Hi there to my mail in friends! The seed swap was wonder-full! We had many helpers to stuff envelopes- and many seeds to choose from- even though many folks did not come do to the snow and driving conditions. I have envelopes for SandiBluffs who I picked for- and JoyfullSnowflake- who Selkie picked for- I do hope to get these sent home to you before the weeks end. I will drop you each an e-mail when I post them. Lazyweeder picked for MaideofShade- and will be sending from his post office- and SandysGardens picked for Oknish who will be sending from her post office. Much thought and hunting of folks wishes were put into each envelope- I do hope you all are pleased with what was found for you! Julie

I've always thought of dormancy as something plants can do, more so than something they need to do. It is more of a skill of survival through the cyclical weather patterns of the seasons--evolution and genetic adaptation. It is a rather insular idea that cold is the only condition that promotes dormancy in plants. In many places in the world dormancy is promoted by lack of water--a dry season if you will. Some of our heat loving roses likes teas and chinas hail from places like that. I strongly suspect the disaster teas roses are in my 7a garden where they cannot survive through to spring--even though conventional wisdom says it should be warm enough--has more to do with the fact we have significant moisture in the late winter and early spring. It is the moisture that forces them out of dormancy, but then it is still too cold for growing, un-dormant plants to not to be mortally damaged. We take plants that have evolved under certain weather patterns and then expect them to thrive someplace with a different cycling of conditions all while assuming that dormancy triggers are the same. They aren't. All that to say, I don't think I would try to force dormancy based on temperature/cold without at least trying to understand the potential genetics of that particular rose.

The Paradigm is not recovering. The dicentra luxuriant has grow smaller. WhenI dug it up it was being choked by tree roots. In there’d box are June’s grown from a large piece of the crown when I divided a June two years. But it’s not done much. When I dug it out today there were two separate pieces. I am hoping this spot will help it along. Mostly Sunny in the morning, filtered shade pm. This is a crazy story. I had a Teeny Weeny Bikini some years ago. It Totally reverted to solid green. Now when I was walking around the yard today, I barely noticed this green thing half buried. I was thinking “ what the heck is that?” So of course I dug it up. I believe it is a leftover part of the striped Teeny Weeny Bikini. There wasn’t anything there last year. Anyway the two pieces are of of the same crown. I am interested to see what happens.

the best thing about dougs mockup is that he came out from the property line.. and went 3D on the design ... i would also skip juniper... aggressive trees .. kinda nice looking when young.. and just ugly old baturds when they get older... especially if hit with snow or ice damage.. not to mention juniper tip blight ... though you do want to plant near the property line ... do come out into the lawn significantly ... nothing more boring than a straight line of greenery along the property line ... especially when you have lawn to work with ... and in this case.. a bit of a hill that you cant do a lot with anyway ... though it does make for interesting bocci ... and im not kidding about that .... id probably throw some lilac out there ... grow pretty fast ... can get root cuttings from any stranger with a bush... right in my wheelhouse price range.. lol ... but i would start with some drapes or shades in the sun/FL room for some instant privacy while you are in that room ....if you need such ... regardless of what you do with plants... it will take years to achieve your goal ... shades wont ... it will be ready to go as soon as they are installed... ken