Accordinng to my "Little House on the Prarie" Cookbook, you can also use immature pumpkins ( and other immature winter squashes) as "apples" in an apple pie. Peel and slice them just as you would apple slices. Just use a little bit more apple pie spice and brown sugar than your recipe calls for. If the recipe calls for a cup of something, then I do a heaping cup. If it calls for a tablespoon, then I do a heaping tablespoon or, if it's lliquid, I let some spill over the sides of the measuring spoon into the mixing bowl. Don't be afraid to play with the measurements. Immature raw pumpkins/squashes can also be peeled and fried up with onions/green peppers and garlic. Toss some hamburger or steak or pork chops into the pan, too, if you like. You can also toss chunks of the raw, peeled pumpkin/squash into a pot of chicken soup or stew. (I do that even with fully ripe pumpkins/squashes).

Karen, Thank you for helping me look! I'm looking it up right now, and... argh! It is so close! 'Elizabeth Francis Woodall' has black tips on the stamens while mine seem a brownish/orange and a EFW has a very light yellow edging to the ruffles. The rest of the coloring is dead on. Going to check out 'Broadway Pink Slippers' and... that is much pinker than mine. Thank you for the name of that daylily nursery. I'll keep looking through their dl's. What a great assortment! Alana, I love baby shops. When Gymboree opened here I was having a blast picking up little outfits for my daughter and niece. Love that girly stuff. I hope things go quickly for you in Dayhoit. Never heard of it either. Thanks be for Google, eh? It has helped me get in and out of places that were too small for most gas station maps. Hurry home and keep an eye on these thieves. Hey Vic! We have rentals here in Cleveland and Lakewood. One is our old house that we used to live in. The guys are usually late with the check and it takes a phone call or two. Once they switched to new cell phones and I did have to drive over there. Nothing like me showing up with a van full of kids to make them want to get that check there a little quicker. Want me to drive to Michigan. Shouldn't be more than a couple hours. I'll threaten them with having to babysit. That might do it. I'm sorry about what happened with Jamie's job. Ed's customers are pretty slow paying right now. I told him he better start getting some money up front. It drives me crazy when he floats the cost of materials and they take forever to pay him at the end of the job. He is finally starting to listen to me about it. Deb, I think no one wants the game to end. They all know it's over when your box gets grabbed. LOL! Does the garage sale start tomorrow? I hope you have a great turn out and the weather stays beautiful for it. Sweet Dreams! Nighty night Sassy, sweet dreams to you too.

Same here-circum-neutral soils high in clay content....no issues whatsoever. If anything, the foliage just gleams. Just got to watch the lingo a bit: So, a pH just a bit above neutral (pH of 7) is by definition slightly alkaline. But somebody reading this thread in the high deserts, where soil pHs are much higher, could get fooled into thinking this elm is their answer. I tend to doubt it, and not just due to the inherent dryness. As pH goes above 8, nutrients become extremely difficult for any but the most well-adapted plant species (adapted to the desert) to survive and thrive. Neutral soils, or those in a range from around 6.5 to perhaps 8.0, do support a very large range of plants. But on the high side, you're going to run into trouble much past that 8.0.

Well, it's a year and a half later, and we haven't gotten very far. Granted, we gutted and remodeled our kitchen and removed out chimney between July and Dec 2018, and that was all-consuming, including months of planning leading up to July. We have a Fireglow on order to plant in the area I indicated just to the left and forward of the larger bed, but that's it. I can figure out what to do with the larger bed from your input above, but I just cannot figure out what to do in the small space to the right of the steps. The space is about 4' wide 8' deep, and I know I want something in the back that grows to about 4-6 feet tall and likes partial sun, and it has to be a bold color to stand out from the gray. Unfortunately, I am not fond of most evergreens, so the most appropriate options (such as the dwarf alberta spruce) for this space don't work for me. After reading and looking at countless pictures and not finding anything that I like and is workable, I am now wondering about either doing a trellis with something trained on it or planting something that reaches ~2' in a tall urn. What do you think? any other ideas?