Jill...you must have been posting at the same time I was, I missed you, sorry! :) Glad you enjoyed my dl's. Tammy...I'm sorry, I failed to answer your question about my camera. It's a Fuji Finepix S700. The macro and super macro capabilities are wonderful as is the 10x optical zoom. It really lets you get up close and personal with your blooms. LOL Shelly....I totally understand, my list just keep growing and growing and growing..kind of like that Energizer bunny, you know? :) I've had MM for a couple of years now, and it's really struttin it's stuff this season. FT is brand new and that was the FFO on it. It's one of my brightest dl's. Chris....You're gonna love AS, it's one of my favs, but then I've got so many fav's!! LOL Thanks for the comments, glad you enjoyed looking. Jan

It will be interesting to see how Fabulous Frieda does in the northeast. I try to stay focused on the tried and true and only purchase from more northern growers, however it is easy to get carried away by the auction, especially in winter. I made a couple of purchases from Florida and Tennessee this year and I believe FF was one of them. Betty Ford looks lovely and another I considered with similar coloring was Cary Grant. I try to stay with reds that have an undertone of blue - however it can be difficult to judge online.

Yes, autheray, it is back with a vengeance, although this week we dropped back from Severe Drought to only Moderate Drought on the U. S. Drought Monitor. Keep in mind that both the garden and I are miserable when it hits only "Abnormally Dry", so we've been beyond miserable for a couple of months now. Grass greened up with the last two rainy spells that hit about 2 weeks apart, but without more rain, it won't stay green too long. Lake Texoma, which flooded repeatedly and reached an elevation well over 645' this spring and summer (normal conservation pool is about 617') stayed high all summer,slowly dropping as water was continually released through the flood gates, until the drought finally began to take a toll. It now is at about 615.4'. When we were looking at it massively full of water, all flood gates open and draining constantly, I don't think any of us imagine it would be back at 615' this year. Bon, I know it is upsetting to accidentally kill wildlife, but it just comes with the territory. I am surprised how few wild things we do kill while mowing, but in our first year it was just awful. Now, they're used to us being here and mowing regularly. The wild critter do learn to avoid areas mowed often. If you have regular snakes, I imagine you have venomous ones too, so be careful. We're in our 17th year here and I've only run over snakes with mowers 3 or 4 times in all those years, but I've had tons of encounters with them while not mowing. Dawn

Maryl, Roy was sent as a gift plant not once but twice (!) by the same vendor one year. I am always wary of that practice “is this a bad plant?”, “is this a plant you want to get rid of?”, etc. However, it has really shown itself to be a really pretty soft orange that so far holds up pretty well. Debra, I do like Marietta Heartbeat. For me, it always opens without those early morning splotches so many purples are habit prone to do. Perhaps because it is just beginning to bloom-this was FFO-so it misses the heavy spring dew. It has also multiplied well in a bad spot. On the other hand, Here Lies Butch has always been a stagnant plant for me. I think Sherry has more luck with it.