Heidi -- Rofl. That's hilarious. Thanks so much for sharing. Hearing that story made my day!

No one has bingo yet? Make sure to check your bingo cards, ladies. I haven't been keeping up with them, so it's on you to let me know if/when you have bingo.

EricaBraun (Erica) received

amybabyboy3 (Amy) received

PaperFinch (Lisa) received

sjc48 (Shirley) received

canyonwind (Annie) heard from Kaylee - will be mailing shortly

Kaylee (Kaylee) received

smitties (Margo) received

ruthz (Ruth) received

ishareflowers (Lisa) received

WVGarden Girl (Breanne) received

xiangirl (Heidi) received

Here are the people I have cultivation dates for, so far:
Ruth 1915

Lisa 1580 BC

Heidi 1492

Amy 6000 BC

Margo 1777

Annie 1570s

Shirley 3000 BC

Everyone, please double check the "received" list and the "cultivation dates" list. If I've missed anyone, please let me know.

All packs should have been in the mail by yesterday. If you haven't sent yet, please get them in the mail and communicate with your partner that they are on their way.

Erica, Thank you so much for the wonderful prize seeds. I am so excited to try the cucumber Poona Kheera. I desperately need one that can survive Georgia summer and this seems like it may be the one. Also, Thank you for the black vernissage tomatoes, they sound great! Have a great night! Amy

Heidi, Your stories crack me up!!

Breanne, is the cantaloupe in the Indiana grocery stores tasty and sweet, or just the ones you grow? Anything in our grocery stores pales in flavor and texture to homegrown around here largely because they pick it early so it doesn't spoil before they get it to the grocery store shelves.

Kaylee has checked in with me....she will be sending to me soon. Thanks Kaylee!

Happy Wednesday!

Annie

Bingo word for today is Chick. There are only three words left, so I'm pretty sure someone out there has bingo. Be sure to check your cards, ladies!

Here is the list of all bingo words called so far:
April

Spring

Easter

Bee

New Growth

Bonnet

Green

Showers

Pastels

Chick

Spring Lamb

Daffodil

Painted Eggs

Tulips

Bingo!! I can't believe it! Bingo!!

Shirley!

Has anyone here grown the tomato Chocolate Sprinkles? I saw plants at the store and came home with some. Hard to resist that name. Sweet "little things" are said to grow 5-7 feet tall! Oh, my ... however, last year all of my tomato plants results in zero tomatoes so I have to do better.

Jeanne

We have a winner for our bingo game! Congrats, Shirley!

We have four more packs in transit. As soon as they all arrive, or on the 30th (whichever comes first), there will be one last game, using the cultivation dates from pack #5!

Heidi, Yes typically they are ripe and delicious in the stores often locally grown. The ones I'm used to usually come from neighbors or farmstands though. You can't drive far in the summer without seeing cantaloupes and sweet corn where I'm from. Congrats on Bingo Shirley. Jeanne, Chocolate sprinkles sound great! You'll have to keep me updated; never heard of that one.

Shirley, I got your package today! Thank you so much for all the beautiful seeds in pretty envelopes! I'll be sure to plant them this weekend. I hope you (and everyone) have a wonderful evening. :-)

-Lisa

Lisa (or Shirley) -- Did Shirley have a cultivation date with her pack #5?

I am not sure, but the USPS updates say Lisa's package arrived on Monday afternoon. I hope it made it to the right place. Lisa did you get your seeds?

Glad you liked the package, Lisa! Erica, her seeds that have been cultivated for a long time were Basil, and there was no specific date, but Wiki said that it has been cultivated in Egypt for over 5000 years.

Shirley!

Heidi I have seen tulips in the snow and they seem to do fine....makes for interesting photos too. Not wishing, just saying.

Here are the people I have cultivation dates for, so far:
Ruth 1915

Lisa (ishareflowers) 1580 BC

Heidi 1492

Amy 6000 BC

Margo 1777

Annie 1570s

Shirley 3000 BC

Lisa (PaperFinch) 3000 BC

Breanne 1552

I just double checked Breanne's tracking number and it looks like her package was indeed delivered on the 24th. Hoping all is well with Lisa/ishareflowers, since she hasn't checked in. I'm going to go ahead and mark that one as received.

Breanne -- Please let me know the cultivation date for your pack #5, so that I can add your name and date to the game list.

Lisa,

Thank you so much for all the wonderful seeds! I love basil also and can't wait to grow the blue spice. I also love chamomile and lemon balm and would love your basil lemonade recipe if you don't mind sharing. Thank you also for double lavender hibiscus, wildflower and black eyed susan seeds. I will have so much fun planting all of these. Thank you for a super package! Amy

My basil is from 3000 bc and was grown in Egypt and possible used for embalming.

erica, I gave the date of cultivation 1552 (origin in the new world/Americas. that was used by the Aztecs lol, I think I read the comment above ad then typed Egypt haha...heres the source...http://www.burpee.com/gardenadvicecenter/annuals/marigolds/marigold-history/article10006.html

Breanne -- Wow! I would have never guessed that marigolds originated with the Aztecs. Interesting article. And thanks for the date.

It is officially the last day of the month, so, as promised, one more game!

First, here's a little more info about the idiom "a bee in your bonnet:"

The phrase alludes to the state of agitation one
would be in when finding a bee inside one's bonnet. It follows on
from the earlier expression 'to have bees in one's head', which had
much the same meaning. This is recorded from the 16th century, for
example, in Alexander Douglas's Aeneis, 1513:

Quhat bern be
thou in bed with heid full of beis?

Beekeepers have always worn protective headgear when working with
bees and it is possible, although entirely speculative, that the
bonnet refers to this.

The first citation of 'bee in his bonnet' in print is the Reverend
Philip Doddridge's Letters, 1790:

"I suppose
you have heard of Mr. Coward's pranks. He has, as the Scotch call it,
a Bee in his Bonnet."

So, what does this all mean for us,
nowadays? The Oxford
English Dictionary says that “to
have bees in the head or the brains,” or “a bee in one’s
bonnet,” means to have “a fantasy, an eccentric whim, a craze on
some point, a ‘screw loose.’ ” However, standard dictionaries
generally say you don’t have to be nutty to have a bee in your
bonnet. The expression can refer to having an idea, a notion, or a
fancy as well as an obsession.

When it comes to gardening, I think we all share that obsession... and we can all be a little nutty about it, at times!

Now, onto the game....

This game is entirely passive. All you needed to do to participate was send your cultivation date, along with pack #5 to your partner. The winner is the person whose plant is closest in date to the first recorded saying of "a bee in [your] bonnet."

Going with 1790 as our reference year, we had one lucky lady who managed to get within 13 years of this date! Congratulations goes to Margo who wins with Scarlett sage - named by Etlinger who wrote about it in 1777.

Congratulations, Margo! You're our last winner for the month.

Annie -- Please let us know when you receive from Kaylee (or if you don't). That's our last order of business, before we officially wrap up this month's swap.

Erica, you sent a message for my win and was totally baffled so came here to find out how I had won. Lol. Thank you for that and for a great swap. It's been fun.

Ok, now I want to share something with everyone. Barring a bad inspection, my husband and I have made a bid on a house down ear Cincinnati, about an hour east of there. We made an agreement that we have 60 days to sell our house. Wish us luck. At our age, (60/62), it's a little scary. It's a great price and includes three lots equaling an acre, woods behind, and one neighbor on one side. The other houses are further away. Ready made gardens with sun and mostly shade. Scary but exciting. Margo

Margo -- Good luck! It sounds like a great place!

Wishing you both all the best, Margo, may it all go well with you!

Shirley!

Also wanted to thank Erica for hosting this month, a great idea and a great swap, Erica, Thank You! Jeanne and I both appreciate it!

Amy is our hostess for May, can't wait to see what she has in store for us!

Shirley!

Margo, Good luck with the house!

Erica, Thank you for a great, fun month!

I will post the new swap soon. stay tuned

Congratulations on the win, Margo, and how exciting about the house you're interested in. I hope everything goes smoothly.

Erica, I enjoyed dropping in to check on the swap this month. Loved your theme and the discussion of the Bee in Your Bonnet and the watercolor painting you included to wrap things up. Thanks for being a hostess.

I don't think I've ever been to see doctors more than I have in April. Then to top things off, my younger horse stepped on my foot on Friday and I went to get it x-rayed yesterday. There is a small fracture, but nothing is displaced so that's the good part. I hope I can put on a regular pair of shoes in a few days - for now I'm wearing the big pink outdoor shoes that I slip into to quickly do a bit of plant watering. Quite the fashion statement!

Everyone have a good week.

Jeanne

Jeanne -- Wishing you good health and a quick recovery for your foot.

Jeanne...feel good and take care!!

Margo, I hope the new house works out....so exciting! The next phase of life.....

Thanks Erica....great month!

Annie

Great month Erica! You wrapped up seeds, gardening, literature, art, language and games into a single event. That takes talent! Heidi

Jeanne, Wishing you a speedy recovery!

Jeanne, I have the chocolate sprinkles in a one gallon pot ( for travel purposes) . It is setting a lot of fruit considering the restrictions on growth. No sign of ripening yet so I have not had a taste but I'd say it is a sturdy plant. HAd no idea about the potential giant it might become. We shall see.

Hope you recover soon and get back to your garden

Geez, I couldn't sign into Houzz for the last few days.

Yes, I did get my package. I apologize for not being ableto post it sooner.

Bree sent German chamomile, orange king zinnia, Shasta daisy and mixed Marigold seeds. She sent roots of Echinacea for her 5th item. This was all packaged up in a vey nicely decorated pink bubbler along with some interesting marigold history.

Thank you Breanne, it was a great package!

Lisa

Lisa -- So glad you're back. Thanks for the update!

Erica, just wanted to let you know that I received the package from Baker Creek today and I am so pleased! Erica sent me a pack of Rue seeds, which totally fit in with the theme - Rue has been cultivated a long, long time, back into Biblical times; and Rue is one of the BEST plants for attracting Black Swallowtail Cats! I've always grown it, but never from seed. A challenge!! Erica, thank you so much! I'll let you know how it goes!

Shirley!

Shirley -- Thanks for letting me know. :) You shouldn't have any problem growing it from seed. It's fairly easy. I've done it twice now, both times with success. :)

Kaylee emailed me to let me know..."Bee In Your Bonnet" is on its way to me.....I will post after I receive.....Thanks Kaylee!

Annie

Annie -- Thanks so much for letting us know!

Kaylee's "bee in your bonnet" arrived on Saturday. I was out of town, so I am late on posting. I love what Kaylee sent!!

*Kaylee is obcessed with Nasturiums and sent me Empress of India nasturiums....as they not fussy and delicious and keep the aphids off of her squash. She included a recipe card with recipes for her favorite ways to eat nasturiums....which include Pesto, Dressing, Red Empress Vinegar, Poor Man's Capers, Butter and Salsa...and the bonus of filling the blossoms with a dollop of herbed goat cheese......absoloutley wonderful recipes here......I will certainly be making these....so very curious about the pesto!

*For the Bees....Kaylee sent me Lemon Bee Balm.....and her thoughts on Bee Balm. She enjoys the leaves on Sorbets, in teas and sauces.

*For a Bonnet.....Hella Sonnenblume Sunflower (dwarf).....and a nice note.....she with her sisters used to make flower crowns when they were young. This is the closest flower she could find to what she remembers....

*For Easter....Pink Sunday Sage....and a nice note. When Kaylee was little, she called Easter "Pink Sunday" because it meant he got to wear her watermelon sundress to church.....salvia comes from the Latin words for "Heal" and "Save".

*Something Old....Sweet Meat Squash and Juane et Verte Summer Squash.....and nice note (very interesting).....Archaelogical evidence dates Squash to 8000BC, before maize and beans.....Kaylee also included a recipe card SAUCY SNACK CAKE which has squash puree in it....This recipe sounds very good.

* and a bonus Pink and Orange Snapdragons

I just love how Kaylee presented the seeds with each note in a separate little hand made envelope. I am going to try and make these....really cute.

Thanks so much. I really enjoyed this. And very informative and I learned a little bit about you, which is always nice. Thanks so much for taking the time to put this together.

Annie

That officially wraps us up for April!

I'm glad you liked everything Annie, I couldn't resist throwing in some recipes :)

Thank you both for being so patient with me!