I know that the buds are edible and occasionally make them. They are also great stuffed (I usually use spinach and feta or other cheese) then dipped in a tempura batter and deep fried. I do the same with squash blossoms. I have no idea what they do with the bulbs. They don't look particularly appetizing though. lol Thanks for that info Carol. I'll keep them in the pot for now. Do all the bulbs carry the virus? If not how can you tell if they are infected?

Great post and replies. Really fun to read. Don't forget that lots of leafy greens are excellent crops autumn through spring. I grow a lot of lettuce and other leafy things from October through March or so and really enjoy them, plus all manner of herbs too. You definitely posted to the right forum. :) You might want to check out the Extreme Gardening book by David Owens. It's all about vegetable/edible gardening in the warm-winter deserts of the SW. I'll post a link at the bottom. For scent, stocks and old-fashioned fragrant petunias are great autumn through spring, as are fragrant alyssum. In summer I grow a lot of the old heirloom scented flowering nicotiana (Nicotiana alata, old fashioned types not the newer shorter types that open in daylight but are unscented). The nicotiana blooms all spring through autumn and the flowers open at night and are amazingly fragrant at night (I got the originals from Select Seeds, just make sure they're listed as fragrant). Several types of fragrant jasmine will work for you too, and scented geraniums are always a winner in my book--they are also easier to keep alive through our blast furnace summers than zonal geraniums (which are great autumn through winter of course). I do like blooms and nice scented gardens. Let us know how the dahlias do for you. I think most folks find they are not really good performers here, but you could prove us all wrong. Keep us posted on what you grow and how it works out. Take care, Grant Here is a link that might be useful: Extreme Gardening book

Over the last year I've added 2 varieties of apples, purple leafed plum, lavenders, german chamomile, roman chamomile, chicory, yarrow, elderberry, wolfberry, another hazelnut, borage, garlic, and comfrey, as well as veggies like peppers, tomatoes, radishes, scarlet runner beans, and I've just sown 2 varieties of kale. I added some things a bit late (I just recently found out about edible forest gardens!), so I may need to replace a couple of things that look iffy. This fall I'm hoping to add raspberries, thornless blackberries, red currants, grape vine, and a mulberry.

Becky, I know horehound was used to make cough drops. I used to have a recipe but lost it. I bet you could Google it. I remember it was basically a hard candy that used horehound tea as the liquid. It might also work to just drink the tea. I'm having trouble getting thyme to grow from seed too. The sprouts are sooooo tiny, and then something always seems to happen to them.