I’ve loved growing flowers for as long as I can remember.  When we extensively remodeled our house (1999-2000), most of the lawn and some of the other plantings were destroyed – the perfect time to create new flower beds!  I made the paving block path through most the garden so it was easy to get my dad around in a wheelchair.  My folks and I loved it.  Since starting the garden, tending it, searching for new plants, trying to have something in bloom at all seasons possible in WI, have been great fun and my primary source of solace and relaxation – and being able to share it with friends and neighbors is great.

My main goals in 2008 were a "plant census" to determine how many things on my planting list were still there (AND identifiable) and once identified, to label everything I could, so I wouldn't have to go through the whole process again. From the records I had of plants purchased, what area of the yard I'd planted them in and the wonderful ability to find photos of so many plants on the web, I was able to find, identify and label more plants than I'd ever thought I'd manage. My labels are an experiment - metal labels from the Everlast Label Co in MI, with laser printed clear return address labels used for idenfication (a back up system is a number assigned to each cultivar, written in crayon on the back of the marker so if the label does not survive the winter, I should still be able to ID the plant (unless the voracious "critters" around here decide to consume the metal labels as well as the plants, or move either plants or labels around!)