! Anita, your garden looks terrific. I wish I had the talent to mix things together like the rest of you do. I'd also like to recommend EarthlyDelights. I just finished a trade with her and she sent some very nice, healthy plants and she's a nice person to boot. ;-) Mary s your baby bird is so cute. I just love them. We usually have a nest in my clothes pin bag every year. Melissa your unknown is really pretty. Dawn, have fun on your trip! Angie, don't forget the noisemakers at that birthday party! That will be the most fun part. *evil grin* I hope everyone has a great weekend! We finally got a 2" rain yesterday. Everything was just about burnt up and today it was 103 with 80% humidity so you know where I am and tomorrow and Sunday will be more of the same. You'd think it would cook the grass and weeds in the beds but no, only the grass in the lawn dies! lol Nancy

LindaC, "What it all boils down to is, Americans found out what BPI was putting into the "ground beef" they were selling to the schools, to McDonalds, putting into tubes of 90% lean beef, into premade meat patties.....and they don't like it. They have discovered that what they thought was muscle meat is in reality a large percentage of ground up gristle and connective tissue, so prone to contamination that it must be sterilized with ammonia, and they don't like it and won't buy it. I certainly don't blame the press, the activists and the chefs for blowing the whistle. Remember, if you are always completely transparent, there is nothing to be feared.? Not even close. What it really boils down to is, Americans found out what ABC’S DISTORTED REPORTING of what LFTB really is, which is 100% pure beef, free of pathogenic organisms, the word "slime" should not have been used for responsible reporting. I am surprised, of all the people, you the Queen of Googling, have complete been taken in by this kind of reporting, without checking facts. You actually believe that there is ." the sinew, connective tissue and other parts that aren't roasts or chops or able to be ground into 85% or leaner ground beef." You could have only gotten that information from ABC, because those are not in LFTB. You actually believe that LFTB is the only food uses Ammonia (and chlorine, where do you get chlorine?!), and that kitchen poisonous Ammonia detergent is, as demonstrated by Jamie Oliver (check it out on youtube) poured on the meat to sanitize the meat! If you are not so brain washed by ABC you would have picked up the question he was asking the audience is very leading: "The scrap is nornally used for dog food, do you want to feed your children dog food?" What does LFTB has to do with real dog food? If you are not committing "Confirmation Bias" you would have picked up what he said in the same video, "I haven't got anything against (Slime) burgers, I have no problem eating the burgers, I eat them and I love them, the problem is where they come from and what (Ammonia kitchen detergent) is in them". I will not comment on your characterization that Mexicans, Guatemalans and Somalis are by nature filthy and irresponsible. McDonalds, do you actually think that they did not do extensive studies before they started to use LFTB? Yes, LFTB is cheaper, but they found LFTB is more sanitary then regular ground beef, it is also leaner, and above all, taste tests showed customers prefer LFTB over regular ground beef. You object to BPI's making a healthy profit selling LFTB selling a healthy product, but you have no problem with ABC's attempt in gaining ratings using malicious means to destroy a viable business. NBC and CBS only mentioned the issue a couple of times and ABC repeated the same thing 10 different times. Freedom of speech does not permit libel. Drawing a swastika on a wall is not protected by freedom of speech. "It's OK for ABC's distorted reporting, because it has accomplished a good thing" Does the end justify the means? Don't ask me, Hafez al-Assad, Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden can probably give you a better answer. Scrapple is made from parts also used in dog food, go ahead and have it banned. There is nothing untrue about the following statement, but is it responsible journalism if I was to report it the following manner:? OMG! Alarming! Disgusting! Do you know and have you seen in Italy, what they are making? Green mold, and fungus completely covered pork intestines with pork slime inside, rotting with bacteria for months at room temperature!! They sell those to you for high prices and, get this; they even ask you to eat them totally uncooked? Mamma Mia! tanto per tali rifiuti! dcarch