Hi Marian! The roadside plantings sound very interesting - to bad you didn't get pictures... I've not grown cannas - do you need to bring the whole tub in or can you do what I do with the elephant ears - i.e. remove them from the pots, get rid of tee soil, bring the roots/bulbs (whatever they are botanically speaking...) in to dry off, then restart them in new soil in mid-winter so they are off to a good start by the time it's warm enough to move them back outdoors ? Actaully, as I write all that, it sounds almost as much work as bringing in the pots! But it does refresh the soil once a year. PM2 - Unfortunately the third floor was not open as it is undergoing some restoration. One of the interesting things about the house is that there are still functioning gaslights in it. It belonged 'way back when' the person who started Consumers Gas, so it had a lot of gas things that were modern in their day (e.g. a gas refridgerator) I found that the house didn't feel that spacious inside, largely I think bebause of a lot of dark wallpaper, and the rooms had high ceilings so the proportions kept the space from looking as big. Also, because the curtains were drawn to keep light from damaging the antique wall covering etc., the low lighting contributed to the spaces feeling smaller. The highbush cranberries are the remnant of the row of them we originally planted along the garage. Only the ones at the driveway end got enough light to bloom properly so we removed all the rest and replaced them with hydrangeas. The limbing up is necessary to keep the path along the garage accessible but we also like the effect as it sort of creates an arching canopy that mirrors the arbour nearby.

Thanks Nancy! :) I have been all over those seeds already!;) I am really hoping the Jewels will make a good houseplant, I am not ready to let go of it yet! I also want to see what it does as it ages,more flowers,less flowers,ect... I am saving the seed to do a huge mass planting of them next year,I just adore everything about this plant, and have seen pics where it is amazing in a mass planting. As for the Four O'Clocks,I am only digging up certain ones,I got some really neat ones from trade seeds,a couple of them have about 4 different color combos going on all on one plant! I have 2 of them that are about as true red as I have come across in Four O'Clocks,so I am keeping those also. I used to have a great collection of Four O'Clocks,there were many colors,every year there was more and more fuchsia and pink (mostly fuchsia),until finally there were no other colors. So when I heard they produce a tuber and could be stored I was thrilled! I love all of them but like to see more than two colors in a planting of them!;) DH grabbed some paper bags for me from the grocery store,I may just pick up a bail of peat to be on the safe side,I do have another question about the peat,should it be moist when I store the tubers? Or should I keep it dry? I know some of these questions of mine sound silly,but the one and only time I stored daylily bulbs outside a pot of dirt (I didnt get them in the ground in a enough time) they shriveled up on me,I dont know what went wrong!:( Thanks again for all this info you guys are sharing,I hope some more people chime in,if you do things differently than any method mentioned or if you totally agree with a method mentioned,please post, your input really would help! :)

Well bless my soul, I thought I had already lusted but I guess not. So here is my lust list.. It keeps growing. To get a full list you can look at my trade page. But watch out if you do, I'm really lusting there. LOL Some brugs I'm very lustful for are: Orange Infusion, Lemon Meringue and Angels Flight others are listed on my trade page. Datura: Frilled triple yellow Plumeria: Siam Tulip, Aztec Gold, Kimo, and Cotton Candy but actually I don't think there's one I wouldn't love. Canna: Banana Canna and Pretoria Hibiscus: Lusting for a Schizopetalus Fringed Hibiscus and a Yellow Blood Parrot. Same here...Love them all Coleus: Plum Parfait Ginger: Peacock or the Tri-color ginger Vines: Would love a Vigna Caracalla or a Gloriosa Lily vine Rothchildiana) Daylilies: I don't have any but I've seen so many pretty pics of them here, I have a lust for them now Non-plants items: plant tags, small bubble envelopes, or a wind spinner Told you I'm very lustful. lol Deb

Wow, that's a lot of plants! I don't have a list of what I'm growing in my little gardens -- sometimes it takes me a couple of weeks in the spring to realize that that weird looking weed in the corner is something I've had for years. I just assume that more plants than not will grow in this area! One of the more unusual plants I grow is agapanthus. Not a particularly hardy variety, this was simply a florists' plant my mother gave me four years ago. But it's come up reliably every year for the past three seasons in Central Ohio. It's planted against a south-facing brick wall with excellent drainage, and apparently doesn't realize it's not in zone 8+ anymore! One of my mother's more spectacular plants is a 15 year old calamondin orange that arrived as a little "get-well" houseplant. It spends the winter on the unheated glassed in back porch in Cincinnati, and now stands over 6' tall in the pot, and is nearly 4' around. It always has flowers and fruit on it, and we've picked 200 ripe fruits at one time.