I am Trish and I am a rose potaholic. I don't have a spot to grow them in the ground and I have taken up all the available spots at my parents'. Being English and Welsh respectively they have an innate love for roses so that is good. I started my rose obsession through tragedy. Our son was stillborn in the fall of 2006 (sorry to those who have heard this already) and being already into gardening in general I thought it would be nice to have something growing in his memory. I debated a tattoo but was too broke and could not find the 'perfect' image. I did a bit of research on "the language of flowers" and came across the white rose. I asked on gardenweb for recommendations for a nice white rose as some of you will remember. I ended up deciding on Madame Hardy but by then I was a goner anyway. Now I have used up all available space at my parents' and a few pots outside and still eyeing up more. Face it, we're sunk Aggierose.

I don't really have this issue with garden stuff, but I do probably have a dozen or so pairs of reading glasses (which I do use while gardening) so I can have them everywhere, having now reached an age where I can't see anything closer than about 3 feet away without them and a life-long issue with mislaying things. There's nothing worse than to find myself only able to read something if I set it on a table and take 3 giant steps backwards and pray that the print is large enough. Well, to be honest, I probably own 15 or so trowels, but that is because for years I coordinated an elementary school garden club, and it's lots easier not to have to share equipment among young kids. They are lightweight and small for kid-sized hands, and as I recall cost $1 apiece at an end-of-season clearance. And I also have two of a lot of common garden tools (steel rake, shovel, wheelbarrow, etc.) because the shop is a half mile down the road from the house, and I hate finding myself going back home to get a tool I forgot to bring or is too big or filthy for my car or bicycle. It's easier to just keep the common things in both places since the gardens are about the same size.

These are great stories. Love reading them. I'm not even sure I am a "hostaholic", although, I suspect maybe I am because I'm constantly on this forum and the Hosta Library and have lists of ones I want. I only have around 100 varieties, though. Does that make me a "hostaholic"? I've actually always loved hosta. I remember when I was a kid my grandparents had the "plain green ones" lining their front yard and us kids would go around and "pop" all the flowers before they opened. It was great fun. I didn't have the proper property to plant them until I moved into our present home. I bought a few varieties and started planting them under the maples in the back yard (yes, you know it---where the grass wouldn't grow) about maybe 5-6 years ago. When they stopped increasing after a year or so, I got on the internet to find out what I was doing wrong and that's when I found this forum and what I might be able to do about it and the rest is history. Now I have five beds on the property because I, also, found out that they are actually shade "tolerant" not shade "loving". So, here I am........a "maybe" hostaholic. And.....don't be asking my family what they think, they all lie. He he

when bringing a plant indoors from the yard in fall ... YOU have to make sure the soil/pot is bug free .. or sooner or later something is going to appear .... you can either repot in fresh sterile soil in hopes of removing such ... or apply a systemic drench to the pot a few weeks prior to bringing them into the house... i prefer to do it outdoors to reduce use of such in the house .... prevention is so much easier than cure .... if it were me.. i would either get rid of the plant and start over ... or i would apply a systemic drench and live with the smell for a few days ...i know others will object ... but one plant.. one application.. isn't going to kill you ... apply according to directions ... millipedes eat decaying material .. as far as i know ... they are feasting on whatever is in the bottom of the pot .... ken