Our Fab Five winner is Emily! Congratulations Emily!

2 more words for me! Congrats Emily !!!!

What a nice surprise! Thanks, Erica!

Congrats Emily, enjoy

Congratulations Emily!

After prepping my share for watermelon jerky...Baby is in charge of clean up

Beth, I had never heard of watermelon jerky until now. I just googled and it sounds intriguing. I will have to try it. Always nice to learn something new.

Amy, your seeds are in the mail. I expect you will get it by the end of the week.

I'm a little late posting tonight. Today's bingo word is Sizzling! Please check your cards. I'm sure someone has bingo by now.

Happy Thursday!!

Good luck to the winner!! I need one more word.

Emily, Thank you for the Great assortment of seeds. All of which will be planted in my garden (serrano pepper, atomic red carrot, red russian kale, hopi red dye amaranth, jalapeño, cherry belle radish, georgia collards, chives, red eggplant and scarlet carrot! Wow!! what a great selection! Thank you so much!!!

Amy, I am glad that they arrived safely and that you like them. By the way, despite the name, the eggplant is really purple.

Received my hot seeds from Beth today! She sent red kale, red emperor zinnia, Columbine, golden Marconi sweet long pepper, Amish sweet extra large green pepper, Italian parsley and black tail mountain melon wow what a wonderful assortment thank you so much Beth :)

Beautiful card too thank you I love birds

Bingo word for today is Blistering. There are only 3 words left. I'm sure one of you has bingo. Check your cards. You might be a winner!

I still need one more word!

TGIF to everyone

I still need one more word. Maybe we are all waiting for the same word?

I need three words, lol

Connie, I think I know what three words you need!

One more word here too....lol

Wow. I'm amazed no one has bingo yet. Lol.

Emily -- I have your hot seeds and Fab Five prize packed up. They will ship out on Monday. Here is your tracking number: 9400 1096 9993 7834 1013 13.

Ok, ladies, we officially have a slacker in our group! I finally had time to look over the bingo lists you all emailed me. I expected to see multiple winners, but there was only one... and she's actually been a winner for a couple days now. Guess who our slacker is and win a prize! One guess per person. First correct guess wins. Slacker can not guess herself, but she will get credit for the bingo win!

Shirley?

That was fast. You got it, Nicole! Grats to you on the guess and grats to Shirley on the bingo win!

Miss Shirley had eight words from the time she posted on Monday and attending her reunion which is probably why she's been busy!! She's having fun fun fun!!! CONGRATULATIONS ON WINNING BINGO SHIRLEY!!!

Shirley -- Your bingo prize will be going out on Monday: 9449 0096 9993 9192 1871 85

Congratulations, Nicole and Shirley!

Heidi, Your envelope went out yesterday. Hope you enjoy!

Nicole -- Your prize will be going out on Monday: 9400 1096 9993 9192 2452 34

Hey, Everyone! Sorry to be such a "slacker", but I've been back in PA for about a week, just got back yesterday. Had a great time, but too much running around, Lord, I was running all week!

And I won Bingo? How incredible is that?! I don't think I've ever won before, so I'm really excited! Whooo Hooo!!

I'll be back on later, doing laundry and catching up on all the mail.

Shirley!

Erica, I'll be sending your package out tomorrow. I'm combining it with your OBF swap package, which is still missing one piece. I'm a slacker....

Welcome back, Slacker Shirley! lolololol

Shirley -- Welcome back! So glad to hear that you had a good time. :)

Katie -- Take your time. There's no rush.

Heidi

Erica > Emily (received)

Emily > Amy (received)

Amy > Heidi (received)

Heidi > Connie (received)

Connie > Faye (received)

Faye > Beth (received)

Beth > Brooke (received)

Brooke > Katie (received)

Katie > Erica (received)

Erica, your combo FOTESS + OBF swap box is going out tomorrow! Tracking number is 9400109699939201014318.

Heidi, are you around? Can you tell me what you've been planting with success in the hellstrip between the sidewalk and the road? The mayor of Sturgis wants me to plant and help beautify the town. It feels like a really, really big job and I'll need help... Eeeek!!

Hoping everyone is having a WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY!!!

Thank u EricaBraun for the yummy and delicious Erica's hot chocolate!!

Well...the strip between the sidewalk and street is full now after 10 years which is what I wanted. I don't have a prim, estate garden. It's more like a cottage garden, but mostly perennials. I planted bulbs so they come up first.

While it's one long garden plot, I see it as smaller plots nestled together.

Early spring: daffodils and tulips planted in clumps. Most of the area is brown or just turning green and these happy little clusters bloom their heads off. (I bought clearance bulbs two winters or otherwise I wouldn't have many bulbs.) Then peonies bloom. Then allium blooms 5' section by 1' and their purple heads stand regal and wave at the cars.

Next comes yarrow. I love the white clusters. It has spread and I've been pulling up some this summer, but I like it. I also have some pink and I'm trying to start red. The milkweed also blooms and I have 3 kinds.

Perennial sunflower starts to bloom in June. The plants are like a flame of yellow and they bloom until fall. Hardy and tough. In the fall the goldenrod and sunflowers together with the tall stems of common milkweed make a show. (I'm going to have to take all those out. They are now too tall and people trying to turn the corner in their cars can't see well.)

July 1 comes the Coneflower bed. I love the specialty echinaceas, but I don't have that kind of money to throw around. I love good old Echinacea purpurea, but I have White Swan, Pow Wow Berry, Magnus and Evening Glow (EG was big disappointment).

Somewhere in here the daylilies and lilies bloom. Of course the daylilies are clustered. I have lilies in front of the milkweed stalks so they show off. In front of the lilies I planted a row of Speedwell/Veronica. I'm hoping they come back stronger next year with a little more flair and flash.

I also have always loved Red Hot Poker. I bought several on clearance and planted them together so mid-summer next year I hope to have a segment of about 7 red hot pokers blooming.

Late bloomers include an aster I planted on the corner. It's covered in purple flowers in late fall and many people anticipate it. I had to cut it back the last two years because it was too tall, but it's become broader and I'm hoping for another good 'show'.

This year I had a bunch of rudbeckia triloba show up. Stunning yellow/orange color and long bloom time. Biennials drive me crazy for the most part. I don't remember planting any, but I like them.

I also have a row of Autumn Joy Sedum plants that will be turning rosy soon. Another spot has foxtail grass that finally looks like it's supposed to. Other years it just looked sick.

The opposite corner from the aster I have my castor beans. A real tropical look with great texture and it tends to slope and get more water. I love that look.

I planted groundcovers in between plants. I've had people tell me that's a terrible idea, but I like it. Mulch is a waste of money and time with this bed. I don't have grass clippings.

I planted my cosmos in groups, too, in places where the summer color would fade and these would show up. So the plants I started with were perennial sunflower, yarrow, goldenrod and tansy. They are hardy and low maintenance.

Whoops, that was a pretty long answer! Heidi

I got Erica's package today. She sent:

Myoung Ah's Korean Gucho chili peppers (This sounds really interesting)

Bolivian Rainbow pepper (It will be nice to compare this to the Numex twilight i got last month)

Radish mix

Yellow loosestrife (I had to look this one up. Looks very pretty).

Wild dagga

Kiwano melon (I have been curious about this so glad to be able to try it.

Otricoli orange berry: (I have been wanting to try this!)

Thanks so much, Erica. Thanks also for the Fab 5 prize. I love the smell of lemon verbena so happy to grow this. I have also wanted to try the giant cape gooseberry as well. Thanks a bunch. I look forward to trying all of these!

Heidi, thanks so much for that long and detailed response. I need to take a photo of the site so you can see it. The mayor got a bunch of bulbs and roots from end-of-year clean out. I've been going thru them to see what's good and what's not. Looks like gladiolus bulbs are in the future because those look quite healthy.

Why do you say mulching is not an option you considered? I will not be able to weed this place... I have to keep up with my own gardens. Lol

I just don't have mulch around and no bag for my mower otherwise it would be an option. I could find some if I really wanted, but the groundcovers help keep the weeds down and keep the soil in place, too.

Your mayor gets a gold star! Looks like a great start. I'll take some pictures and try to post them in an ideabook so I don't take up the thread. Glads don't usually survive our winters here and when I started gardening I decided I wasn't going to dig things up in the fall, but they are very pretty. Heidi

I put photos in an ideabook of what it looks like now. I'll try to find some of earlier in the year. I take mostly close ups of the flowers, not many to show the entire area. Heidi

Thanks, Heidi! Maybe we should start a thread (somewhere, which forum?) so others can be inspired.

I think so, too, and I've seen a recent thread somewhere that asked people to post pictures of their entire flower bed, not just one plant, to see what combinations people make. We'll have to think about which forum. I really can't believe how many people like to look at the flowers, but it does my heart good to know I can share them and make people smile. To think of doing it in my backyard where only I could see it. The hospital is on the next block and I see people who are visiting and spending a lot of time with loved ones walk slowly down the sidewalk and look at them, then go back inside. Then there are the stroller-pushers and dog-walkers. One high school boy told my daughter he went out of his way every morning on the way to school to drive by them. That's the gratification money can't buy!!

I received my hot seeds from Katie today! These look fantastic. It's a collection of some of her favorite peppers from this year: Faludi, Malih-Helow, Aji Chinchi Amarillo, Shattah, and Yellow Scotch Bonnet. She also sent some Black Elderberry seeds for my medicinal herb collection and a plastic, BPA free wine glass, so that I can get sloshed out in the garden and not worry about breaking the glass. :P

Thank you so much for such great seeds, Katie!

And that officially wraps up the swap. Everyone has received their packs. Thank you all for participating!

thank you Erica for hosting this great swap!

Erica, thank you for hosting this month, you did a great job!

I'll be posting September's Swap tomorrow, hope to see lots of you join in!

Thanks again, Erica!!!

Shirley

Thank you Erica! I enjoyed participating looking forward to the next one