Does this mean I will have to figure out a new way to sign in since I sign in on type pad? (I just got a new phone and let myself be convinced to go beyond the basics to one that can hook into the internet, use apps etc etc- "oh you will love it!" everyone enthuses. Maybe once I get over the learning curve. But right now one more new technical thing to learn no matter how teensy weensy will put me right over the edge. Oh, my phone's name is FiFi - short for the obvious.

Very clever. MIght even convince the husband to go see this (without brbing him with a meal out) if it comes anywere near us. He loves creepy stuff, but not garden stuff.

Earlier this week I used an out of town vist as excuse to stop at two of my favorite small garden centers. (Why are the they always greener on the other side of the county line?) And stopped in a local one thaht I usually purchese all my stuff. At two of the three the staff was no more knowledgble than what I run into at the big box stores. And about as personable. They hire teen agers and college students to water and do grunt work. Which is fine-I would have killed to have a job like that when I was doing summer work. But you can tell these kids are not gardeners, have no interest in gardening, took the job because mom/dad knows the owner and could get them the job. With the high unempployment rate you would think garden centers could find someone who had some idea about plants.

Always line dry when possible. Sheets and towels only. I don't get the complaint about too much time. involved. Now if I did all the laundry that way, yes. I have lines in the basement, too. Not the full length like when we moved in, but enough to hang dry the delicates and a few other things. Love the feel of sheets and towels off the line. My fantasy would be to have a fresh line dried towel every day- it is like a brisk massage the first time you use it. I hang my clothes exactly like my grandma- in descending order- here are the kitchen towels then the batth towels (cloths, handtowels, bathtowels, then the sheets, in order by bed). OVer lap each item to save on space and the number of pins, give a little twitch to the bottom to make sure it is straight, take them off the line in reverse order, folding neatly as I go. Geeze I am so meticulous about the clothes drying. (And weeding in the spring) Too bad this doesn't apply to housework and job.

I am more aware. This time of year I can spot a weed across the lawn. I take a spin around the yard with my fish tail weeder and 5 gallon bucket every night. I like to prune except the shearing of the privet hedge. Deadheading really makes the place look better. (I just came in from snipping off all the frost ruined lilac buds - not one flowered this year) That said, the place is not spotless. I tend to pull weeds and leave them lie. The grass is spouse thing. Don't care what it is as long as it is green and no thistles. NO, that is a lie. This year we have been inundated with these little weeds that you pull strand by strand. I am consummed by the passion to pull them. This is usually after I return from visiting my mother and it is a great way to releve stress. Sweeping and blowing hard surfaces just doesn't get done. I am lucky, I live next to total slobs (in the garden) to one side, and neat freaks on the other. Makes my place look just right, not to messy, not to neat.

And all I could see was the maple seedling to the right - how sad is that? Spring and I am in full weeding mode.

The path I would kill for is the floating stepping stones in the pond. Dog is nice, too. I feel the pain of Ellen and Jason. So far my seasonal chores have been resetting the sandstone path and patio and removing the weed/grass infested thyme. The only reason I quit is I ran out of sand - a job for spouse as he has a sand connection and my knees need a break.

I laugh at your New Dawn. She is the daintier daughter of the Good Doctor - Dr. Van Fleet. Now that is a rose that takes no prisoners.

We are expected to get below freezing tonight, maybe some snow. Usually I just shrug my shoulders and say, well, no blossoms on the lilacs or peonies or what ever this year. Won't kill 'em. But this year I have some newly planted black current bushes. They will be covered. And Elizabeth, put something under those lovely pots of tulips so you don't scratch or water marr that lovely wood floor!

What Mary said.

Tara- leaving the good loking pots empty - what a wonderful idea! No matter what I plant my pots look like drek by mid summer. I am going to give it a try. You have made my planting easier and cheaper!

Another fun catalogue to read for the descriptions is the Duluth Trading Company. No plants, but it does have gardening wear. It's what the cool consruction workers and the "educated" get your hands dirty people wear.

Santa Fe has a lovely park in the old rail yards that incorporates gabion low walls with railroad ties left for beds and paths. There is a very large trelis type structure out of what appears to be old phone poles and wire with the start of wisteria. The gabion structure fite very well in the dry landscaping and the industrial reclamation look.

A few years ago they started the time change earler in the spring and later in the fall. (or was it the other way around?) Anyways, as one of those after work gardeners I like this change. I can get an hour in for a longer period after work. Take atvantage of the nice days. But if they quit it, I really don't think it would make any difference. No matter what the clock says there are a few months where you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. Its called winter.

I like Greg's posts. It always gets everyone wound up and the conversation and fur starts to fly.

There is lots of things I wish were kept at locol control, Major roads so I can drive from one side of the country to the other without (usually) paying tolls is one of them Do you really want to pay for roads yourself? Think of front footage assessment as in you own x' along this road you live on and it cost $$$ per mile to build/maintain/snow plow so your cost is $$$$. Or some little gadget in your car that shows what roads you have driven on and how many miles and you get billed for it. Heck no, give me federal funded roads. And other major infrastructre. It is too expensive for only local dollars to build.

The federal interstate was built for national protection. During WWI Ike (as in President Eisenhower) was appalled at how long it took to get the trucks made in Detroit to the east coast to go to Europe. And how long it took to cross the country from east to west. He started working on the idea of a national hiway system for national defence that long ago. Dan, I am betting Iowa DOT did their native planting because the Feds said here is money and do it. Every state DOT has some type of wildflower planting, some are just better than others. And if the the funding is cut in this transportation bill, Iowa might not have such pretty roadsides. Many little portions of many federal agencies are being wiped out because people want smaller government. Things like funding for 4H, Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

Also want to delete the requirement that a percentage of the highway funds go to bike and hiking trail construction and public transportation. The highway bill has always been a tuffy to get thru congress.

Don't do it without approval. It could get quite exspensive.

I see another unfunded mandate. Think of all the post offices. Places that lease out some space to a minute division of the federal government. Who is responsible for enforcing this? Are they going to tell each federal agency to tell each section to "take care of it"? It only makes sense for big places that actually have landscaping, not your rural post office where the post master or the cub scouts plant some petunias in red white and blue around the flag pole.

Noadi, I think you have come up with a great marketing idea for bacon. Bacon roses as a center peice for the breakfast table. Everyone select their own rose to fry. My hysband would love that.

I love all the pictures of the lawn alternatives. I drool over some of them. That said: 1. Can we see those same pictures in winter? Probably not so pretty and pretty messy. Where as a lawn is just blah. 2. Not everyone who has a lawn uses herbiscides and insecticides. Or waters it. 3. Can't visualize that very formal facade in the first photo with a cottage garden or meadow. The Sheep grass, yeah.

Good slogan. Way better than the State of Ohio;s current tag: A big circle ("O") with hi inside it. OhiO. Get it? Most people don't. They think it just says "Hi". It makes me think of a Cheech and Chong Routine. But which word is accented?

Now if it was a box of good chocolate......

My snowdrops were blooming on January 1. the earliest ever for me. Usually they are mid february. Honey bees come out for them if it is at all warm and sunny. I always have to get down on my stomach to sniff their sweetness. One more way to embarras the children and make the husband question my sanity. I love my snowdrops, have two of the common types, can't see me ever being a rabid collector, just not my personality. That said, the first flower I ever bought was snowdrop bulbs at about age 11. Neighbors had some and I just fell in love. Decades later I would pass a house that had thousands. It inspired me. I want as many as I can get in the ground. Never can have too many of the minor spring bulbs.