Thanks guys for all of the wonderful feedback! I'm so glad that I posted. I will be spending a few hours on both of those sites to try to get familiar with what I am trying to grow. I normally sow my perennials from A to Z and then start up with my annuals. I realize it's hard to generalize an answer without any specific info. I'm still waiting for my swaps to come through so I don't have a full list of what I'll be trying this year! I haven't been to Garden's North yet, either... :) I'm sure I will be able to find the information I need researching on those links. If I still find I'm unsure about anything, I'll play it safe and plant 2 pots. It was very interesting to read a little bit about the GA-3 which I wasn't familiar with. It sounded much different than rooting hormone so I'll do some more research on that, too. I found something in my dead zone this year. (I plant my dud pots in the ground in what I call the 'dead zone' in hopes they might come up on their own). I believe it was Solomon's Seal, if not it was Jack-in-the-Pulpits but it must have been hypogeal because I just noticed little bulbets that grew from the prior year. The shade plants are very interesting, I've been missing out! I had the opportunity to visit a couple of local gardener's shade gardens this year. They were just beautiful! You guys must be in love with yours. My tastes have changed over the years and now I'm leaning more toward variegated and different textured plants. Shade gardening opens up so many more aspects. I'm really looking forward to it! Linda thanks for the sase offer. I'm going to stay optomistic and hope to make some fun trades with you in a couple of years when my plants bloom! Remy - I'm again looking forward to our wish list swap! I sent you a little something from a commercial packet I had ordered this year. You'll have to wait 'till your package comes :) I hope it's something new for you, some of you guys were really, really hard to find something for!

amyflora- go to the very bottom of the page, where it says member pages. then click on edit your trade liasts. it'll want you to log in again. have at it! i took me a few mins when i went to update mine to find it again, and i've done it lots of times, so don't feel bad. tanya, the black rasps are rooted. i don't really know if cuttings of bramble would work- i always start with tip offshoots or runners. ralph- oh boy, you opened a can of worms. :) i've come to the conclusion we'll have to get together some other time because so much of our lists matches up! so, here's what i have that you want: black raspberry starts, red rasp starts, wineberry starts, hardy kiwi cuttings i can bring you (but don't ask me about rooting 'cause i dunno), i have marion stewart up already, and can bring some cuttings from my overwinter plant, a white fragrant perennial nicotiana, and can get you jujube cuttings (it's the contorted one), pomegranate cuttings (i think that's best in winter; but i can try now- i have 'sweet'), and i have an asian persimmon, but it's grafted. if you want to try and root it i can bring a fresh cutting. i just received 2 more pomegranate varieties, and should have stuff to cut maybe by next year from them. supposed to be dwarf, very hardy and great tasting varieties. i have sprite seeds i kept from a melon if you'd like some. it's a hybrid, so who knows what you'll get but i have actually had reasonably good luck doing that with sprites. for some reason the packaged seed is hard to find. what i'd be interested in return would be choc mint & snowflake tiarella, the disporum sessile, a blackmagic ee, cupheum 'batface', and do you have blue balsam or orange mint? i have also set aside a couple zuchetta seeds & some armenian cuke seeds. i think i can get a phygelia cutting. dana, i've been hankering after ellen's blue. is there anything i could offer you in return for a cutting? oh, and someone left 2 red mulberries at the last swap and i brought them home. whose were they- i don't need them and would like to get them to whom they belong. i have mulberries all over and don't need more. dana, could you use them for your silkworms?

Yowzah, we're getting socked again! This one is a real mess, worse than the recent blizzard in that it is snowing heavily with it piling up quickly. With the wind blowing, and drifting so high, we won't have hot water until we get out and clear away the heater vents. Worse, it will be topped with sleet and freezing rain which will make clean up very difficult. Then whatever we don't clean up today won't get cleaned up as it will be freezing solid... tonight it's supposed to be near zero. OK, I'm ready for spring now!

My new mini bed, just in last month. It's hard to tell from the pic, but it's on a little hill, pic taken looking up. Proud Sentry in the pot guarding the bed, then counterclockwise Wylde Green Cream, Diamonds are Forever, Gemstone, Jiminy Cricket, Hideout, Little Devil and Virginia Reel by the blue piece of glass and Rainbows End at the bottom of the rock. Kathy