Hello everyone!

I miss you guys! I know it is I that have been away... sometimes too tired to even check email... but I am coming back... life is getting to a routine... I still love my job, have had some really horrible days, have learned a lot already and talk about DG with all the my patients that love to garden! I would not be surprised if some would really end up as members! I have the best patients... oh they are the best and it's a privilegde to help them during a time of stress...

My garden still a mess... some cleaning had been done but it still a mess! I prunned the roses... oh I lost quite a few... but I am amazed at all the Buck roses, Palatine Roses and of course the beautiful rugosas ... they are such strong plants... but the others have so much die back this year... I did not protect them so now I know which ones need to be mulched.. live and learn!

Got my first order from Bluestone Perennials... I am really pleased! got hostas and some hydrangeas... now I have my eyes on all the beautiful Black eye susans... some are so absolutelly gorgeous... oh so hard to resist!

I am planning a trip to ME - Green mountain transplants to get my veggies...

I just came back from San Francisco last week! Had a great time with Zuzu, Cali-Sue, got to meet Lalli (Begoniacrazy) and got to see Kell again... really wonderful people! I had such a great time...and these wonderful people made me feel so welcome that of course I want to go back!

Has any of you guys been on Select Seeds??? I want to go there and chech that place out... after nursery marathon with Zuzu I am feeling a little more courageus to branch out to new nurseries...

Hope to hear from you guys!

This is gorgeous Mambo - one of Zuzu's newest kitties... he is absolutely gorgeous.... Velcro kitty... so attached to her... and he actually took a few zzzzz's next to me once... so gorgeous!

Dear Kassia - new to DG in the last 2 weeks, but like to 'blather' at a late hour, but never can find my gabbing wherever sent a few days later. LOL

What first brought me to ans. your comments was your lovely male kitty who is a much larger image of our first female kitty with sam e markings who died on her 20th birthday (1997) after a rather rough year of slowing down at 19. Your kitty may have a little more white on him than Holly did, but she was a mutt Coon cat, with big feathered fluff growing out of all her toes, large spikes on top of her ears, and not as much white bib as your current young boy. She came to us as a stray between Christmas and New Years, thus her name. Ad on radio didn't find owner, so she became ours for 20 yrs., dying on our beach at summer camp on the day the vet selected as a possible birthday when he "fixed her" after two weeks of male cats circling the house and we didn't need kittens. LOL

Corinne Lawson from Montpelier, VT.

Wanted to add more about some gardening chat you offerred, but did not dare back page in case I lost the above. (I'm a real computer idiot .... so, with luck, may catch up with you another time.)

Corinne, I wish Mambo was mine... but he is in CA right now... he belongs to my dearest friend Zuzu... I just met him few days ago! but fell in love with him... no question about that...

more Mambo pics... he is so gorgeous.... and the eye make up is perfect according to Zuzu!!!

oh I love all of them... the best kitties... soooo entretaining!

Oh those are just great shots of him, like he's so intent on something, he didn't even take notice of you!
Here's our little SF garden pal.

welcome Corinne.... kitty is cute Kassia!... glad you had a good trip!

Great cat, lots o' character.

Great to hear from you Kassia...glad you had a good trip. I'm not a cat person but Mambo is a beauty.
Sorry to hear you lost some roses.
Just got an 1/2 price e-mail from Bluestone, hard to resist...I may have to buy some plants for my new blue and yellow garden.

What 1/2 price?
I have to check it out.

Ya, go on their website and check out their specials...I ordered winky series blue columbine, blue love plant and mexican evening primrose.

Mambo IS a beauty!

I bet you had a great time on the the nursery (buy it all) tour! Mambo is a beauty. Zuzu has so many fluffy cats. Of course, now that I think about it, Zu has so many cats, fluffy or not :)

Kass!

Just getting heated up in our area, eh? I hear it is going to be 83 this weekend! My Bluestone order shipped and will arrive tomorrow at my house, just in time for planting. I think I got something like 110 plants from them...oops ;-) I have two huge new beds I lasagnaed in the fall. I built one up with boulders and have a patio going in the front...I'll send pics when I get the plants in!

I had a bit more die back on stuff that is hardy like Westerlands and Knockouts than I expected...must have been a harder winter than I realized. Also, a couple things I planted in the fall like Don Juan and Zeperhine Drouhin look dead...and my peace from the spring. However they are all own-root some I'm hopefully they will return! I noticed some sprouts under the mulch of my Just Joey and Don Juan so we'll see...

Also have 25 roses coming, six of the rugusas..excited to get some of those in place. I hear they are great.

Glad you had fun in CA!

Miles

Mambo is so cute! I'd love to have a garden cat prowling around, my cat is 14 and diabetic. She does not go outside except on supervised outings. I'd love a fluffy cat like Mambo if I can get another.
I hope your Westerlands on the arbor will come back. They are beautiful!
I had unexpected rose croakage here too. I had to cut 6 or so large canes from Compassion. There are only 2 canes left and they look sketchy (as the kids would say).
I'm going to go check out Bluestone.
Post more pictures of your trip please!
Deb

Kassia among the blooms. She just planted herself there and didn't want to leave.

Watching the sea lions in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf

Sea lions

Sundaes at Ghiradelli Square

SF Conservatory of Flowers

Welcome home, Kassia. It's so nice to hear from you and to know that you had such a great trip with such great DG friends!!! Hope to see you this summer!!
Louise (thinking Mambo is just purrrfect!!)

Mambo is one handsome kitty! Great shot of you Kassia, Thanks for sharing Calif.Sue.
The smile on Kassia's face at the Ghiradelli Square is priceless!!!!!!

nice pics Sue.... Kassia looks so happy!

Welcome back, Kass! Looks like you had a great time.

Thanks Sue! I actually just have one pic of me... I will show my family!

Louise, when are you back???? I will definitly make sure I see you and Hank!
Celeste, that ice cream was priceless! no question about it!
Victor - I kept thinking of you... I saw some japanese maples that made me want to have one for sure! I want a real lacy looking one... oh they are gorgeous...

Goodness gracious Miles.... finally someone else as bad as me!!!! well that counts for the rest of DG!

Venu, you are right ... Zuzu has several fluffy kitties... Chantilly and Desiree among them... and oh they are also very sweet!

Flowerjen, I went back to the website... oh I have so many seeds to plant... I am going to wait a few more weeks to buy any more plants... I trully need to plant all I have...

Yankee - how are you???

Deb, I will show you all my pics soon... so glad it's warm enough for us to garden!

Kassia - I see in the paper here that Conn. will have temps in the high 80s this weekend! Wow..what will it be like at your house? I'll bet there will be lots of sore backs among our DG buddies this next week!!! LOL

On my end, I've done all I can with and for the plants I'm leaving behind here. Tomorrow is our allotted water day, so my "bridge to the summer rains" sprinklers are hooked up and they will be put into action tomorrow morning to test out the coverage. We're leaving here on Tuesday morning and will arrive in NH on Wednesday, May 6th, with a mountain vacation in between, along with some visits with a few very special different people in my life. We're both looking forward to it.

Louise its supposed to be in the 90's tomorrow... ouch! I am not ready for that... goodness gracious... so soon!

have a wonderful trip back to us!!!! hope all your plants survive the long summer... I look foward in seeing you soon!!!! big hug my dear friend!

Kassia ~ I believe you left a post above about ordering from Bluestone perennials. (Listed in Dave's top 30 !) I've never had huge orders like another poster; maybe 6 to a doz. of something. But their plants come beautifully packaged, a bit small, but healthy, and most with the deeper root cones. Planted rather promptly on a cloudy day with maybe a cardboard prop, or whatever us folks can come upwith for a few days for 'newbies.' Appropriate water and lush plants by fall, that may also bloom.

Shady 'something' of 80s temps where you are, may have broken records like here in central VT for 3 days in a row. (Thank heavens it wasn't also humid or I would have spent 3 days as a wrinkled ole prune in the bathtub with icecubes, no kidding. My temp. scale yr. around is 65 w/nice breeze. So, except for a few spring weeks or fall weeks, I'm 'bitching' most of the time. HAH!)

I also think you mentioned Select Seeds (Antique Flowers). They are FABULOUS! I only ordered annuals the last two January's, falling in love with their 5 to 6 foot cobalt blue Brazillion Sage, that readily goes to seed. Packaging and health of plants is same as Bluestone. By early Aug., our dog walking community on this high (super cold or super hot hill) were taking photos which I never got around to do.

This year, I read in a Dec. gardening mag. (think it was my Garden Gate) that Select Seeds would feature this spring, Yellow Hollyhocks that would not have, or less have, browned out, disgusting foiliage. Got 6 of them coming any week now, with more Brazillion sage for camp where we live all summer, and 6 (purportedly) more significant mosquitoe repellent plants than the usual whatevers we are all familiar with.

At camp, in our deep woods this aftermoon to turn the water back on, the black flies were BS horrible, and suspect mosquitoes will be the same within the week. AAARGGGGH! Be my 45th yr. taking a bath in OFF - DEET, and at near 70, it hasn't killed me yet. About 20 yrs. ago, I bought what I thought was an expensive 2-pc with head cover, screened body suit for about $20 bucks, which I still wear when it's cooler - color, deep green. Why didn't they make them light-colored which is rec. during bug season which in the last 5 yrs. is mid-spring to first frost all over N.E..(Global warming??)

Love your friend, Zula's kitty Mambo.... he sure is a gorgeous young kitty.

Blathered enough so that all in NE board is bored silly. (Sorry, I'm a night owl since birth!)

CKL from VT & the smallest 'cap' in USA

Good to "see" another night owl.

VT....hey I'm up too ;-)

I picked up some yellow hollyhocks from the local farm stand last year. They did not bloom yet, but got no rust like the standard ones. I'm hoping they have more this year so I can plant a few in my new bed! I think they are the russian variety and true perennial too...I planted some by my berry gardens since new beds were not ready...not sure if I can move them, I should find out.

Also, the heat has caused a wave of biting bugs in CT too....got eaten over the weekend even with the bug spray, don't think they were musquitos either, something else....hopefully the dragon flies will wake up soon! They usually eat a ton of the biting insects and keep things in check...oh, and the bats too!

Miles

Kass, I can just picture you and Zuzu together. Boy, would I love to be a fly on the wall LOL. I am very jealous of the shopping trips and the chance to meet Sue, Lali, Kell and Zuzu. Lucky Kassia :-P Anyway, good to have you back. If you get the wanderlust again later this spring or summer, you know we'd love to see you in Buffalo.

~ jan

Jan!!!!! oh my so good to hear from you... hope I have a chance to see you and George this year... want to see your garden! I can just imagine what is going to be this year! I lost some roses this past winter... no protection at all - so rugosas are really the best... the only others that grow like crazy are the Palatine ones...

VT - I am really pleased with Bluestone plants... thanks for the tip on the blue brazilian sage... I will get some... I love plants that goes to seed and hopefully will re-seed... oh the joy of not having to replant...

some pics of what is going on in my garden for 2009 ... tons of changes since I am moving so much staff around... I got dahlias this year: I missed them so much last year... so I got a red/white - a purple/white and an orange blend.

I have a new bed that all the flowers/roses are pink... not finished yet...
a new hosta garden... really happy about it... not finished either...
I got the first 2 hydrangeas...
2 azaleias (a orange one - from Sonoma Hort in CA) and a tiny pink one that I plan to grow as a bonsai... I hope it does not die because I have no luck at all with bonsais...

and here it goes.

the first irises...

hosta garden... I just need to plant something to cover the uggly electric meter...

succulent /turtle garden ... still in progress

my first roses.... well they came from CA... so it's techinically not grown in my garden... instant gratification...

new pots..

rugosas under my bedroom windown - they are huge... Hansa, Polareis and Rosarie L'Ray...

volunteer pansies... don't know how they ended up in this spot... since I did not plant them there...

I think this is Royal Sunset... really pretty!