Good Morning all! Guess What??? Yesterday we had SUN for nearly the whole day! After TCS's swimming lesson and a short shoppoing trip, then off to get the two flat tires on the car repaired (road construction can be a nuisance!), we went for a drive to see a house for sale which apparently has huge and beautiful gardens. Unfortunately from the road we could only see about a dozen large hydrangeas, but to me that's indicative of a gardner-in-residence. We then actually sat on the wine deck, with wine even, disucssing weighty matters and being serious. What a waste of wine deck time *LOL* I finally got into my relocated back garden where the soil has compacted to concrete and the weeds have managed to sprount anyway. Got that all cleaned up before dinner. A sort of productive day I guess. Today I am going to finish painting the baseboards in TCS's room. I am going room by room here, decluttering, making minor repairs, putting small annoyances to rights. After IU VI I intend to try to do a room a week in this way. Just little stuff. Julie Jobs. I have done all my shopping for IU VI, and now am starting to pack. DH has told me that I won't exctly be a fashion plate, (he especially dislikes the Crocs) but he thinks I will have fun. I don't like my IUVI haircut so I'm getting another one today. Oh goodness that Ivy is sweet! Oh to be young and adventurous and go camping with a little one! Marie your DD and family seem like such an energetic and fun bunch! And another Ruby Birthday! Hope you have a happy day Michelle! Blackberries and Raspberries - I love them, and Raspberries are DH's favourite. Everytime I've gone to a "pick your own" place to pick my own, I have ended up with poison ivy. I just need to know that there's some nearby and I get it. So I do go to the roadside stands or farmer's markets to buy them already in the basket. Raspberry pie is heaven to DH but my pastry skills aren't the best so I buy the frozen pie shell and cook em up for him. Today if the weather is any good I will take photos of my gardens, being selective so I don't get the rotten parts on film (or whatever it is we get them on now!), and upload to a Photobucket album that we can look at if we have five minutes of down time at IU. Ha! As if! I still have one very messy area to put to rights after the fence construction but as it is on the nasty neighbour side I haven't hurried up. Not very kind of me and it's starting to bother me, so I will maybe at least get started there today. I hate being mean. Also, Tucker distinguished himself by eating the living room windowsill, so I have work to do there. And Ajax came prancing in yesterday with blood streaming from his paw, where he had caught a nail and ripped up his toe. He isn't putting that foot on the floor today, so maybe I will try to gently soak it and figure out what I can put it to promote healing without making him sick. It may mean another trip to the vet. They love me there, they see me so often it seems. Anyway, off to do battle with the elements for yet another day! TTFN! Julie

Hi I have the great pleasure of looking after a garden designed by and mainly planted with David Austin Roses in U.K. with both informal and formal beds and hedges totaling some 900 plants. Due to the size and time constraints involved I have introduced a pruning and deadheading regime mainly using handheld hedgeshears. The hedges are reduced from 6/7feet to 2 feet every Dec.,A 50 metre hedge takes less than an hour to prune; and shrubs by approx. 50% around the same time. The plants are then speedheaded with the handshears after the first flush is over. This induces an exceptional amount of new growth. The results have been spectacular; the hedges flower top to bottom with generous sized blooms, the borders are a riot of healthy, vigorous exhibition quality flowers;and dieback and other disease problems are almost non existent, as a regular spraying program is employed. I am very happy to state that from a hands-on, practical point of view the hedgecutter pruning/deadheading option works for me! I will be pleased to supply more info. if needed. Mikgreen.

Ricky's Swap a Que is April 19th. There is a current post about that one. I am having a swap in Deland on April 25th. Karalynn is having a swap (I think she is in Citrus county) on May 9th. Also, the Volusia County Master Gardener Plant Faire is April 4th. Here is the blurb on it: Plant sale: Thousands of plants will be offered at the Volusia County Master Gardeners' 11th annual Plant Faire from 8:30 a.m. to noon April 4 at the Volusia County Agricultural Center, 3100 E. New York Ave., DeLand. Admission is free. There will also be a silent auction, book sale, seed sale and vendors offering other plants and garden-related material. Master gardeners will be available to answer questions. Melissa

I live about 20 miles east of naples, FL. I keep a journal for various interests and one of the things i've been keeping track of is hummingbird visits to my yard. I counted the number of days I saw HB's in my yard and it came to 188 days in the past year. They have been feeding on firebush plants. These plants bloom constantly except for a 6 to 8 week period in winter. When they are not blooming, I put up a tray type feeder to keep the birds around. I have two types of firebush: hamelia patens and calusa firebush. The hamelia flowers are a yellowish orange and the calusas are bright red. The birds don't seem to have a preference. The only differnce I can see is that the calusa flowers seem to close up during the hottest part of the day. Whenever these plants are blooming, the birds completely ignore the feeder. Right now I have about 20 of these plants in my yard, varying in size from a foot tall to almost 6 feet. I only bought 7 plants , then propagated the rest from seed and cuttings.