I wrote such a nice response to you and I must have accidentally deleted it. Anyhow, welcome. I am sort of jealous about the spring and bog area myself. Here in the flatlands it is fairly rare to find that kind of gem. After draining the swamps (it was originally the Black Bogs), they dug all these retention ponds. I started to suggest the DNR as a place to get some project support but now that I think of it, they do have a tendency to take over anything that looks like a wetland. See if your local Extension Service has anything. Sandy

I wanted to get the queen laces but I heard they attract chippers??? Thar bites ur feet when u walk through??? I was like nah never mind so I got rue plants instead and growing dills. I should get fennel but it's almost august so I will do that next year along with adding zinnias flowers all over my yard as well. Here's another pic. Unfortunately my verbena plants all died off. Maybe too much water??? It was doing well for one whole month then it dried up. I only cut down to base and left root hoping it'll come back next yr or is it too late?? It died off in first week of July. I planted it in march.

Hi there -- We grow fairly small amounts of a wide range of things, and buy seed from many different sources. I haven't seen dramatic differences in germination rates, so I usually just choose whatever's handy, whatever looks as though it gives the most seed per packet or whatever gets me over the free shipping hurdle. In annual grasses, we'll probably try to do more with hare's tail (Lagurus ovatus) and Briza maxima this year. I'm pretty sure we got the briza seed from J.L. Hudson's. Last year was the first blooming year for seed-grown Chasmanthium latifolium. We harvested it when the seed heads were an interesting blend of green, black and reddish-pink. They work really well with wheat celosia. We make more use of Miscanthus sinensis, bought as starts, than anything else and use the leaves more than the flowering stems. We harvest some when they're still fairly green and dry them flat -- they develop interesting twists. We let others dry until they're brown and have begun to curl. They're excellent for wreaths. We usually add dried artichoke flowers to them.

Howdy! Many of learn to leave with spiders, but that doesn't mean we all love them! I certainly don't...love them, I mean. I have sure learned to live with them. A broom and a strong stream of plain water will help discourage spiders from taking up housekeeping on the outside of your home. If you have some that are not in your path ....try to let them be. There really isn't anything you can do that will eradicate spiders from your environment for good. But a those housekeeping tasks (sweeping and spraying) will help a great deal.