Hi Fran and all: I just remembered this swap is happening and really wanted to come, but since I remembered at 11 p.m. tonight, I think I am too late. (I went on a field trip with my students for a week, and boy did I nap this afternoon after I got home from the airport!Meant to contact you for directions and I actually just woke up! Wow, can teenagers keep you running!) If for some reason any of you are late-nighters like me, I would love to attend. If not, have a wonderful swap and I will have to catch you all next year! I'm sure I will be talking to you all on the forum for all the advice I need with this new yard! Thanks Kathy

I bought my little paw paws from this site on e-bay: dogwooderitternet (you can do a 'google' to find him). I also purchased a number of other butterfly nectar and host plants from him (liatris ligustylus, spicebush, different asclepias, etc.). This seller is very nice to deal with and his plants are very well priced. I find it easier to buy from him rather than to schlep around to all the nurseries (since Earthscapes closed). I understand that wafer ash is quite a common tree in the woods (one nurseryman called it a 'junk tree' to my face!) so if you can ID one, you can probably find it in the woods somewhere. My problem is trying to ID one! Also, the Midwest Native Plant Society is having a Native Plant sale this Saturday July 25, OPEN to the PUBLIC, and I bet they will have some along with lots of other interesting Butterfly garden plants. I believe reservations to the conference (for the whole conference or/and different events) are still available and they will be having lots of good speakers, including Judy Burris and Wayne Richards on Buterfly Gardening. Here is a link that might be useful: Native Plant Society Dayton Conf. flyer and info

Hi Julie. I used to live in Beavercreek right on the Greene/Montgomery county line, so I'm interested in your problem from a nostalgic point of view. Back then I was a student and did not have time for the garden except to mow, water, and keep my orchids alive. Plus I was a chemical kind of guy and only mowed and watered to keep the grass alive. But I did have green grass when everyone else in the neighborhood had dead lawns, so I must have done something right. It looks like your front lawn slopes toward the sun in your picture. What direction does the front of your house face and is there a slope? I'm curious because the dry areas are in front of your tree and that shrub out toward the mailbox. That seems odd. When you water do those spots get the same amount of water as the rest of the yard? Slopes are harder to water than more level lots but it certainly is not impossible. Regardless of what kind of grass you have, the grass you apparently don't have is Kentucky bluegrass. If you did you likely would not have the bare spots, because KBG will grow like a carpet to fill in every bare spot...as long as it gets water. I like bpgreen's dormant seeding idea, but what I'm going to suggest is not an ideal complement to dormant seeding. I think the best thing you can do now to prepare your bare spots for spring is to mulch them. It may kill the remaining tendrils of grass you have but they're not doing you much good. First I would scatter as much free coffee grounds as you can get on the bare spots. Then I would cover that with an inexpensive mulch to about about an inch deep. If you are going to go with dave11's idea of seeding on April 1st, by that time your soil under the mulch will be much improved with beneficial microbes. Then before you seed, pull off the mulch so you are seeding at the same contour height as the current turf. The seed I would look for is Kentucky bluegrass varieties called Moonlight, Midnight, and Bedazzled. Mix them together and seed into your bare spots. You might consider scattering the same seed mix throughout the rest of your yard. That isn't an ideal method of spring seeding, but you'll likely get some to germinate and they spread. Next spring and summer be sure you are getting enough water on your entire lawn if you want it to look good for sale. Water deeply and infrequently in addition to mulch mowing at the mower's highest setting. If you are going to seed on April 1st, then the first week in March I would fertilize with whatever grain is cheap at your local feed store. Alfalfa pellets are great at seeding time but stay away from any corn products. Apply alfalfa at 10-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet and moisten the pellets so they melt. By April you will have milked all the goodness you can get from the alfalfa and the soil should be very ready for seed. Scatter the seed, roll it down, and water for 15 minutes at breakfast, lunch, and dinner time for 3 full weeks. KBG takes a little longer to sprout than fescues. When the new grass is 4 inches high, mow it back to your mower's highest setting and start to back off on watering. Eventually you want to back off to once per week with enough water to make it until the following week. Fertilize again on Memorial day and keep it green (with water) in the summer. Spring seedlings rarely make it all the way through the summer but give it a try. You might have to seed again in fall 2009 so keep that in mind. Do NOT worry about crab grass next season. You will have some but just pretend you love it. Take care of it in the early fall when you reseed. I'm going to post a picture to motivate you. I have lost track of William to ask his permission to post this. I think (hope) he would be proud to have it posted as an example of excellent organic lawn care. He posted the picture to GW a couple years ago. This lawn is 100% organic with no weed killers used at all. I believe the grass is a blend of Kentucky bluegrass. All he does is water infrequently and deeply, mulch mow at his mower's highest setting, and fertilize with grain fertilizers.

Arcy, I don't know if they still sell them but we bought ds13 a phone at Sam's. When my oldest got an iPhone (ugh…that's another story), we gave her basic phone to ds, mainly for him to use if he was out somewhere and needed a ride, etc. He didn't really "need" the phone but it was only an extra $10 to my bill (first two phones on our account are regular price, whatever, like $40/each, but then additional lines are only $10). His phone is only for calling/texting, no websurfing/etc. Well, shortly after we gave it to him, he had it in his pocket while we were at a lax tournament. He brought it down to the hotel pool where there was a team party going on and a friend pushed him into the pool. We tried to save the phone, but had no access to rice/etc right away, so it died. I was due for an upgrade on my iPhone, but didn't need a new phone, so I used my upgrade to get him a new phone at Sam's Club. The salesgirl was easily able to use my upgrade for his phone, so it cost like $1 for the phone and she linked his phone number to it. Funny thing is… he NEVER uses the phone. He never remembers to bring it with him. If he does remember, it typically is out of battery b/c he forgets to charge it, or it's turned off for school and he doesn't remember to turn it on. As a result, I almost never can reach him on the darned thing. He really wants an iPhone b/c all his friends have them, but he does not need one. He is required by his school to have an iPad so he has all the features of the iPhone as long as he has wifi. So, no iPhone for him b/c he does not need 24 hr access to the internet…he can use his iPad at home, at school and even at Starbucks LOL. Wearybuilder, I'm sure there must be other options for you, like a pay as you go phone or whatever…the kind you buy minutes for. I do know that when I added dd to my account, it did cost about $40/mth for her line, and that was just for unlimited texts and calls. That is with Verizon-first two lines cost the same, then any additional are only $10 on the plan I have. Dh's phone is paid for through his work, so I sucked up the $40 to add her. Now she has an iPhone so she has a data plan also that adds to the price, but when I added the third line for ds, it was only $10 for him. Incidentally, when I went to get the iPhone for dd, I went to the Verizon store. They would only sell me this package deal that came with all these accessories she didn't need. They said they were required to sell them that way! I knew that I could easily get an iPhone from the Apple Storeand told them so, but the Verizon guys said their hands were tied. So they lost a sale. I went to Apple and bought the phone there (she was due an upgrade so I didn't have to pay a fortune for the phone). The downside was that by buying from Apple vs. Verizon, she couldn't keep her phone number and had to get a new one and it wasn't a good number. I kept her old number anyway b/c I knew I'd be using it for ds but his voicemail still has dd's message on it b/c she can't remember the password to change it, LOL.