Hello everyone! What a great community of passionate flower gardeners/farmers. I've been so impressed with the depth and range of experience shown here, and there's always something new to learn.

I've always wanted a serious cutting garden. Even though we're blessed with a fabulous back yard, it was just too shady to launch a full scale flower garden, and I found myself wishing for fewer trees. Well, on August 29th I got my wish. Hurricane Katrina did a lot of damage, and our repairs have been slow. It's only been in the last two or three weeks I've gotten the yard in top shape, what with fence repairs, millions of limbs and sticks, and massive holes where trees used to be. Now everything is fixed, and I'm ready to start!

Flowers make me smile. I love picking flowers I've grown, making a little arrangement for my desk at work and have people say "wow, you grew those? They're beautiful!" Of course, God gets the credit, I just helped them along, but still it's very gratifying. Also I love to bring flowers inside our home. Whether it's for the kitchen or the dining room table, flowers add such a note of grace and beauty inside. Never can you have too many!

My goal is to grow enough to make bouquets. I have a friend who's agreed to sell them at her bakery/restaurant and I'm just so awed and humbled and excited! The only fresh bouquets available around here come from Wal-Mart and grocery stores. So it will be a challenge to grow appealing flowers for her shop. Presently am establishing a 35x30 plot for annuals including zinnias, baby's breath, bells of ireland, statice and Bishop's lace. So many kinds of flowers, but I'm sticking to what's worked for me in the past.

Thanks for reading.

CG