I read the story late last night when I was tired and vulnerable...and I admit I was moved by it and saddened. But I did not post at that time, because tugging at the corner of my mind, my sceptical side was trying to get my attention. So I waited and read it again this morning. And I agree with Sharon... it does seem contrived. For someone with no money to spend - not even $10 - the author seems to attend a lot of auctions. Even gas these days is expensive. Why does she go, when she so clearly hates the whole process? And lo and behold, every time Elmer winds up at the auction, there she is to note his condition and comment on the folks who bought him. I write fiction. I know the process of weaving a fragment into a story. Maybe the author attended the one sale where her neighbour was selling Elmer the first time and while there saw another billygoat in very poor condition and thought: "That will happen to Elmer too." And went home and wrote the story as a cautionary tale. It doesn't matter. The message is just as valid regardless of the veracity of the story. We all need to take responsibility for the animals in our care -- AND their offspring. I'll get off my soap box now!

It took a LOT to do this, but just this very morning, I cut off scapes from BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE, ARNETTE ZAPEL, and KINGDOM WITHOUT END. Each case was different; my reasoning was.... BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE was because David Kirchhoff recommended that I do so. The plant arrived here relatively recently, so it really is still settling in. BAF is a rebloomer, and David thinks I'll get rebloom. Cutting the scape on this newly arrived daylily will enable it to put its energies into establishing itself. ARNETTE Z had, until this morning, two scapes. I don't want the plant to exhaust itself. In fact, I just came in from snapping off all the buds on the remaining scape except for the first one. KINGDOM WITHOUT END I'm thinking is a tad, a smidge, an iota, a nanomolecule too small to support bloom at this point. I'm trying to be smart about it, difficult as this has been. In previous years, I've let plants do their thing, and I've used pollen from at least one, and sometimes from multiple, blooms. I have not tried to set pods on new ones. Anyway, this year I just might cut off all the scapes with the hope that, by next year, I have a better plant for having done so. (But as for ARNETTE, I just HAVE to see what one bloom looks like!)

Did you ever think about creeping Phlox or that type of groundcover? Creeping phlox grows like crazy and fills in quickly. It also comes in so many different colored blooms! Even types of creeping Thyme could work well. My mother had thyme all over an embankment and it spread like crazy. Both of those plants don't have deep root systems and sort of float on top of the ground, they do not climb at all. Lilies and irises will work well, once they fill in. I have a section of embankment that I'm trying to cover with daylilies, but they still need mulch around them since they are just not filling in fast enough. Now my old fasioned ditch lilies have filled in tremendously, although they do get really tall. Lilies do need cut back at some point. Perriwinkle is a good groundcover too. My parents had that everywhere when I was a kid. It does not climb and can grow just about anywhere. If you ever need to rake dead leaves out of it, its very tolerant to abuse and doesn't get tangled in your rake the way ivies do, and you end up pulling out as much ivy as you do fallen leaves! Research ground covers, there are so many varieties, some evergreen shrub types and some are herbs, like thyme or lambs ear. I'm sure that you'll fine something to suit your situation.

Ignore the online color - completely. Trust the chip/paint sample. A dried sample of the paint should match your chip before you proceed with testing. The fundamental objective of the chip to sample process is for the sample to match the chip. Even tho chips are not real paint doesn't matter because the whole chain is predicated on mixing samples, quarts, gallons to match chips.