ok, let's see...off topic conversations: hmmm well, I have three married children who all live nearby in the chicagoland suburbs.

I had zero interest in gardening until about eight years ago when I inherited some money and decided to spend it on making our yard look more interesting. It didn't take very long to spend it all, but by then I was hooked and now I can't stop!!

I like everything about gardening, but I especially love pruning & propagating .... trouble is I have no where else to plant all the stuff I propagate!

What got you started?

Susan, whose hubby wonders if she will ever stop......

Hi I saw you are trying to get people in the Conversation. So you are not talking to yourself.........

Hi,

I am retired, one kid. I live in Pennsylvania. I had a dream to retire before I was 60 and travel. I ended up with a job that demanded I travel 200 days a year. I would leave Mon and return Fri sometime Sat and some time 2 weeks later. I was on planes in hotels more than I was home. That cured my dream of retire and travel.

I adjusted that dream to retire before 60 and stay home and garden. I had the usual suburban plot of land and my dream was to have enough land that I could garden and not have to worry about running out of space.

I searched for a year and found the perfect property. Still in the suburb but with a couple of acres of land.

I have gardened all my life. My love of gardening came from my Mom. I was along side her for as long as I can remember in the garden with flowers, picking the fruit from the few fruit trees we had in our yard, and in her vegetable garden. It did not stop outside she had plants inside in every room. So I learned early to eat, breath and love plants.

So here I am having the time of my life and living my dream.

Ok, I'll play too!

I currently live in Northwest New Jersey, in Morris County.

I have two sons who recently left the nest. They are by far the best "flowers" I've ever grown.

I grew up in NYC so I did not do any gardening as a child and I didn't know anyone who did. But I've always loved flowers. When I moved to my current house 14 years ago I bought a copy of "The Well Tended Perennial Garden" and dove in. I've never looked back.

I currently have a small foundation planting (maybe 3' x 4'), a cottage garden (the anything goes garden!) about 10' by 10', my butterfly garden which is slowly turning into the red and yellow garden (20' by 10') and my newest garden, the yellow and orange garden which is 30' long and 10' deep at its widest point.

All of them are in the front yard since my back yard is bisected by a Norway maple and two silver maples. Horrible trees imo, but I can't afford to remove them at the moment.

Hi Marquest and a2zmom...guess nobody wants to play with us! (grin) Oh, well.

It's a gorgeous day in the Chicago burbs today. I suppose people who aren't crazy about this cooler July weather wouldn't agree...but it's perfect for gardening. Actually I have an area that I have been ignoring that needs weeding so I guess I'll go take a bath in Off and venture out to do battle with the mosquitoes.

So far today I have done absolutely nothing except *weeding* out summer clothes. I have two bags full for Good Will. Actually I had a hard time parting with some things that were 100 percent cotton cuz it seems everything now has spandex...ugh...

I'm in Central Vermont - zone 4. The weather this spring and summer has been unusual and so it seems that the bloom times are not what I'm used to. I'm not complaining though. Plenty of hot temps and lots of rain. It's still looks as lush as springtime. The extra hummingbird feeder I hung out has tripled the amount of birds I see. A neighbor has started raising bees and that has made an incredible difference in my garden. Yesterday I even saw a hummingbird moth on the monarda. Lovely! Thanks for starting this lefleur, I hated to see this side empty since the Idylls left. who else is out there?

Skibby

Hi! I am in the DC suburbs of northern Virginia. Grew up outside Philadelphia where I watched my mother garden. Started gardening myself after college and bought the house we now live in because the yard was so full of possibility despite having nothing but ivy, vinca, and bamboo in the back. 16 years later I am still planting, moving, changing my vision-bamboo is finally gone! I have been weeding like mad now that the humidity and heat have tapered off-seems as though I am cultivating weeds more than anything else! ;)

I sure do love our summer vacation!

Oh, and agree about the added spandex in clothes! Ugh.

skibby & cyn ... Vermont & Virginia ... that's a long way from Chicago! ... I have never been in Vermont and only once in Virginia. We were there for a winter wedding and couldn't believe how warm it was! We did quite a bit a sight-seeing...Jefferson stuff etc. ...beautiful....

Lat: N 39 ð 11 ' 36 '' ( 39.194 ð )
Lon: W 119 ð 45 ' 53 '' ( -119.765 ð )
Elevation (ft): 4723