Hope everyone had a great Christmas and Wishing you all the Best in the New Year!

We had a nice day here, went over to son's and his fiance at Christmas and it was great not having to do the turkey this year. I did have to make the dressing as it's my son's and hubs favorite, so that was ok. At least I didn't have to clean the house! LOL There were 15 of us over there and everyone brought something with them so dil didn't have to cook the whole meal. She had her mom and g/f to help her too. She said at the end of the night she sure was tired and both her mom and I said yeah that's why we are always exhausted at the end of the night and YOU even had tons of help and didn't have to cook everything......LOL It was very loud and not much room to walk around, but still was nice. *S*

Son has started work at his new job and he did very well in Cornwall on his six weeks training course. So we are very proud of him! Just wish he would of gotten 90% in high school. *L*

Grand daughter was great to be around on Christmas. This year she really understood more about Santa and of course got spoiled rotten! She will be 4 in Jan.

Marcia that is so great about the new baby!! Congrats! You must be so excited! No, new babies here yet, though they have been trying. *S*

Who were u trying to do the afghan for?

Our weather has been strange this year. Tomorrow will be the frist day we'll have to have our driveway shovelled this season, how strange is that? We usually have 3 ft of snow on the ground by now and we only have about 5" and that's countring the stuff that is still falling. I almost got my green Christmas!

Marcia, those spirals sounds like a great idea! How tall are they? Are they green? I have seen some in catalogues to grow indeterminate tomatoes on, are they like those? I wonder if that morning glory in your house will bloom? That would be nice if u could have blooms all winter. *S*

How was your visit with the family in Thunder Bay? Did u have a good time? I hope the weather was good for driving.

I have started taking the decorations down today. I have to go to North Bay to see another eye specialist and I think I will be having surgery Jan 10th, so please keep your fingers crossed for me. I only can see outta one eye and this is the one the surgery will be on, so hopefully things will go great and I'll be able to see better than I can now. This past summer I was really having a hard time seeing things in the garden so I'm hoping that I will be able to see tons better after the surgery! But I won't be able to do anything for 3 weeks after the surgery so I want to get as much of the decorations down now. I don't want to have them still up in February. I mean I love Christmas, but I need space for my Valentine decorations....LOL

Well I have to get back to taking some more decorations down so I'd better get going.

Take care
Debbie :-)

The spirals are metal, not green, and i didn't take one out so i don't know how tall they are. I think my daughter ordered them from Lee Valley. I did transplant the morning glory but didn't put a stake in yet. I'm waiting to see if it's an actual morning glory or if it's a weed. There are weeds around here that look like morning glories and they climb on anything and choke it out. But this is probably a morning glory since there were morning glories in that container.

I haven't started anything else or even ordered or traded for any seeds. Guess i'll have to start pretty soon. I've made some lists - started to, anyway - but that's about it. I did order a few things from Veseys to take advantage of their $25 off coupon - couldn't resist that! I'd tell you what i ordered but - oh yeah, here it is in my email (my desk is too messy to find the list! LOL). Anyway - dwarf oriental lilies, a daylily (Thundering Ovation), geranium 'Birch's Double', a fern collection, echinacia 'Sunset', a mix of tradescantia, and two egret flowers.

We only have a few inches of snow and Thunder Bay had none. This past week, i wore my fall jacket a couple of days too! Weird for January! But i sure am not complaining! It's supposed to be quite a bit colder this coming week but then go up again. Global warming - no problem!

I had a good visit with my parents and my sister. Her friend was in Thunder Bay too, so we all went shopping together. I'm not crazy about shopping but i did pick up a new purse and some lightweight green gloves - they go with my winter jacket and with my coat (which i hardly ever wear). I could have gotten some deals on clothes, but i'm going to lose weight this year - already down 6 lbs since November - so i decided against it.

My parents called today and my sister came down with pneumonia in one lung this week so she's in the hospital. She's had respiratory problems for the past few years and has to have an oxygen machine at night. We all worry about her but she insists that she's going to live to 103!

Back to work on Monday - i'm so excited. NOT! LOL When i have time off like this, retirement looks soooooooooo good, but then i go back to work and enjoy myself there too, so i guess i'll stay. Besides, i can't afford to retire, so that's that.

Oh - you asked about the afghan. It's for my daughter. I have it all together now and am working on the border. Then i'll have to trim all the little ends before she gets it, so maybe that'll be done by next weekend. Maybe. :)

Anyway, that's about it right now. Let us know how your surgery goes, okay?

Marcia

I chat with a lady whose son had that lazer surgery so he wouldn't have to wear his glasses and it was a total mess. His sight is now 20/100 and he's only 24 years old,,, poor guy!

I hope it's a morning glory u have there and not one of those choking weeds,,, we have those here, bind weeds? or something like that. I pull them out but they always seem to come back. They must have deep roots.

Glad u had a good time in Thunder Bay and had a good visit with your family. I'm sorry to hear about your sister getting pneumonia! I hope she will get better soon and be out of hospital and back home soon!

Congrats on the weight loss! I know u did mention u were going to join TOPS, is that how u lost the weight? I think I found those 6lbs u lost. LOL

We have lost more snow in the past few days, though today it was cold again. I can see the vegetable beds in the back yard, it is so weird.

You can't afford to retire now,,, u need money so u can buy more flowers......LOL I haven't ordered any plants yet, I am waiting to see how the surgery goes. I want to order some petunia seeds but I think I'm going to try another seed company this year.

Take care and I'll try to keep u posted on how things are going.
Debbie :-)

She had a hops vine and a Thunderchild crabapple, if i remember correctly. She grew just about anything i grow here in zone 3. Your long hours of daylight give plants an extra boost to do their thing quickly. She was often ahead of me as far as bloom times.

If i can track her down, i'll tell her about this thread and see if she can give you some better advice.

Hi lara *waving* Welcome! I live in zone 2a. We "normally" get a lot of
-30 to -40's every year, but this year is the exception. Do u get a lot of snow cover? Cause that will help protect your plants alot. We "normally" get five ft that stays on the ground, but this year we don't even have a foot.
If you want to landscpae your yard, I would say start with the bones first,,, the trees, bushes big things like that. I have a Hazeldean rose that is suppose to be hardy to zone 1. It has yellow flowers on it, but it only blooms in June. I grow Dolgo crabapples here, also Japanese Lilac tree, shubert cherry tree, Mockorange bush, regular lilac bushes, highbush cranberry, spruce trees, saskatoon bushes. Do U have an Experimental Farm there or a Horticultural society? They could help you a lot with suggestions on what people grow in your area.

I grow a lot of explorer roses, roses that grow on their own roots do well here because if they get winter kill they will just regrow from their roots and be the same rose that was planted and the part that gets killed can just be pruned off.

Maybe u could try and google what trees will grow in Northwest territories too? Ask your new neighbours what they grow, they might be willing to help you too. It would really help you if you could find out your garden zone. I'm trying to think of more ideas for you, but that is all I can think of now. As for perennials, I would chose hardy plants that die right back in the fall. Like, some daylilies are better than others because of that, can't think of what it is called right now though. But I was told to get one kind over another kind. Also Asiatic lilies are much more hardy than Oriental lilies. I could never get Orientals to survive our winters.
Hope this help you. Let us know if u find out anymore information.
Take care
Debbie :-)
PS: I have started a February thread.