BARBARA — It can be very hard to open her letter up, knowing how much bad news there is. "Speeding disaster" seems like an appropriate description.

KRISTIN — Yes, the tour went very well. But I am still tired from such a busy, emotional June with my sister's memorial event, the tour and Mark had out-patient heart surgery to correct his A-fib. Feel like I could sleep for a week.

BARBARA H. — Light rain the morning of the tour so the garden looked lush. A very nice event.

CECI — Definitely an indoor plant here. I've actually purchased three other ones this spring — all currently in mixed pots. I am going to have to figure out where to put them once it gets cold but I couldn't resist.

SUSIE - All the bloggers I know online aren’t coming. It would have been fun to meet you all in person. Hot, sunny and windy weather here making it difficult to get much done in the garden. I always want everything to be perfect and I don’t think it’s going to be this time. Oh well.

KRIS — I am pretty happy that I got it all in the ground. Now we just need consistent rain.

BARBARA — I wrote and spoke about gardens so much that I made sure I made id cards for all my plants. I hated it when someone hadn't a clue. Though lately I can't always remember the names and then I can't even look anything up. Aging brain.

KRISTIN — It wouldn't surprise me that Olbrich has one. ​

MONICA — It's taken a while to achieve some size, but suddenly it's amazing. You are right about feeling prehistoric.

KRIS — I am pretty excited to have these plants really taking off. I like ferns and lots of delicate things so it really helps to have these big leaved contrasts. Also they're not Hostas which I think of as higher maintenance since I tend to cut the flowers off!

BARBARA & KRIS — Since the bulbs have to go, I figure it's worth a try to save them. They were so good this year and most of them are fragrant.

ELIZABETH — Thanks for that lovely response. You are correct. We're not ready to go into that good night.

KRISTIN — I hate computer problems that I don't understand, can't fix and are likely from the platform and not me. And yes, glad that lantern experience is just a good story. Freaked me out when I thought about it later. I moved all the small pieces out of the garden but it took two guys to set the column back up. ​

ELIZABETH — Thanks for those kind words, especially as I found it hard to control things in such a tiny container. But it was fun to try to compliment the colors of the cups with the flowers.

KRISTIN — I've had good luck with the F. meleagris in a vase. And the rabbits get mine so quickly that I'de rather cut them and chance it.

KRIS — The heat has pushed things forward so fast that it is hard to actually see and enjoy what's happening in the garden before it's over.

KATHY — I feel like my whole garden has popped up in the last few days. No time to enjoy any specific plant. And I could not plant special orders because it was too cold.We hit 90 or above every day but one in the last 5 days. To top it all off, I tipped over an almost 6 foot stone lantern in the garden this morning on top of lilies and other bulbs that were all up a foot or more. We have to see if we can get a neighbor to help us set it back up. It comes apart in 5 pieces. I've worked around that lantern for 20 years and never had such a thing happen — especially not when I was counting on those flowers for the tour.

FRANK — I will move it tomorrow (which is now today) because most things still aren't up enough to plant the dozens of plants piling up on my worktable.

SUSIE — Thanks, Susie. When the pomegranates are fully dry they are a very dark red and look rather different. But I still love them.

KRIS — I just sent some photos of leaf damage on my Boxwoods to the UW's Diagnostic Lab to see if it is winterburn, last year's drought or blight. More and more seems like there are questions in the garden related to climate change.

LOREE — It was from Edelweiss Perennials. We keep having a nice day or two and then yuk. I am planting on the nice days as I told all my shippers to send plants in late April or early May. Can't wait any longer to get things in the ground.

CHRISTINE — That Pine Knot is swoon worthy. I checked their website this spring and couldn't find anything unusual. But they said to check back that they'd sold out a lot at their spring festival.

BETH — I hope Im not tempting fate by planting my new arrivals.

BETH — This weather seems to prove what I was afraid of: No winter etc. would mean it would arrive on the back end and we'd have a frustrating spring. The rain has been the one good thing. ​

KRISTIN - I got the Pine Knot ones about 7 years ago and I’m not sure if the nursery is still in business. They had some unusual ones for sure.