janet, that is a coincidence that we were there on the same day. I was there around 11 a.m. During that brief rainstorm that drenched everything! I actually had a bit of a laugh because they had to call one guy from the woody and shrub section to help me and they radioed him and they were giggling over his responses and I was wondering, "who is this guy that they all seem to have a crush on?" then this cute guy walked up, a young patrick swayze look-a-like, and I thought, "ah, that's the one." Sure enough, he was the guy that the girls at the front counter were swooning over. I pointed it out to my husband and he got a kick out of it, too. that's interesting about perennials getting marked down. when does that happen? We were happy with the 20% off on the japanese maple yesterday. the coral bark version is so pretty and it was just $80 with the 20% discount. we saw their stash of blue spruce trees that made US swoon, but the price tag was a bit too steep at $299 per tree. They were nice and large, around 7 feet tall, but very price ouchie at $299. Is there anywhere else to get blue spruce that size at a lower price? we wanted to plant a few of them on a hillside on our five acres.

Denise, There is nothing inherently wrong with the varieties of seeds sold on the seed racks at local stores or nurseries. As far as the seeds sold in big box discount stores (Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, etc.) or building material stores (Lowe's, Home Depot), they tend to be varieties that do well for most people, more or less, over a large part of the nation. Thus, you may find the same seeds sold in New Hampshire or Georgia or Oklahoma or Arizona or Oregon. Even though these may be considered "universally successful" seeds, it is hard to believe they perform equally well in every climate. Still, they perform all right in general. A lot of us who've been gardening a while may have a few preferred vareieties that do well for us, based on having tried not only those varieties but many other varieties as well. Sometimes those varieties are no longer carried in stores, and we don't care for the ones that replaced them, so we seek out online retailers that have the seeds we want. If you purchase from nurseries, sometimes they have varieties geared more towards Oklahoma, or at least geared more towards the south, but sometimes they don't. If you purchase at farm/ranch supply or feed-and-seed stores, they often do offer seeds that are better adapted to this region, especially if they have bulk seed sold by the scoop or by the weight. With some vegetables, I have found that the variety matters, but with other vegetables, it really doesn't. Let's use zucchini as an example of one where the variety doesn't matter that much. I have never purchased any variety of zucchini seed that did not produce masses of zucchinis all summer long. If harvested at the right size, and not overwatered, they all taste pretty good. Still, when I look for seeds I'll purchase Cocozelle or Costata Romanesco because we like their flavor the best. Does the world end if I can't find one of those two varieties? No, I just plant whatever is on the seed rack and we enjoy it anyway. With some vegetable varities, I think it does matter. Broccoli is one of those. We need quick-maturing broccoli here because our weather goes from "too cold" in March to "too hot" in late May or early June, so I like to plant varieties I know will mature within about 60 days or so and still give us nice, big heads. So, for broccoli, I am very careful to get varieties with a shorter "days-to-maturity", and the ones I like best are Premium Crop and Packman for spring crops. For fall crops, by the way, I prefer heirloom sprouting types that have longer days-to-maturity. Then, there are a few vegetables where the variety is of the utmost importance. Onions are one of those. Onions form bulbs in response to the number of hours of daylight they are exposed to. Onions come in four types: short-day, long-day, intermediate and day-neutral. In Oklahoma, you can grow short day, intermediate and day-neutral but not long-day, so you have to choose the right variety to get an onion crop. To a certain extent, tomato variety selection is very important, but there are hundreds, if not thousands, of varieties of tomatoes that will grow and produce tomatoes in Oklahoma. Because of our hot summers, the varieties that produce very large beefsteak tomatoes often do not produce well. For the purpose of this discussion, let's say that would be varieties that produce tomatoes weighing more than a pound each. So, to have success with large-fruited tomatoes, you have to plant them really early in the spring, protect them from frosts, and try to get them to bloom and set fruit before the end of June, because the weather from that point on impedes pollination and fertilization. With a large-fruited tomato like Brandywine Sudduth, Big Rainbow, Black Pineapple, Giant Belgium, Valena Pink or Tennessee Britches, for example, you have to push them hard to get early fruit and then you won't get many more than those, or any more to set, until the fall weather arrives.....if your plants live that long. Smaller-fruited tomatoes, like Sioux, Super Sioux, Rutgers, Jet Star, Arkansas Traveler, Bradley, Bloody Butcher, Celebrity, Jubilee, Sunray, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Fourth of July, etc., are more likely to set many more fruit during the hotter parts of the summer so you'll likely get better production from them. And, by the way, the very small-fruited cherry, currant, grape and pear-shaped tomatoes produce no matter how hot it gets. With tomatoes, then, you can see that variety matters. You can choose to grow Brandywine, knowing that you might get 3 to 6 big, delicious ripe tomatoes in July or August from flower that pollinated in May or early June. Or, you can choose to grow Bloody Butcher and get dozens of smaller fruit from that one plant. Or, you can choose to grow Sweet Million and get hundreds of bite-sized cherry tomatoes. Most of us who grow tomatoes grow several varieties so we have a little bit of every kind. : ) Many gardeners deliberately seek out heirlooms because they believe heirlooms have superior flavor. For most heirlooms, you have to order online from firms that specialize in heirloom vegetable varieties, although a few heirlooms are sometimes available in stores. Seed Exchanges can be fun because you can obtain seeds that are not available anywhere else, but not all seed exchanges are exchanges--some are companies that sell direct to the public. For example, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is a seed company. Seed Savers' Exchange is more complicated. Anyone can purchase the seeds available through SSE's public website and catalog, but only members can purchase seeds from other members (known as listed members) via offerings in the Seed Savers Yearbook. The difference in the number of varieties available is huge. I would guess you could buy a thousand varieties through the public catalog (but that is just a guess). In the 2007 yearbook, for example, there were 20,433 Total Listings representing 12,920 "unique varieties". So, if you are looking for something rare and hard to find, SSE is the place to go. There also are seed exchanges where people trade their seeds with other people who are offering their seeds--so it is a true exchange of seeds. And, sometimes you have to buy certain varietie of certain vegetables because they are the only ones that have resistance to or tolerance of some pests and/or diseases. Again, tomatoes are a good example of this. One "current" tomato problem is the relatively recent appearance of a tomato disease known as Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV). Once this disease hits your plants, they are done and your harvest is over. So, in areas of the country, including parts of Oklahoma, where TSWV has become an issue, you must select from the very few varieties that are resistant to (but not immune from) TSWV. In this case, clearly, you must choose the right variety or you'll likely have no tomatoes at all. So, does variety really matter? Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. Sometimes it is just a preference for a certain flavor (Brandywine tomato!) or color (who wouldn't love a purple carrot?) or characteristic (Texas Honey June corn has tight husks that are very resistant to corn earworms) or earliness (Packman broccoli) or day-length (Candy or 1015Y onion). Sometimes, it might be as simple as wanting to grow an old heirloom melon, like Moon and Stars Watermelon, that a relative or friend used to grow when you were a kid. Sometimes, any variety will do. I hope this helped to answer your questions. Dawn Dawn

Yes they are real and yes they are for sale as plants in the UK now - saw them at the Chelsea Flower Show this week and ordered 6 different varieties of green:D Company is called Chrysanthemums Direct and they ask £2.00 per plant and £3.95 delivery. 10% discount on more than 10 plants. Here is a link that might be useful: Buy them here

Coby, I am so sorry to hear about your loss and it's very nice to see more people who grow to love this forum. Isn't it the best?! As others have said, I hope your gardening can bring you some peace. I know when I lost my dad 9 years ago, there were those moments I just needed to head out to the garden and then I could make it through. I always tell people gardening is my zen. Wintersowing......thanks for the reminder. I need to start saving milk jugs because I don't have anywhere to indoor sow sadly. I always had a couple or three hundred seedlings in my laundry room at the other house. For timing sakes, I really need to wintersow this year. I have donated to the wintersown site before and when I did try wintersowing about 4 years ago, I learned a lot from their site. The only problem I ran into was I was not patient enough and would open the jugs and look every. single. day. lol My main thing is that I am going to have to choose which of the seeds I want to wintersow. I have 6 notebook pages full of the different types of seeds I have. Oh how will I ever choose?! Happy gardening everyone, Melissa