my garden is truly sad. daffodils are peeping out of the dirt (waaaay too early). the roses quit and have been trimmed back because i couldn't bare to look at their legs anymore. but, my ficus tree has survived two 30-degree nights and the leaves are still on it!

that was two years ago! wow!! well, we are having a cold snap. i'm sure it's not here to stay. anyway, i had to bring in a bunch of plants that were on vacation from the house (orchids, adenium, palm tree). hope the shock doesn't kill 'em!

How does my garden grow? By leaps and bounds. Leaves the size of turkey platters and flowers of the most amazing sort. I have problems with my compost pile sprouting!!! That's what you get with warmth all year and 150 inches of rain / year! (That, and mildew a lot...)

How big is your garden and what do you have planted? We, of course, can't use you as a guide for our own gardens. I bought 50 lbs. of rye grass yesterday at Home Depot. They had huge piles of it by the checkout counter, indicating that this must be the thing to do right now. Whenever there are huge stacks of things by the checkout counter it must be the right thing to buy, right?

sure, so do you buy all the packs of bubblegum too? i don't know who that question was directed to but i'll answer for me. my garden is mainly small plots of lawn that was dug up for roses. it goes along the front of my house and a small oval in the middle of my front lawn. then there is some edgework around the big shed out back. the roses are putting out their fall blooms! the gardenia is on it's second bloom and despite what they say, it loves full hot sunlight. it's roots are shaded by it's own leaves but it's growing happily and it's up to my shoulders now. the hydrangeas didn't take to the dryness very well but with daily watering, the dead leaves fell off and new leaves came right behind them. they are still small things but will look marvelous once they fill in.

We laid new turf where house male 1 (I now have 2!!! *grin*) had leveled off the plot. With all the rain we've been having we didn't even need to water it in much and it has taken really well. Now I have to decide whether to plant up the new raised bed before we go ..or levae it until spring. Either way I';ll out weed suppressant down or it will be full of them. The shorn hypericum hidcote has recovered well to having it's lower portion buried a foot in the raised bed ..and I think it will give a good show next year ..better than trying to uproot it and lift it a foot I decided. Need to find a water lily and iris for the small wild life pond in the raised bed, the other waterfall pond will have to wait for our return from Africa ... it is so badly overgrown that it requires a lot of work. The new patio looks good, and we cleared the herb beds and pulled the old raspberries up as they had really been past it this year. The strawberry bed needs replanting ..but that will have to wait til next year too now. e have run out of time! We leave on the 19th and won't be back until March.