Hi bernadette_gourder, You will likely get more offers to trade if you will put your location in your member profile. It will then be shown on your Member Page, and also will automatically be shown whenever you post here. Some members, myself included, will not respond to trade posts where the member's location is not listed on their page. It is a postage cost, days in transit, hardiness thing that is considered. You can update your member info via the Member Pages link found at the bottom of every page here. hth. Sue...chemocurl

Beautiful sentiments New Dawn! Thank you so much. Rose, thanks for sharing the story & for your continued positive thoughts. Peggy is home! She was discharged yesterday afternoon, got home around 4:00. She is very, very happy to be in her own house again. We visited Saturday, Sunday, & Monday. Monday's visit was at her house. When we arrived, a guy was just finishing setting up an oxygen tank for her, making sure she had plenty of length to her tube so she could walk the distance of most of the first floor. Shortly after the guy left, her dh & my dh went out to get a prescription filled and picked up a few groceries. I was glad that we were there so Peggy wasn't alone right away when her dh went out to the store. Don't know how long she'll be on oxygen, but the doc is saying a week or two right now. I'm sure they'll be playing it by ear. I think she is most concerned about her lung. With time I truly believe she will adapt to this though. Our niece & her dh will be over to bring Peggy dinner tonight. They both cook very well, and my nephew loves to cook. He was thinking days ago about all the things he wants to fix for them. Tonight will be enchiladas. I told him he must bake some of his famous lemon squares for them at some point. They are out of this world! The home care nurse, Nan, will be over today too, & Peggy's dh be home, so she will be well-attended to today. Recovery is off to a good start.

Thank you to all of you who have responded and also those who are saying prayers for Phyllis without having updated the forum thread. My niece reports last night that Phyllis was pretty cheerful "laughing, talking, and making memories" was how she put it. It's hard on everyone, but Phyllis is most worried about her grandkids. Some of them are having a really hard time coming to terms. She is supposed to come home today, provided a hospital bed arrives this morning, as scheduled. Thank you again. You really help.

A single smooth sweep of a line (curve or straight) looks better to my eye than wiggles in and out that don't have a reason such as a tree or shrub that need more width. As far as bed depth, I try to make beds a minimum of 5'-6' deep so I can have more than one plant front to back for a longer season of bloom and bigger masses for more punch. I think I would make it overall less wide and more deep unless there is a budget for more plants so you can have a front row and a back row. I also leave at least a foot between the plants and the house wall to accommodate snow and rain falling off the roof edge as well as the rain shadow created by eaves. It also allows the house siding to dry out and room to get in for maintenance as needed without tromping on plants. Try to plant things with similar needs for light and moisture, so that they are happy together. You have a variety of leaf shapes and some foliage color, which is good since it adds interest when things aren't blooming. I wouldn't alternate the hosta and sedum since sedum is happiest with a lot of sun and not too much water, while the hosta doesn't like to dry out and prefers at least some shade during the hottest part of the day. So I would group the sedums in the sunniest spot and group the hosta in the shadiest spot or at least where you can water them well when it is hot without rotting the sedum. I would most likely skip the grass as it has similar leaf form to the day lilies, but I am not a huge fan of grasses anyway because I like them better en masse rather than as specimen plants. What is the thing on the chimney? An air intake or something that might be venting hot gasses or something that needs access or do you want to sort of hide it? Are you looking for something tall to plant in front of the chimney and that is why you were looking at grasses? If this area will be viewed at all in winter, or even late fall or early spring, you might want to add plants that will be pleasant to look at when the perennials aren't growing, either some shrubs with evergreen leaves or interesting branches, or evergreen groundcover, or bulbs for spring bloom. Look up the expected width of your particular plants and give them enough room, even if it looks sparse at first. You can fill in with seeded annuals or garden ornaments and be sure to mulch between plants to discourage weeds while you wait for the perennials to fill in.