Happy Birthday Imapigeon!

Hope you have a wonderful day.

Kathleen

Happy Birthday! Hope you have a great day and get lots of fun new plants!

I'm at work so I can't post a pretty picture :-(

Gorgeous picture Kathleen : )


HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY Birthday to you Ima !!!!! Hope you have a great day :D


Tracy

Happy birthday Ima! : )

Thanks, folks!! It WAS a nice day----I took the afternoon off and planted 4-inchers from Annie's Annuals that I picked up on Thursday (took that WHOLE day off, and it was my first visit to Annie's!!), and then fiddled about in the yurtio cleaning greenware tiles.

I was very disciplined about the planting process. Although I succumbed to the siren song of the descriptions at Annie's, thanks to ecrane3's reminder, before I planted each one I looked at the Western Garden Book and at Plantfiles. I had to put a salvia macrophylla back for later planting because (sigh) at present I don't have the right spot (light shade 5x5---oh, dear). I think I will have one after the landscapers get done tromping about, but I had to be mindful of the projects they have left to do. I've already lost a ton of daffs and muscari bulbs that I didn't think to dig before they started laying walls (DUUUUH).

Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes and lovely photos! Kathleen, I have a bunch of my MIL's orchid cactus from LA on (minimal) life-support while I figure out where I can put them----I appreciate the photo-reminder! And rob, that's a beautiful tropical combo in your photo----love them cannas!

Well, it's hot out tonight, and there's still ONE place I can sit and enjoy a glass of wine and look at construction chaos, so I think I'll go do that.

Thank you all again for thinking of me!

Sounds like you had a great birthday! Every time I get an email from Annie's I think of all you NoCal DGers with envy. Good thing about those epies, they survive on life support for quite a while!

Ima, I know what ecrane means on Annie's "siren song"! The pictures are in such close up all the flowers look huge, and I went through lots of disappointments when the plants I bought there bloomed. Now I also check the western garden book before I even purchase anything from them!

And what was even worse the first time I bought plants from there online the shipping was as much as the plants!!! I've since found their line at a couple of fairly local nurseries, so that's helped. But I took my WG with me to Annie's and some of the stuff I just COULDN'T resist wasn't in the book. I'm a sucker for blue flowers, and Annie's has a TON of them! This morning, they're all looking pretty perky, though, so I have my fingers crossed. If they die, I have records now, and their grandplants are not getting another shot at it----so they're all on notice.....LOL!

I have a cold-sink microclimate in my back yard in the winter, and it's also hotter than "records" show in the summer, so I have to be really careful. Even the WG book doesn't always help. Now that I'm getting a new fully-automated watering system, I have more hope. And, since I got my order from Peaceful Valley last night, more drip-system parts to install, in my raised beds, too!

Yes, it really helps! It's pretty much impossible to garden without a watering system here in CA! Good luck with your blue flowers, I'm really into them too (my house is blue!), show us some pics when you can!

Happy belated birthday...sounds like it was a great one for you!

AA's shipping is expensive, but so far I've always received big healthy plants and none have died. (knock wood!) I watch for the sales and get my wish list items then. It's touch and go finding her stuff around here.

I bought 2 of the same plants in my first order, and one died immediately---the other was fine. I had to e-mail a couple of times before I got a response (and they were quite apologetic about that), and then they didn't have a replacement plant available to ship for several months. Eventually they did send one, but it wasn't my best experience with an online supplier.

Check out my feedback for them on watchdog...