WAAAHOOOOOOOOO!!!! It's Saturday at it's best. Jewelry is back in boxes after parties (just two -- third was reportedly a drunk fest according to a phone call from a Sr. Director who said 'stay away if at all possible -- can I come to where you are?') Took the hint and headed home. No pineapple on the mailbox, but one firmly affixed to the patio pole, much to the glee of neighborhood kids who thought I'd gone wacko and forgotten. We're making plans for Winter Solstice as candles to celebrate the shortest day of the year has a novelty factor. Oldest girl who shared the evening with me last year has rallied the troops. Need to read up and make it as authentic as possible. Anyone with Wican experience that can help? Just today took down Thanksgiving stuff and am trying hard not to push the December 25 decorations. The village is enough for now, and my three-year old neighbor is just the right height to report on exactly what the elves are doing in those little houses. This is the same kid who absolutely believes that fairies live in Digitalis until the flowers fade, then go to be safe in Baptisia pods. His mom is in full support and it's a delight to see his imagination at work. We're careful that it isn't truly lying. Nicknames at work have got me cracking up, as I think every office has every one of the personalities. No toasters, but a small refridgerator under one desk. Whiners aplenty. The ones that really "get" me are what I call the Big Kid Wannabes, who are young and know everything until they get asked to do something they've never done and freeze up. Then tell anyone who will listen why this new thing is just a waste of time. Then miss a deal. Sr. Rep and I get some good laughs and he finally told one of them "if you want to play with the big kids, start acting like one." There are advantages to being on the road most of the time. Today grateful for a warm home -- in every sense of the word -- in which to write testimony for the State Appropriations Committee on Friday. Yes, Governor has suggested that another hunk of money come out of services for the mentally ill, particularly adolescent care, to help balance the budget. Also grateful for the skill to get a point across. I'm hopeful I can be of help. Though I'm not directly affected, nor is my family, I'm honored that they called me and asked that I do the "keynote" testimony. June 10 Bday here. Good to see you back, Denise! Hello, Everyone! Waiting for the snow..... Martie

Doing a google search on remontant hydrangeas, brought me to this thread. I own 'Wedding Gown' & 'Pistachio' or 'Glam Rock' as its known across the pond. Both hydrangeas do not get huge figure about 3' X 3'. 'Wedding Gown' I have noticed, in our zone 7 winters w/o protection dies almost to the ground and emerges with new growth in spring. The plant blooms on new wood. I have not encountered 'die to the ground' with 'Pistachio'. Both are well behaved in a Northern exposure and a Western exposure in the shadow of a magnolia.

(In PNW zone 7+) Oh my God ... CONSIDER not deadheading the later season flowers! Leave a summer flower set! I made a typical pruning choice to refresh for white flowers for a couple years, before I discovered a secret hiding within this stunning hydrangea. Yes Wedding Gown has amazing double white flowers, in lacecap form, whose center keeps opening ever smaller florets, forming an stunningly elegant full flattened display. Yes one can cut the Snow White flowers for display use and be rewarded with yet more ... it does not fall into slumber. I too read about nice fall color and just assumed it was just the leaves. And our late October leaf color is now getting there. However, make no mistake, the Evil Queen is hiding there too! No written description mentioned that the white flowers turn so deep ruby red in color! I was shocked, but happily ever after. As the fully opened white flowers, now a couple months old aged, they started to spot pink. I would have normally cut them off to get more white flowers ... hey it reblooms! Over the next few weeks the spots density increased and darkened until soild stunning deep red florets were formed. The flower heads remained upright for a month display of glory hovering over green leaves, (The flower petals felt dry at this stage and I should have cut some for dry floral arrangements.) Just as the fall leaf color peaked the florets twistwd downwards and lightened into deep magenta and cranberry red colors While still in a large tub last year I got strong flower production but not much fall leaf color. In a 50% sun location this year and same tub with 3' tall plant the late fall mature leaf color is currently a deep, almost blackish plum red color. The new growth leaves on stem ends are still green, giving a festive mosaic look. I like the effect in this yard location and will plant here. The secret is out. Wedding Gown is dramatically beautiful in all stages. At a compact ~4' it is highly useful for landscape effects in front of taller bushes. It's like having cranberry bush fall color wonder, which tolerates partial sun, and lavishly provides a white floral display all summer. I'd buy Wedding Gown for the red fall performance alone. As a grower I could call call it Red (or Drama?) Queen and let buyers be totally shocked by the unexpected white Spring phase. The lable would just say red late season flowers deeping in color with age. Anybody else lured into missing this dramatic red flower phase? (Top Photo taken late October with ruby red flowers lightening towards deep magenta and cranberry red tones.)

Wow. What thoughts! My mom just passed in August, so this was a memory lane walk. My parents built their home in 1962 (or 64, I can't remember) and it was a very unfashionable, French Provincial home. A mansion in our two stoplight, 1 blinker Midwestern town. My mom wasn't afraid of color. Slate blue metal kitchen cabinets. Huh? Sleek, though, without a hint of '50s. The linoleum floor was mild, but in the 70s, she put in .... SHAG. In the KITCHEN! Her decorating style I know now was avant garde and esoteric, somewhat traditional with beautiful wood furniture, but there was Queen Anne in it along with long, creamy shag carpeting in the family room, where my dad would rake it. (Can you say, "OCD?") He didn't care as long as he could put his feet up and watch the boob tube. Coffered ceilings there. The den had wormwood paneling, which to this day remains gorgeous (with the new owners as of 1980) and cozy. She had pocket doors -- did I get that from her? She owned an art gallery in E. Lansing, which was quite well known in the local art community, so we had unusual sculpture and paintings in and out of our home. A nude in our slate-floored foyer. (GASP! you have KIDS!) Our condo in upper MI was also done with the builder's options, which turned out to be 70's chrome, white leather, orange carpet, etc. I still have the Fitz & Floyd Total Color Cinnabar china she bought. When she moved to FLA, it was beachy, with her beautiful Queen Anne furniture pieces, some modern, tile floors, bright colors mixed with soft, and her artwork. She moved back to MI about 10 years ago, and those beloved piece came back with her. Her little condo in E. Lansing, where she died, was elegant, uncluttered, and serene. I'm inheriting many of her Queen Anne and Asian pieces, including some of the artwork. My sisters inherited her love of color and are taking some of the bigger, bolder pieces. They're both tall and blonde, where as I'm short and troll-like. I'm getting the tiny furniture and they the bigger. I've already got her Queen Settee, via a sister, who covered it in Raspberry fabric, when in her (somewhat) periwinkle home. Oh, boy. My youngest sister, who lives a few doors down from her, is getting what I'd consider "décor" pieces. She loves to redesign her home, despite messing with four children. So yes, I've evolved from her cast-offs (where I recreated the den evidently in one home) to my own need for sleek furniture in my Shaker and Arts 'n Crafts period. I now find I'm DONE with dark wood and sparse lines. Clean is good, but I find myself moving towards some of the QA and Louis the xxxxxxx furnitures. Mom lives on. In artwork, Asian and curvy, she lives in me and my home. In color, she lives with my sister. In crazy yet functional, she lives with my baby sister. But I will never have lime green, bird wall paper with slate colored metal kitchen cabinets and a bright purple & gold bathroom with turquoise fixtures. Ok, she admits the latter was "probably" a mistake, but what the heck! ?!