Beautiful!! Your pics are clear and crisp and the flowers are beautifully set off by each other. I especially love the pic with the phlox. I also love the pics of the pink tulips with the yellow daffodils--that seems to me like the ultimate spring bulb color combo. Thanks for posting your beauties.

As I have stated in other posts, I am limited in that I can not plant veggies in-ground in my neighborhood. So instead I am going with container gardening. 5-gal container gardening with Self-Watering reservoirs attached to a rain barrel. I am doing my reading and trying to figure out the best way to go about this, so far it seems I am going to be limited to small variety tomatoes with this setup. While I do my research I thought I would ask my fellow Floridians for any experience any of you might have in this area. Sorry I'm late to the party, I did see this post last week but was at work, and Big Brother blocks PB so I could not see Silvia's wonderful pictures ;-) Personally, I'm not a big advocate of self-watering containers (buckets), tried them but too much anaerobic action in the water for me, probably my Zone 10 heat. Since this will be your first venture into this I have five suggestions to make: 1) Buy Husk Cherry Red mater plants from the Big Box. They are dwarf indeterminate plants that do well in containers, only grow to 4' so easy to stake in a container, are very hardy and wonderful producers. 2) Buy the $6 4 gallon terra cotta pots from Ikea, they would be double that price at the Big Box and will serve you well. 3) Buy MG potting mix, but not the moisture control mix 4) Get a 50lb bag of garden lime from the Big Box and supplement your potting mix with extra calcium. 5) Get a 2lb bottle of Dynamite control-release fertilizer from the Big Box and supplement your potting mix until you have a good feel for container veggie gardening... DISCLAIMER!!! It would be a lot cheaper to buy your tomatoes from the store (but they won't taste as good ;-) These suggestions will significantly improve you success at a first trial ;-) These are not the best example of Husky Cherry Red plants, I had them left over from the fall, didn't pot them out of the 3oz cups until 60 days, then 30 days in the 16oz cups, so they were already 90 days old before they went into these Ikea pots...a testament to how hardy this cultivar is, they would normally have been three times this size and loaded with cherry tomatoes. You can grow these too, short-day onions do well in containers as long as you don't let them dry out too much. Broccoli does well in containers too, but you won't get production like you would in a garden...we don't eat these, I grow them strictly for the bees, each head will produce 200 flowers which really helps support them. These are carrots, but I just pulled a row of icicle radishes, love to grow both in containers. You can also grow cukes in pots, I have mine inside the pool cage since I can't beat pickelworm so close to the water. My favorite parthenocarpic cuke so far is Sweet Success, for it's production, taste and cost of seeds. These plants are four months old now and on their last legs, time to start some more for the fall. I don't have much room and I'm surrounded by water in a very close proximity so I struggle to grow anything successfully. For this reason I focus mainly on tomatoes, everything else is a plus :-) :-( Tom

I tended to some roses today, but that was the extent of my yard work. May squeeze some more in, but it's doubtful. Electrician looks to have another full day of work Monday. He found some interesting things in my walls that made it take more time. Plumber moved the gas line from previous gas dryer to new gas range (I've got to check the specs...looks high and looks like it sticks out quite a bit) and moved the one supply line for the washer over as needed. But...I think it's too tall. But that should be easy enough to cut down if needed. I emailed GC, plumber didn't fix sink plumbing yet. Supposed to get new angle stops etc. GC's wife called and said that's no biggie, it'll get done before cabinet install, or even after. I said since they're leaking, I'd prefer it was before. She didn't know they were leaking, so it will now be before. My big accomplishments for the day were nailing down almost all lighting issues, I think. I bought the recessed lighting things (I don't know what they are each called...the attach them in the ceiling part and the plug them into that part...but don't call it a bulb), a few dimmers, one receptacle with usb holes. I ordered a few more lighting/switches related things on Amazon and should be here Sunday. And I emailed and talked on the phone with Environmental Lighting and got a plan for my UCL. I'm sure I could have pieced together something less expensive, but I understand this and can install it myself, so that'll be a savings in itself. Also, I confirmed that I need one less outlet for the UCL installed, so that will save. I 'adjusted' a few things re: the electrician's work. The GC had drawn the outlets smack-dab in the middle of the backsplash. I had him move them down and over on either side of the range. I didn't ask the one in the middle of another wall to be moved, though it probably could be. I may end up asking about that if it wears on me this weekend. And I also asked him to install an outlet in the utility cabinet so I can charge my hand vac, Braava, etc. Tacos just arrived. :)

(((((SadieSadie))))) How hard it is to sit with someone that we've loved almost more than anyone else in the world, and know that they are going, and that it really is for the best, and that there's nothing that we can do about it. I hope that you can take some deep breaths, several times a day, and as you gently exhale, let some of the pain slip away with the breath as it departs. God grant to each in your family the strength and peace in their hearts that will let them take their leave of our Mom with thankfulness and joy. May your Mom go to her new life with peace in her heart, as well. (((((SadieSadie, her Mom, and family))))) ole joyful