Hi there

[bmishler]

Hey there,

My name is Bobbi and I live in Kent, Washington USA.  I consider myself a novice at gardening, and have been enjoying it for over 5 years.  I can't wait to browse through the links and learn new things about plants. 

Well George I finally signed up, thanks for inviting me  

happy December....

[ideasguy]

Hi Bobbi
Its great to see you here and believe me, you are very welcome!

Hey, you're a "pretty good novice", Bobbi! The photos you've sent of your garden shows that you know a lot about plants.

I'm going to take you on a walk down memory lane. Heres my archives page on my ideasforgardens.com web site:
http://www.ideasforgardens.com/Photo_of_the_Week_Archives/photo_of_the_week_archives.html
You'll see that you were THE very first garden featured on the "Photo of the Week" slot, way back in 2002!!!!.
That bed is absolutely crammed with gorgeous plants!

I look back now and wish I could have got a photo of our meet up at the Northwest Flower & Garden show in Seattle (way back in 2003). It was lovely talking to you. In those days I had a tiddley memory card in my camera, and was limited to 20 photos max! By the time you arrived I'd kinda exceeded my quota.

Have you been back to the show? I'd love to go again. I really enjoyed it.

Back to gardening, and I recall you sent me photos of a lovely Rose of Sharon, which I think was one of your favourite plants.
Being a common name, Rose of Sharon can be a number of plants depending on which part of the world you come from. I think the Genus name is Hibiscus in your part of US. Is that correct?
And of course, you had a gorgeous little Japanese maple.

We've a bit of catching up to so, so lets start by asking: what pretty plants have you discovered since we last communicated?

[bmishler]

Hey George.  Sorry it?s taken me so long to reply to you.  My life is just starting to be less hectic now    Things have certainly changed since that photo was taken!  I?m forever adding, rearranging, pruning?it?s great.

First question from you, have I gone back to the Garden Show.  HA.  Of course I have.  It?s a tradition for me.  I only live a half hour from Seattle and have been going every year for about six years now.  It?s like the official beginning of ?Spring? for me.

Second question from you.  The Rose of Sharon Genus name is hibiscus syriacus ?Diana?.  I?ve since had to prune it back it was taking over the sidewalk!  I bought it knowing nothing about it except that Sharon is my mom?s name.  I haven?t been disappointed in it.  And the Japanese maple is huge now.  Very beautiful.

Third question from you.  Plants.  I?m now addicted to penstemon.  My goal is to find one of every color available.  There terrific perennials.  I have also included in my garden since the photos columbine, peonies, daylilies, trailing geraniums, sea holly?I could go on.  I seem to add something new every year.  We have a Nursery about an hour away that has 10 acres of plants, trees, shrubs, etc.  That?s another tradition for a friend and me.  We go the first week of May every year to load up.  I?ve found most of my new plants there.

My next project is to design a fragrant flower bed.  Any suggestions?