Thank you for the great seeds and the cute card!! Too funny!! I so appreciate the sunflower joker, cosmos xanthos, calla Lilly, morning glory split second, and the hosta American crosses seeds!!!

Hope everyone is having a great day!!!

Hey, Everybody!

I wanted to post what's been happening with our seed packages - I'm only posting the "Rec'd''s":

Annie sends to Jeanne

Jeanne sends to Nicole - Rec'd

Nicole sends to Ruth

Ruth sends to Mandy - Rec'd

Mandy sends to Jayeanne

Jayeanne sends to Brook - Rec'd

Brook sends to Beth - Rec'd

Beth sends to Maggie

Maggie sends to Amy - Rec'd

Amy sends to Shirley

Shirley sends to Annie

If I've missed anyone, let me know!

I've got Annie's seeds ready to go, will mail them out on Saturday, per our agreement.

More storms today, rather severe, nothing "downed" in the gardens tho!

Shirley!

Nicole, oh my goodness! Found this amazing package waiting for me when I got home last night.

It was such a great way to end the day after spending time at the doctors office then searching to find a new dishwasher that might be better than my current one.

Seventeen, yes seventeen packs of seeds. I've been wanting to try those turnips, love pak choi, zinnias, morning glories and peppers. I don't usually have much luck with squash or tomatoes but I keep trying. I've never grown snapdragons, scallions, or collards from seed, but looking forward to trying. I love everything. Thank you so much for such an awesome package.

Baby
Pak Choi, Green Fortune

Bush
Yellow Scallop squash

Butterfly
Snapdragons, Chantilly

Dawn
Star morning glory

Green
Flash Collards

Jalapeno
pepper

Japanese
Baby Turnips, Mikado

Salad
Scallions, Sprint

Tomato,
Camp Joy Cherry

Tomato,
Isis Candy cherry

Tomato,
Little Red Pear cherry

Tomato,
Red & Yellow Pear mini

Tomato,
Super Beefsteak

Yummy
bell pepper

Zinnia,
Cool Crayon Colors

Zinnia,
Moulin Rouge

Zinnia,
Polor Bear

Vindication is Mine! Well, on a small scale. Walmart didn't price their plants again and they had to sell them to me for the price they had posted. I was prepared to talk to management and I took a picture. The customer service lady asked if she could see the picture and she told me I made her job much easier--this is an ongoing problem. They don't seem to mind losing money this way and I quit buying there for that reason. It was toward the end of a long week of head-banging against brick walls at work and I was ready to win one! It would be better to win world peace, of course!

I keep looking for you Fotess Girls! It's getting harder and harder to find on Houzz. I always try my old method first, but I'm learning where to find the back doors. Just sad it's not easier.

This week was 95 and hot. Today it's 75 and probably rain. What a difference, but I'll take it. We pick up our daughter Sunday when she comes back from Japan. Later!! Heidi

Beth - Thank you so much for the wonderful package!!! I did try to get a photo

Beth - Thank you so much for the wonderful package!!! I did try to get a photo

Glad your package arrived, Nicole, and so quickly!

We're back to 90's for temperature and sunny. We had 80's and clouds for a few days. It sure felt a lot better.

I think I posted when I bought some Chocolate Sprinkles tomato plants. They are growing like crazy and lots of mini tomatoes on them now. Sure hope they taste good. I'll be sure to report on them. Waiting for some rain again --- it has been a few days since it rained and back to watering with the hoses.

Jeanne

Maggie, I love the kitty paws....shoulda sent catnip. My friend in MD always grows some for her furbabies.

Jeanne, my Choc sprinkles have had 3 ripe ones so far. Two were cracked biu I rate the taste as better than most cherry size maters. Let us know what you think when yours ripen.

Evening, All!

Some great packages being sent! Thanks for posting pics, Maggie, the kitties look like they are enjoying the swap too!

We've had rain all day, much needed, but I'm ready for a break now! It is a lot cooler which I am definitely enjoying!

Our Bingo word for the day is: Earth

Anyone getting close?

Jeanne, those tomatoes sound good, please let us know how they taste.

Heidi, what is going on with your Houzz?

Have a great evening, Ladies,

Shirley!

Shirley - I have 9 :-)

Oooh, rain .. cool .. sigh, not here. Still heat wave, staying up and over 100 degrees until at least Monday. Not great for young starts.

Maggie! 9? how great is that?! My boss had 8, lunch at her house was a trip! Fortunately, we all had cats, so it wasn't too much of a shock.

Wishing some cooler weather for you, Maggie, we're supposed to heat up here, next week.

Shirley!

oh gosh no Shirley - I have 6 cats (still too many!). You'd asked about Bingo - I have 9 Bingo words :-) Thanks for the cooler temp wishes - every wish counts and we need it!

Maggie, I loved the pictures with the cat! My cat is like that. If I spread out some papers, he thinks it's the perfect place for a bed.

I need one more word for Bingo.

We got rain by midday and it's cooler once again. Hooray!

Jeanne

Well, DUH! Bingo words, Shirley, Bingo words, not cats. Good Grief!

And speaking of which, tonight's Bingo word is: Amy

And speaking of Amy: Amy, I received my package today, Thank You for all the goodies! I love the pretty dish towel and the notepad. The seed selection was great, it includes dianthus, African daisy, Black King Pansy, dwarf coreopsis, cosmos, hyacinth bean vine and Sweet Autumn Clematis. Great choices, Amy! The dianthus, cosmos, daisies and coreopsis will be planted as soon as it quits raining! Thank You, Amy!

Have a great evening, Ladies,
Shirley!

Well, it isn't raining anymore, but it sure got cold!

The Bingo word for the day is: Katie

Bingo words called so far:

Friends

Jayeanne

Ruth

Mandy

Erica

FOTESS

Margo

Beth

Faye

Jeanne

Amy

Earth

of the

Annie

Shirley S

Shirley C

Katie

Some of you are VERY close!

Have a great evening,

Shirley!

Oops! Forgot to say: Annie, Your Choice seeds are in the mail! Hope you enjoy them!

Boy, did it get cold here. Wonder what's going on? Mandy, how is it up in PawPaw?

Talk to ya all tomorrow,

Shirley!

Still cold here on the Plains, but they say the cool air is leaving and beginning today will warm up each day until we're back in the 90s by Thursday. Local gardens were planted so late because it was cold. My dad has 4" pepper plants with tiny peppers. My mom said he may have to cut some off for the pepper plant to survive. I said she could make them into tiny stuffed pepper sliders! Right now it looks like the peppers are holding up the plant because they sit on the ground! I love the cat pictures, too!! Heidi

I am back home......hot as hell, humid , humid, humid!! Almost noon out here and it is 104 in the shade. It has been very hot in CA for several days....must check out the damage and possible death of my plant children...LOL! But maybe I should not say LOL! I already know there has been lots of vole/mole activity......as they say, if it is not one thing, it is another...haha!

Jeanne, I will get your seed fun out in the next couple of days...

I just checked my BINGO card.....I am close but I'll bet alot of us are close!!

Happy Monday!

Annie

Well, I'm going to confuse everyone!!! Been thinking about it for awhile and made the decision. My original GW username since 2001 had been faerygardener (and actually, it still is my user name). The "public display" went to my name when the move to Houzz took place and I'd left it. Looks like Houzz kindly changed all my recent messages over to faerygardener now that I've fixed my display name. Hope this doesn't throw anyone for a loop. :-)

I'm thinking it will be all right, Maggie!

However, I'm not sure what happened to my post yesterday. I hate to think I forgot to hit "submit", but that could be what happened. Sorry!

In any event, yesterday's Bingo word was: Members, and that resulted in two winners! Good Grief! And Congratulations to Jeanne and Annie!

Have we ever had two winners before?

I'll be back later with an update on where the Swap is. Just a few more days to get your packages sent out!

Shirley!

Shirley, I love the BINGO word, so just for the fun of it, I am calling BINGO....LOL! Congrats Jeanne!

Happy Tuesday!

Annie

Thank you so much Mandy for the awesome package! I am absolutely loving the perfect selection of seeds you generously shared =)

Achillea 'Moonshine' - I just told my daughter this morning...I need to find some 'yellow' for the gardens, this is perfect!

Danebrog Laced Poppy - so beautiful! cant wait to sow these for fall!

Labella Red & White Snapdragon - love snapdragons! and these are perfect! love the red & white!

Night and Day Snapdragon - yay! almost ordered this just a few days ago!

Tetra Ruffled Supreme Snapdragon - these look gorgeous!

T & M Ruffled Dahlia - cant wait to get these going!

Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate - never tried this one, looks beautiful!

Anne Arundel Hibiscus - cant wait to get this going too!

... I also love all the tropical coloring postcards you sent too, these will be fun, a beautiful pink summer solstice card and some awesome UV protection shampoo and smoothing conditioner, I will definitely be using these =) Thank you so much for everything, I sure appreciate it! Wishing you and yours a beautiful and safe Happy 4th! Thank you much Mandy!

BINGO! Thanks for the good news.

The past 2 days have been very tiring. We planned to get some work done in our Master Bath and I lined it up but I told them about my surgery and that we didn't want them to start until after the 4th of July. As we were leaving for my doctor's appointment yesterday, they dropped off 2 workers to take up the floor. So we had to go from my doctor's appointment to a place to pick out flooring and then the workers were back today - for the entire day. I didn't sleep well last night and got up with a sore back (my back had been doing great lately so probably from going through flooring samples) and it's hard to rest with workers going back and forth and construction work above you. I'm probably making a big deal out of it since I'm tired and I guess I'm not very tolerant of getting work done on the house. It's one of those things, if I had the knowledge and the strength, I'd much rather do it myself. Anyone else like that?

So thanks for the good news about Bingo and thanks for being a great hostess this month, Shirley. Annie, I'll let you know when my package arrives. No problem at all with it being mailed later in the month. I won't be planting for awhile. The garden is reduced to just getting water while I recover more from my surgery.

Talk soon.

Jeanne

Jeanne, your package is headed out tomorrow.......I can relate to the workers coming prior to when they are supposed to come. A few years ago, I made arrangements for deck work to be done....told them the earliest date that they could start. Out of nowhere, they showed up two weeks before the arranged start date to start on a project that was going to take a couple of weeks. I sent them on their not so merry way.....They thought I was so out of line. I told them to read the darn contract. They still thought I was out of line. I stuck by my guns!! Help/contractors....not what they used to be, for sure! They beat to their drum, not the consumers drum!!

Happy Evening!

Annie

My daughter got home from Japan and brought me Japanese Morning Glory seeds! Can't wait to see what they do.

On her many adventures she noticed a spot of grass a few yards wide and a few yard across. It was crowded with Japanese people sitting on it. She looked around confused. "Oh, they love to feel the grass. We don't have much grass here," her host said. That's so far out of my realm of thinking, but Japan doesn't have much flat ground period and less of it planted in grass. It made me appreciate more of what I take for granted.

I mostly hear the other end of contractors' stories. The company didn't ship the 14' plate glass window that was ordered, the owner visited Aunt Betty and decided she now wants pink Formica so they have to start over, it rained 3 days so they couldn't get the roof shingled, the owner wants to help and he dropped pieces down a pipe which took 2 hours to retrieve! Plus it's not easy being around construction, especially when you're not feeling well.

My daughter got home, but she was pale, dehydrated and limp as a noodle. She is recovering and looking much better. Heidi

Shirley...I just emailed and PM you.....post here if you do not receive!

Jeanne, your package went out this morning....delivery looks like Saturday....tracking # 9500 1162 0407 7179 0378 78

Must run!!

Annie

Update on the Swap:

Annie sends to Jeanne - Sent

Jeanne sends to Nicole - Rec'd

Nicole sends to Ruth - Rec'd

Ruth sends to Mandy - Rec'd

Mandy sends to Jayeanne - Rec'd

Jayeanne sends to Brook - Rec'd

Brook sends to Beth - Rec'd

Beth sends to Maggie - Rec'd

Maggie sends to Amy - Rec'd

Amy sends to Shirley - Rec'd

Shirley sends to Annie - Sent

If I've missed anyone, let me know!

Just a few more days for the Swap, Annie, so sorry I am SO late sending!

Shirley!

Also, Annie, haven't checked my email, will do so now!

I hope it's okay with everyone if I post the July swap on Thursday, June 29th. I know people will likely have plans for the week of the 4th of July and I want to give everyone a chance to see it. Sign up by July 8th to participate. The mail out deadline will be July 20th. If anyone in the group (swapping or not) wants to play Bingo, message or email your words to me by July 7th.

July will be simple, but lots of fun! Watch for more details in the new heading.

Jeanne

Sounds good to me, Jeanne!

Thank you for the wonderful swap, Shirley! It was a lot of fun

Heidi - Congrats on the morning glory - expect that jet lag for your daughter was awful, long trip!

Ugh, contractor stories. I tend to live with some things broken longer than I should just because I hate having to find honest contractors who'll do a good job. I'm sure they exist somewhere .... they must ....

Heat spell broken - as one nursery put on Facebook "Who knew low 90s could feel so cool?!" Mid 90s all week. True confessions - still a tad too hot for me. So, a few Bishops Children Dahlia made it, but now I know why I'd stopped growing it. I'd shoved a LOT of potted plants up against the house and away from the sun (till 4pm-ish) in the heat wave. All but one of those Bishops Children died, but the Sunny Reggae dahlia just had burnt leaves and lived (even when in the same pot). It is shorter with more leaf cover. The Bishops protected in 100% shade no sun all heat wave are alive (of course, no blooms). Also, my Salvia Texas hummingbird sage right next to them (same amount of sun, same size pot, the red coccinea) that I think of as a shade plant would wilt something terrible (as would the calibrachoa in more sun) but perk up overnight with water. The dead plant's stems were soggy - like the stems just boiled. Ah well. Moving large pots around due to sun and heat is already getting old - have to just find what works and stick with it. In front, I lost "sun lovers" (ha! not MY sun) gaura, verbena and cosmos. And, the canna pics (OBF thread) are the same porch, left in sun - all about plant choice and obviously I made some wrong ones!

Had bought the pet screen and grommets for this Sew4Home project - (and thought I'd have a shady corner with filtered light) better get on it!

Maggie, That is so sad. All your hard work. I hope they can be revived. The screen that you are going to make is really pretty and seems like a great idea. Take care in that hot sun. Amy

Good Morning!

As soon as we hear from Jeanne and Annie, about receiving, we can close this swap. Thanks to everyone for playing!

Jeanne has the July Swap up and running and it sounds like a great one, be sure to check it out.

Have a great day all,
Shirley!

Shirley...wonderful fun this month. Thanks so much!

Happy Friday!

Annie

Shirley, Thank you! It was a fun month! Amy

Shirley - thanks for a fun month!!

Amy - yes, a bit of work once I get to the planting and moving big pots. Part of why I winter sow so much. So many things don't make it but the few gems for me that survive heat, critters and the chewing bugs become stars I can put everywhere.

Posting that I received Annie's package today and it's WONDERFUL! I'll try to remember to come back and list some of the seeds. Also Annie included some things like glitter, stickers, etc.

Annie, I'll have so much fun with the items you sent. Thank you so much!

Jeanne

Happy Saturday Morning FOTESSERS,

I have received mail from Shirley........

Shirley, thank you so much! I received a beautiful hand made SOLSTICE card. And I received an assortment of pretty cards, hand made by the one and only Shirley. I love your cards!!!!

Seeds....

Salad Greens....Butterhead Lettuce

Winter Sowing....Rudebeckia Cherry Brandy

Sun....Can Can Harlequin Burgundy Petunias

Perennial....Pink Bonnet Columbines

Vegetables....Lunchbox Pepper Mix Sweet Peppers

Perfect selection of seeds....

Happy weekend...happy 4th of July. Have fun and be safe!!

Thanks!!

Annie

Glad the package made it, Annie! Enjoy!

And that's it for the June Swap! Don't forget to check out Jeanne's July Swap, going on now!

Annie sends to Jeanne -Rec'd

Jeanne sends to Nicole - Rec'd

Nicole sends to Ruth - Rec'd

Ruth sends to Mandy - Rec'd

Mandy sends to Jayeanne - Rec'd

Jayeanne sends to Brook - Rec'd

Brook sends to Beth - Rec'd

Beth sends to Maggie - Rec'd

Maggie sends to Amy - Rec'd

Amy sends to Shirley - Rec'd

Shirley sends to Annie - Rec'd

My swap from Annie. Thank you so much, Annie!

These are just some of the seeds Annie sent: Kangaroo Paw Brown Tomatoes (really excited to try this one!), several unusual herbs that will be new for me to try, Impatiens which I love and grows really well in my shade garden, and Cosmos which I love. That's not to say I don't love the others.

Thanks again, Annie!

Jeanne

Thank you for my Bingo prize, Shirley. Love it!

Jeanne

Shirley,

My BINGO prize arrived yesterday.....I just opened!! Thank You so very much!!

Happy Tuesday!!

Annie

I would like to join next year please

Heidi, you are amazing! (I knew that but it bears repeating) What a nice clear explaination of some of the very puzzling things for newbies

Heidi...nicely done! I would be happy and rejoicing if I had you, Heidi, the IRS agent, spitting out tax rules and regulations to me over the phone!! Precise, factual, confusion free and to the point....and some humor too LOL!

Annie

oh no any help is greatly appreciated. I am new to this site. I have been in several big swaps on other sites. Ishareflowers is trying to help me with this one but she is sick with the flu and super busy with her swap. So with all of that said, I will do any recommendations anyone suggest. I just have to have to tell me how.

Thanks, Heidi, nicely done!

ok tried to put space (7a) at the end of my name it would not let me help