@ess77, Just read your response to @Erinmfs and have to say that Lowes is my first stop favorite for plants and all-to do with gardening supplies. With their credit card, not only do I appreciate the discount on any purchase there but so often can find their discounted plant racks a real boon whenever needing some additional fillers for almost nothing!

Like you, I'm drawn to unusual plants for a spark of uniqueness and some work better than others. My bottle bush lasted for several yrs as well but I've not tried a shrimp plant nor crown of thorns. Maybe next yr?

Luckily, because of multiple bird feeders, squirrels can't access the feeders and are left with scrambling for the spilled seeds. I've tried several diff types of hummingbird feeders but none too successfully. They readily feed on late blooming Turkscap and other bright flowers but although I've placed the feeders in diff locations and changed and cleaned the feeders every few days, they seem to "wait" for summer bloomers like my butterfly bush which also attracts, moths, butterflies and bees.

Yes, Elizabeth, I, too, have had a long love/hate relationship with phones. I've had both my landline and 1st flip and now "smarty" cell phones with the same numbers for yrs. I just use the cell for car and travel; don't even know that number and have been pleased with rare scam calls.

If ever there was a yr for needing a team of garden helpers, this has been it. I am still removing leaves from beds and for some, this is the 3rd big effort accumulations coming from winds carried from other neighbor yards. Weeds are a diff story entirely. This is the 1st in 20 yrs of gardening, that these little devils have sprung up in flower beds.

With the Connect changes, my messages are going once more to my Spam folder and not reaching either the special filter site or reg. Yahoo mail. Hoping my help req. to @colleen young will rectify the problem. Until that happens, I'm struggling with the format changes and finding what I want to follow. Doesn't help that I am cyber deficient regardless. Sigh.

Your dad's reminder of "everything in moderation" was a favorite of my parents' as well. Alas and although I heard it frequently growing up, I've yet to master it. Smiles

It is beginning to dawn on me that all of my plant splurges this spring will require maintenance care and water...and more water. If last yr was one for our record books for extreme heat and drought, I can only imagine what my water bill will be this season with forecasts for an even hotter, drier summer. Good at justifying though, at my age, I know my active gardening years are limited and so I'm pushing my efforts and loving the time outside.

However we experience nature, seasonal changes and the surprises it never fails to inspire are true gifts for the heart. Yesterday I watched 2 Colorado Cardinals, which I'd fed all winter, doing the courtship flirt which may produce more offspring...How exciting is that?