Hmmm - photophobes. Many plants track the movements of the sun by a process called heliotropism. More plant species orient their leaves than blooms, so they will be perpendicular to the sun's rays at dawn and evening in order to maximize photosynthesis. The flowers of some plants also display the same behavior. Plants also have internal clocks/rhythms that affect movements (see circadian and endogenous rhythms) and in many cases, the sun tracking continues, compliments of the plant's natural rhythms, even if the light source is eliminated. Many heliotropic plants even turn their heads to the east in total darkness in anticipation of dawn. Many, if not most people, are under the misconception that the heads of sunflowers track the sun. If you observe a field of cultivated sunflowers, the flower heads face in more-or-less the same direction, but if you look closely at a field of sunflowers in the afternoon, you'll see that the flower heads are mostly facing east, where the sun rises each morning. Only immature flower buds of the sunflower exhibit true heliotropism, and on sunny days the buds track the sun across the sky from east to west and by dawn the buds will have returned to face eastward, but as the flower bud matures and blossoms, the stem stiffens and solar tracking halts. Al

Hi Plllog! "That is, I know it's possible, but might not be in your budget." See, there's the crux of it. This little beverage center idea of mine was not in the original budget. (Nor, alas, were new drywall in the livingroom and halls, the gorgeous walnut top on my used cabinet island, the matching gorgeous top that will soon be on the new media cabinet and the near full gut of the bathroom.) And we're still determined to get through remodeling our ugly duckling without taking out a loan or dipping into savings. Conventional wisdom says: Wait until the coffers are full again but that's so hard to do. First off, I'm a cheapskate. Even if the goose who laid the golden egg waddled up onto my deck and built a nest, I'm not sure I would willingly pay someone to mess up the walls I just paid to fix. Second, I'm not quite cheap enough. My new kitchen is starting to look pretty good but, gosh, it would look so much better if the microwave and coffee maker didn't take up so much room on that one counter. I'm willing to spend a little bit more to change that, especially since I'm going to have a piece of countertop leftover that should be just the right size. Still, it's nice to know that it's possible. Maybe when the coffers ARE full again I'll put a tile counter outside on my deck to shade the golden goose should she happen to wander by ;) Thanks for your help!

Kay, how are you? I haven't been around for a while, I had to take a break and get myself together. To everyone I want to tell you that I am so sorry for your loss and sadness, it is the worst pain anyone can have BUT it does get better, I promise. My heart and soul mate died 14 months ago and I wanted to die with him, I was in so much pain and so scared of what was going to happen to me without him; life must go on. I was told that it doesn't get better but it gets different and they were right. I still weep and some days are bad but I have more good days as time goes on. Life won't seem so alien after a while, I just felt like I didn't belong here any more, not in my home, my job or this world but I did finally settle with my feet back on the ground. It's not easy but you have to push youself to live and it eventually gets easier. Please take care of yourselves, get help if you need it and work hard at being strong, we will never forget and we will always love them and happier days are ahead. God Bless all, Mav.

Image by: wintersown That's okay, don't worry too much about that. Experience is a great teacher and we all learn as we go along. I personally don't know the botanical name of lots of my plants. When I first started gardening and trading I actually didn't know the common name of most of my plants ;-) But I still felt comfortable about trading my seeds because I put a good description of them on the packets. I trade my seeds and if I don't know their name I make as good a description as I can in my posted trade offerings so there's no confusion. I feel confident when I make a well described seed trade....the other trader knows the plant description and they trade for my seeds knowing that I have done my best to decribe what I'm offering. It's fair that way. New traders are often new gardeners too and so they haven't had enough experience with plant names to accurately name the plant they gathered seeds from. What information should I put on the packets? I always put the following information on my packets: Common Plant Name and/or Botanical Name Flower color or "mixed" Height at maturity Sunlight requirements: full sun, part shade, or shade (fs, ps, or shade, or sometimes fs-ps which means full sun to part shade, or ps-shade, which means part shade to shade) A, P, or B (annual, perennial, or biennial) My email address (optional) My name (optional) ======================================================== My trader didn't put all the information on the packet that I thought should be on it....what should I do? Email your trader asap and politely ask for specifics....sometimes a trader can't offer them as they're sharing/trading the excess of a humongous pack of seeds that came their way and IT wasn't labeled with specifics. If you've got a packet that's not labeled with specifics grow it anyway. A packet that says something as simple as just "marigolds" is often a joy to grow. WHY? Well...you know it's an annual, marigolds love full sun. So put the seedlings where they'll get full sun. But I don't know the height.... Plant it in the middle of the border or up front. If they grow tall then you'll have added "dramatic depth" to your garden and reduced the monotony of everything short being up front. A brilliant patch of tallish flowers at the front of the border is often fascinating and is NEVER boring. But I don't know the color..... Marigolds can be yellow/gold, orange or mahogany red. These are the choices....sometimes they have a blend of those colors on the same flowers, or it might be a pack of mixed single colors. What I'm trying to say is that suprises are part of gardening and that you should celebrate the beauty of your plants even if they aren't what you expected. A garden is for relaxing and enjoying. It's NOT for causing frustrations....expect an occasional suprise and you'll be very happy in your garden. ========================================================= Flower Colors...I'm putting in this list as a help in labeling seed packets....no one is perfect in their eyesight so being "close" is just as acceptable as being "accurate". (This color list came from the "Field Book of American Wild Flowers by F. Schuyler Matthews, 1902) Pure yellow Deep yellow Golden yellow Pure orange Scarlet Pure red Pure pink Crimson Crimson-pink Magenta Magenta-pink Pure purple Violet Blue-violet Ultramarine Pure blue Madder purple Madder brown