Oooh, I hate seeing crunchy or limp foliage, especially after that Easter freeze of 06, my Japanese maples are still trying to recover, and I lost so many roses to canker, I'm still digging them out after they limped along. Hopefully this was a short enough bout to just damage some early growth and that it was just a blip on the weather radar. I think I'm getting numb to weird weather. I used to worry about it a lot more when we lived in Indiana, tornado alley. I had my weather radio at the ready and the basement was stocked with supplies. Saturday night apparently we had tornado warnings, the sky turned yellow and then we had some severe thunderstorms that struck very close by. The dog went under the bed while I was watching a movie on DVD. My daughter was at the mall with some friends and told me the next day that they herded everyone into the tornado shelters. She just wanted to stay in the food court, not worried even after she saw the weird sky. Like mother like daughter?

No story as great as yours, Purple. [Sincere compliments. Great story, and well told. I suspect that the grandson is going to be a good neighbor. Would like to meet him.] But various bouts with weeds, both minor and *huge* have taught me a few things. Charming unknown friends that appear out of nowhere, and suddenly take up residence, should be welcomed. But after the initial welcome-party, you should go off to quickly and quietly check out just who and what they are.... Some you can laugh with over breakfast, and they will remain friends for years. Others, whose 'charming faces' are false, need to be greeted in the morning with a shovel. Or napalm. One woman's frustratingly rampant weed is another woman's *very* welcome salad green. It's lovely to have a vision for a part of the property, and make major changes in what is already pretty not bad there to make that vision a reality! But be aware.... There is such a thing as a long-term 'seed bed'.... The zombies awake, and start moving across the land. Be ready!! Gaahh!! Ya can't judge a book by its cover, or a weed by its size. There are things that will get to be 5 ft tall that I will walk by and say "Ah, I'll get you later." And others that will be just a few inches tall that I will see, stop short, and dig out with vicious enthusiasm! Has to do with that old saying "Know your enemy!" There are a few big weed problems that are serious. But most of them can be pulled tomorrow, or next week, as well as they can be today. So, for today, I will not weed. I will listen to the birds, and enjoy the breeze, and enjoy the flowers, and relax.....

Nice to put things back in order isn't it steve? I always find darning "curved" things by putting them over my knee. Weird, but it's free and handy. I darn all the time, but I never knew it was admirable, just cheap? I'm not interested in buying new clothes all the time. I find what I like and I want to keep in the best shape I can? I'm so bad about that, that I'll grab a stack of clothes needing repair, and then sit at the sewing machine with clear thread in it, zipping them through as fast as I can. I'm so lazy I don't even want to change out the thread is why I use clear thread!

Yeah, it's...interesting, to say the least. It really doesn't seem like Houzz and these garden forums are a great fit. And things seem to be getting worse. I hope they have some incentive to improve things, and ultimately to keep the garden forums alive. The changes that have been made seem to suggest otherwise. Do any of us actually patronize Houzz, beyond forum usage? I know I don't. In fact, if it weren't for the banner at the top of this page currently announcing a "rug sale," I'd have no idea what they sell, or even that they sold anything. Nor would I care. If you visited my home, you'd find that most of my furnishings are purely functional practical stuff, and I'm ok with that. Any "design" or "style" within my home is entirely accidental, LOL. (The fact that there even exists a forum devoted to "Design Dilemmas" perplexes me to no end; the only reason I know about it is that it keeps popping up and forcing me to de-select it in order to post in a gardening forum. Argh). My garden, on the other hand...now THAT's where I spend my money, time, and effort. And it's entirely for myself, not for "curb appeal" or for whatever other concern the recommended forums on this site keep promoting. Anyway, all grumbles aside, my real concern is that if we're all (from Houzz's perspective) a bunch of non-profit-generating dead weight, why should they care about keeping us happy? I do miss Gardenweb. Kinda like how I miss actual garden-related programming on HGTV. Hopefully these forums aren't headed for the same fate.