A bit, um, late to the party *sigh* but oh....wow, wow, wow...awesome...a.m.a.z.i.n.g! Thanks so much for sharing. Made my day and I'm passing it on to many. (shoulda took yer advice to crank up the speakers the first time around...yeah) ~digger

Hi Pippi - I usually read the new posts on the board once or twice a day. Not much going on in my garden right now. Hubby and I have been quite busy in Oct & Nov with our annual fall leaf clean up. We are gradually cleaning up 15 acres of woodlands to remove the deep mulch on the forest floor so that the land will be able to grow more food for the animals. I do have a new animal video up for those who want to see how Connie and the goats are doing. :) Lynda Here is a link that might be useful: Animal video

Hi Susannah Try to grow a different variety of radish for the dear boyfriend, there is some interesting with 2 colors like watermelons, rose or french breakfast. Then use the whole plant. Cook it for a minute or two with their own water left from washing, you can chop the leaves coarse. Add a little bit of butter, salt and pepper. It is is perfect to use tomatoes, radish and carrots together. I have runner beans, carrots and radish combo. And I like all the greens from my garden this time of year, I love your arugula in salads! Are you planting any of the Asian greens? We really have to grow more of this, they are not only easy to grow but they are delicious and nutritious. Here are my radish going to be prepared like I told you. Happy gardening season for you Susannah and all the friends that are doing veggies now! Silvia

Since Aden is no longer with us, it doesn't seem to be such a problem, Bernd. But if you talk to people who were his contemporaries, they were extremely wary. I know an older gentleman who lives near me that was a close friend of Alex Summers. He, my friend, used to go to Honeysong every summer to help Alex with his gardens. I mentioned Aden to him one time and he knew exactly what I was talking about. He replied that Alex had told him to "keep an eye on that one." After a while Aden's reputation preceeded him, and close watch stopped a lot of the stolen plants. The problem with Florence Shaw was that she died in June of 1975 and her property was tied up in limbo for about a year before the estate was cleared and the property could be sold. So during that time there was ample opportunity for plants to go missing. I know this because I have been to Birchwood and spoke to the current owner of the property who bought it from Florence's estate in 1976. Believe me if we can find Florence's notebooks, there will be a lot more plants that will be registered in her name, than just those few that the commission recommended. When all is said and done, Florence Shaw will be recognized as one of the handful of great hybridizers of the genus Hosta. Florence not only created great plants like Blue Angel, Sum and Substance, Love Pat, Blue Cadet and Big Daddy, she was also prolific. She was only working with Hostas for less than 20 years, yet she had every rare plant that was available at the time and used these in her work well before anyone else. It is likely that Blue Mammoth is hers, along with Sun Power and Gold Regal. These are classically beautiful plants that have formed the foundation for hybridizing work in the late 20th century and even today. Steve Blue Mammoth