I've been collecting seeds since the end of June, first ones being lupin seeds. Now have more than 50 different kinds of seeds collected with more still to go, annuals, perennials veggies, vines. Almost all will be available for BEAP offers that I will probably post on the end of this month. Still getting them organized and packaged up. There are a few seeds that I want that I will probably purchase, ones I really want and feel I can't do without. Otherwise, the motto is this. If I can't get them from trades, I just don't WS them and wait till next year and try again. Plant purchases are all but nil and usually amount to just 2 rosemary plants for the herb garden. I keep trying to winter them over inside and it just never works out for me. Heat is too dry, not enough sunlight comes into my house. OH, yes, this year my hubby and daughter bought me combined late birthday and early wedding anniversary present of 3 beautiful perennial phlox plants that I wanted and can't be grown from seed. Phlox Volcano purple and white. What a beauty and work horse these are. Bloom once, cut back for second bloom. Resistant to deer, rust, smell beautiful and are not too tall, about 24 inches and grow more bush like. These 3 beauties never got any rust on them like my others did, and actually each plant rebloomed 4 times and are still blooming now. If anyone is looking for a beautiful perennial phlox, this is the one to buy. Fran Here is a link that might be useful: Phlox Volcano

thanks all for the comments. :) here is another photo of the tricolor beech.... I'm really tempted to try growing one again, but must resist!! ha

Here's more for you. 1. Which country can boast that their brands occupy 2 of the top 3 spots for long-term reliability? Answer: United States. Per J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study, Mercury and Cadillac are in the top 3, along with Lexus. And in 2007, Buick was tied with Lexus for the top spot. http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/new...spx?ID=2008115 2. As of August 2007, which manufacturer had the most recalled vehicles in the U.S. for that year? Answer: Volkswagen. According to Bus iness Week, Volkswagen had the most recalls at this time a year ago. The second worst w as Toyota. http://www.businessweek.com/autos/co...810_455098.htm 3. Pick the brand from each group that has the highest initial quality. a. Answer: Cadillac (better than both Acura and BMW) b. Answer: Mercury (better than both Honda and Nissan) c. Answer: Chevrolet (better than Acura, BMW, and Mazda) This is according to J.D. Power's Initial Quality Survey. http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/new...spx?ID=2008063 4. Which midsize sedan has the highest initial quality? Answer: The Chevrolet Malibu has better initial quality than any competitor, including the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Nissan Altima. The Ford Fusion also beat all 3 Japanese competitors. This too is fr om the J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey, which also reveals that above average are American brands Mercury, Ford, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Lincoln, and Buick. Below average are import brands Acura, Kia, Nissan, BMW, Mazda, VW, Subaru, and Scion (and several others). http://www.jdpower.com/autos/article...and-Large-Cars http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/new...spx?ID=2008063 5. Which large sedan has the highest initial quality? Answer: Again per J.D. Power, the highest quality large car is the Pontiac Grand Prix, beating the Toyota Avalon. Two other Detroit cars that beat the Avalon are the Mercury Sable and Mercury Grand Marquis. http://www.jdpower.com/autos/article...and-Large-Cars 6. Which midsize pickup has the highest initial quality? A nswer: The Dodge Dakota has the best quality for midsize pickups, proving that Chrysler too can beat the imports. Both the Dakota and the Ford Ranger beat the Toyota Tacoma. http://www.jdpower.com/autos/article...ckups-and-Vans 7. Which car is the most economical overall? Answer: Per Edmunds.com, the premier automotive analysis site, the most economical car in America, taking into account not only mileage but all costs, is the Chevrolet Aveo. The Honda Fit is #3 and the Toyota Prius is a distant #34. http://jbrlsr.com?aid=5336118839&bid=3196492&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edmunds.com%2Fhelp%2Fabout%2Fpress%2F127806%2Farticle.html 8. Which car did the Los Angeles Times describe as "a better car than BMW or Mercedes or Lexus or Infiniti"? Answer: "Cadillac makes a better car than BMW or Mercedes or Lexus or Infiniti, and that car is the 2008 CTS. No other car in the mass market dares so much as this expressive and audacious bit of automoti ve avant-gardism." Dan Neil, LA Times. http://www.latimes.com/classified/au...3.photogallery 9. Which company makes the winner of the 2008 "Green Car of the Year" award? Answer: The Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid is the winner of this award. How could a full-size SUV defeat the media darling Toyota Prius? Read the link below and you will discover, "What's equally eye-opening is that the Tahoe's 21 mpg city fuel efficiency rating is the same as that of the city EPA rating for the four-cylinder Toyota Camry sedan." Did you catch that? A huge, full-size SUV from Chevrolet that gets the same city mileage as a 4-cylinder Toyota Camry!! Chevy obtained this remarkable achievement through the use of its 2-mode hybrid system, a technology that Toyota does not have. http://www.greencar.com/features/2 008greencar/ 10. Which car was selected by the North American automotive press corps as the "North American Car of the Year" for 2007? Answer: Not only was the Saturn Aura picked by the automotive press corps as better than the Honda Fit and the Toyota Camry, "When a panel of 47 journalists named the Saturn Aura the North American Car of the Year over the Toyota Camry, the vote wasn't even close, 205-89." Chicago Tribune, 1/15/07 http://www.northamericancaroftheyear.org/news.html 11. Which car won the same award for 2008? Answer: GM again crushed the Japanese competition in 2008 when the Malibu received 190 votes to the Honda Accord's 95. The Accord actually came in 3rd since GM's other finalist, the Cadillac CTS, received 165 votes. http://www.northamericancaroftheyear.org/news.html 12. Whic h company had a luxury vehicle, a midsize sedan, and a large truck removed from the Consumer Reports recommended vehicles list in October 2007 because of mounting quality problems? Answer: Toyota's much publicized quality problems resulted in Consumer Reports actually removing from their recommended vehicles list the Lexus GS luxury car, Camry V6 sedan, and Tundra pickup. This demotion occurred in October 2007.

I have remembered this thread because recently I have been adding to another collection. When I was nine years old, back in the days when girls simply did not read science fiction, my Dad bought me a couple of Edgar Rice Burroughs novels. I was hooked from that point on. In the past few months I have been buying hardback editions of older science fiction, the golden era books from the 1940's, 50's and 60's. That was how I came to have a copy of City handy for the first lines thread. I already had a gathering of my favorite SF&F novels from the past three decades, but I decided I wanted to have a representative selection of older SF that I first read as a child. My selection criteria is strict - did I like the books when I first read it? On re-reading, not all have not stood up to the test of time. I'm afraid to say that ERB is one such author, and there are others, alas. But others I still do enjoy, and I am delighted to have on my shelves.