http://s63.photobucket.com/albums/h140/duckygomer/garden%20junk/ Sorry for all of the confusion. We are new at this.

I went to one of my favorite nurseries to buy pine bark mulch in the form of small nuggets. They didn't have any because they didn't get any in this year because they didn't think that it sold well enough last year. But, but, but... So, did I just go home? Of course not. I bought plants. Perhaps this was their plan from the beginning. Because I have ordered an unconscionable number of roses this year by mail order, I did not buy roses. I bought two Dianthus, 'Eastern Star' and 'Neon' (and it is). I know only one Dianthus that really grows well here and that was a pass-along plant (not to me and unnamed so I don't know what it is nor how to get it) but I keep trying and the tags said that they bloomed all Summer. We'll see. I also got Liatris 'Kobold', Phlox 'Shortwood' , Iris sibirica 'White Swirl' (I think) and 3 flats of Impatiens. They said that the impatiens had been treated to prevent mildew while they were being grown but that the treatment could not be bought by the public to continue the protection. I buy Impatiens every year for certain large pots. I cannot imagine being without them. I hope I don't have to learn. Every year I think that I will cut back on plants and every year there are more. This is not even the tip of the iceberg. Others purchased by mail order are, for example, Rhodea (an evergreen shade lover), Thelipteris kunthii (a fern that is supposed to keep growing throughout the Summer), Hellebores 'Joseph Lemper', 'Jakob', 'Winter Moonbeam' and others, Alstromeria ('Tangerine Tango' for my sister and one for me) and on and on.Then there are the roses; 'White Cap', 'Pax' (Vintage), 'Mme Isaac Periere', 2 'Pope John Paul II', 'Devoniensis', 'Eden', 'Young Lycidas' (lovely perfume), 'Mlle Cecile Brunner', 'Mme Alfred Carriere', 'Darlow's Enigma', 'New Dawn' and then there are those that haven't arrived yet. And yet, the 'Blanc Double de Coubert' that I planted years ago looks better than it has in years as do the number of buds on the 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' and 'Ilse Krohn Superior' (alfalfa really does work!) and peonies new to bloom are budding so it IS worth it even if the Mlle de Sombreuil' did die. Cath

The website I am doing is completely free. If you want to have your own domain name, which I did...you can buy it by going to http://www.netfirms.ca/ A domain name of your own...you choose its name and then, for $10 a year you can keep it and no one else can have it. I have my site hosted by Weebly, a company in California, as you will see their name at the bottom of the website pages. I love it as it is so easy to use. I have never taken any courses with computers but have been easily able to set up my own website. I have a friend who looked at quite a few free website building sites on the internet, tried out a few and chose this one as it was the most user friendly. So, I figured that since she used it and found it easy to use, I would also use it. On Weebly there is no limit on the size my website will be able to be or number of pictures it can hold. I upload regular pictures from my computer, I think the largest it will accept is between 4 - 5 MB in size .... but, if my picture is larger in my computer, I just shrink it a bit first. You will know if it won't take it...it will take forever and then come up with error. Shrink the picture a bit and upload again. No reducing it to email size is necessary. The site uploads very quickly. Brenda

I would strongly advise a visit to Frog Pond Farm in Hunterdon County on June 2 and 3. Ruby and Martin are neighbors of mine and have a simply lovely garden and are wonderful people. Here's a funny OT story: When I first moved here, I had a dog who was depressed from being moved from a suburban to a rural setting, so I got him a friend. Well, the friend was just plain bad - she was a terrier mix who could worm her way through the smallest opening in the fence. The first time she ran away, she was brought home by the local police department, sitting proudly in the backseat of the police car. The second time she ran away, she ended up at the pound. I went down to pay her bail and was asked if I wanted to know where she was found. That didn't sound good, but I hesitantly said yes. Well, she been found at a neighbor's house. She'd got through their fence and into their yard. Their house had a cat door which this dog used to gain entry to the house. From there, she found the owners asleep in their bedroom, got in bed with them and began licking the husband's face. He pushed her away once, thinking it was his cat. But she persisted and the second time he reached out to give her a good shove and realized that the hair he felt was not his cat's hair. I guess he turned on the light and saw this dog sitting on his bed with a big smile on her face. They called the police who came and got her and took her to the pound. It was Martin's and Ruby's house the dog had entered. A few days after this episode, they were having an open garden so I stopped by to apologize for the dog's bad behavior. They were so kind and just laughed about it. Since that time, Ruby has been gracious in sharing her knowledge and some of her plants with me.