The price for the Easy Bloom dropped to $38 and free shipping, so I put it on my Holiday Wish list with STRONG suggestions to dear ole hubby. I'll keep you posted. In terms of my garden, I have some areas that plants do well in and several areas that nothing takes. Plants that should thrive, Homestead verbena, lantana, etc, do not survive. So I plan on concentrating my efforts in these areas first. Of course, it's the spot that you can see out my kitchen window!!! I think I'll invest in a soil kit from one of the big box stores and see what happens. If I do not have any success, then I will definitely contact the Extension office. Thank you all for your replies.

Karen Hause, have you seen the flowers of this sedum? If so what color are they? We don't have a fully authoritative answer but have some strong leads regarding its identity. We'll write more about this, but the flower color would provide additional clarification. Incidentally, side-by-side comparison makes us more convinced that your blue sedum is S. hispanicum not 'Blue Spruce'. We'll write more about this, too.

My banana is not only doing better but much better! He seems to be extremely happy now! He's got his 7th leaf coming out! (Ignore the boxes. They are critical to maintaining his happiness, I swear!) So spring seems to have come absurdly early. I'm both really excited and enjoying this warmth and really really worried. My peach is blooming 3 weeks earlier than last year. As well as my nectarines. Ralph, remember I had a bunch of baby purple leafed peaches? Well I guess they're old enough to bloom too! Completely unexpected! The ones I potted up but didn't bring to plant swap (potted same time as plant swaps) didn't bloom so I guess they got too much shock from being transplanted, so whoever got them last time it probably won't this year, but next year seems likely! But most worrisome of all... 3 of the 6 blueberries I have are in bud, and one of them has started blooming... I know there are various types that bloom at different times of the year but this seems absurd! Of course after checking out weather for the week looks like we're going to get a frost! Obviously! I just hope I get SOME peaches... :( Anyone know what this is? Its in a few spots of the garden so I think its a pack of bulbs I got and planted and forgot about... but they're anemones right? Just that most of the pictures I looked up have black insides not yellow. In addition to all those... I see that my pink banana (musa velutina) is coming up. My black magic taro, midori taro, black and blue salvia, purple and black salvia, my crinium, all those irises I got from the swap, the canna lilies you gave me Ralph, my candy lily, and my toad lily (which ALSO seems to have spread some! there's a sprout about a foot away from the main body! WHICH IS AWESOME). I'm just worried that some of these are tender and shouldn't be arriving so quickly =___=; Like the taros and bananas... But some like this quince is perfectly fine to bloom now. No fruit expected so go enjoy yourself lil quincey! What sites do you guys use to check for frost? What's your assumed last frost date around here? Do you use the 50% value or wait longer? As for the plant swap coming this spring... (when is it again?) I may have gotten a little excited with seeds: Of the things I should have extras of to bring... some cardoons and artichokes (started in beginning of January so would be nice and ready for spring), some edible hibiscus (Roselles), cape gooseberries, naranjilla, and maybe some others... have 27 varieties of tomatoes which I need to separate the seedlings for and throw into other pots so we'll see how much space I have for spares :3 Ralph, the coleus you gave me at last swap is doing great btw! I gave him a haircut and making some more cuttings of him... should have some cuttings from various salvias as well (although I'll be honest... I let too many of them sit in tray of water too long and got root rot :( whoops... added a bunch of pebbles/stones to them now so pots sit above the drained out water so hopefully the rest survive .___. ) Also, if there was anything anyone wanted from these seeds https://imgur.com/a/trPlW I can throw in a pot and start for you guys before the next swap :) And Karen, you are right. There has been a lot going on outside, although to be fair right now its getting confused with all this warmth. I do need to get myself some more winter plants though! Like lenten roses. And yes... the greenhouse... I'm debating going halfway and getting a quick cheap(ish) throwup structure to enjoy now and then later getting a fullblown one (...maybe I'll get a different house w/ more land... hahaha.) or just going all out now... I do kinda wanna do everything which tends to be warmer/humid environments but that could get really expensive in winter so still debating on what the focus should be... did you buy a prefabricated one or completely create it yourself? Any recommendations for which sites to look at pre-fab ones?

Hello all, I am glad I looked. The date is set in my calendar. Lorabell: you gave me a plant that looked like a onion and had skinny and fleshee leaves coming out of it. Has that ever bloomed for you? Well, ... mine is blooming now. I had a BUNCH of stuff blooming in the greenhouse. Karen, you didn't tell me it is THAT awesome with a greenhouse!!! Cacti that have never bloomed before, stuff growing like crazy, Wow, super cool! (well, yes, I am excited for spring!) Vlad