Melinda, sorry you are not feeling better. Hope a change in the weather helps.

Miss You

Good morning everyone!

Fun Fact: For
the first time in nearly 40 years, the equinox will occur on the same day as
March’s “Full Worm Moon.” The last time that these two events landed on the
same date was on March 20, 1981. Worms begin to emerge around this time each
year.

BINGO word for today is: "Sprout"

Question: Lupine Advice? I love Lupine, but I can't get them to grow. I have tried seeds for 5 years. I have bought a few plants and they come back the second year, but they don't bloom. I love the look and I love Foxglove, but Foxglove is an annual. Anybody have any great suggestions?

Hey, is there a Worm Moon twerk dance that goes with the equinox? Do the worm! Wiggle wiggle! Heidi

Heidi, I've never grown lupines but always wanted to. I absolutely love foxglove. Here's what I found from American Meadows:

"Lupine seeds can be planted in very early spring, but tend to do better if planted in late spring and allowed to overwinter, blooming in the following spring like foxgloves. They have a very tough seed coat, and it’s a good idea to either soak seeds for 24-48 hours, or roughen them between two sheets of sandpaper before planting. Cover lightly with soil (1/8”) and tamp down the seeds well – making sure they make good soil to seed contact. Water in, and if the weather is dry, water lightly until germination which can take up to 10 days."

Haha! Pretty sure me trying to do the worm would end up just looking like I'm having a seizure, lol.

Heidi, within 6 weeks or so the road banks, fields and pastures will be blue with Lupinus texensis, the Texas bluebonnet or Texas lupine. I tried and tried them in my yard and never have any luck. I think I have too much shade.

I used to try growing foxglove also with no luck. Finally gave up.

Heidi, Thank you for the beautiful home made cards and envelopes. I love them!

Hello, y'all. I hope you've had a wonderful weekend. I was ill Friday and Saturday with some nausea/dizziness issues, and it's taken me a bit to recover fully. Today I was out working in the chicken coop and prepping flower beds. So much good work to do already! We've got so much popping out of the ground right now. Daffodils are in full bloom, hostas are creeping back, and bulbs I had totally forgotten about are making themselves known. With that, our BINGO words for the past days are "Thaw," "Blooms" and "Beginnings."

Anyone else seeing signs of life returning to the gardens? Hope you are all doing well.

-Lisa

Good morning.

Sorry you weren't feeling good.

I weeded a little Saturday. A few things are popping out here. Most of my daylilies and a few asiatic lilies are starting to peek thru. Money plant and larkspur are up. My few daffodils are not doing good. They were starting to bloom, then the week of freezing temps put a damper on that. None of my seeds are coming up yet.

Not much happening here yet. Heavy thunderstorms and a couple days of winds. Quite a mess right now

Windy and rainy here today, possible snow again tomorrow. Working on my package - I hope to have it out on Monday. Happy Pi Day!

Sorry I haven't stopped in sooner. I had surgery Wednesday morning. It's to make a diagnosis so the doctors are waiting for the results to come back. Just 2 days later and I'm feeling almost back to normal. I'm restricted from lifting, bending, exercise, etc. I really would like to be doing things so it's hard to just try to rest and recover.

Melinda, keeping you in my prayers and hope you feel better soon.

I can tell I was kind of out of it - I totally forgot it was Pi Day yesterday.

Lisa and Beth, good news about your finding jobs that you like. That makes all the difference. And Lisa, you are doing a wonderful job as hostess this month.

I hope everyone has a great St. Patrick's Day! It's one of my favorite days and my husband shopped for our corned beet and cabbage, etc. so Sunday will be a delicious day.

I'll try to check in again before the end of the month.

Finally!!! SUNSHINE, Yippeee! Still breezy but not like it has been. This change has sure lifted my spirits. Hope by another couple days I'll be able to walk without hearing squish squish squish with every step. So much to do including getting a package together for this swap. Also received 20 seedling trees that I ordered back in December from the State Nursery. So, busy days coming up. Spring must be around the corner

Good morning lovely swappers!

It's sunny and in the 50's here in Nashville today. We're hoping to take the kids and the dog hiking this afternoon. Sorry I haven't been more active. I just had my first full week at my new job, and I love it. It's work that challenges me and leaves me exhausted at the end of the day, but in a good way.

I have been busy hand-drawing cards and gathering stuff for the swap. I should also clarify that indoor plant cuttings/divisions are totally okay for those of you who are still frozen, lol. I have some succulent divisions that I'll definitely be sharing.

BINGO words for now include:

Celebrate

Cultures

Rebirth

Birds

Worms

Today's fun fact:

Birds are migrating North, along the path of the Sun. Did
you know? The increasing sunlight is what triggers birds to sing? Cool, eh?

Lisa-So good to hear you are better. Sure hate to hear anyone is not up to par. Good news on your job.

Jeanne-Also, good to hear your surgery went well. Just in time for Spring planting and beautiful Summer blooms.

Melinda-Thinking of you today, blessings Dear Friend.

Beth-Good news on your job too. I always loved a job where I had plenty to do and the day flew by. Boring job and each day seemed like two days.

Love all the different varieties of helleborus. They love the cold.

Great photos Shirley. Love my Hellebores too. Foliage on mine took a beating but Blooms look good.

Last night we went to an event at school withe the boys. As we were walking out, just at dusk,

the birds were still singing. Another favorite sign of Spring,

Lisa - your package is in the mail!

This is what my spring looks like here in Tennessee. Cherry Blossoms

Happy Spring Equinox everyone!

Sorry I haven't been as active on here as I would have liked. This new job has me much busier than I had expected. That said, I wanted to check in and see how you all were doing with your packages. I have mine ready, but was not able to get to the post office at lunch, so will send it out tomorrow for sure.

If anyone needs anything, please let me know. :)

BINGO words for now are:

Sunlight

Garden

Equinox

Tulip

Renewal

The photos posted so far are wonderful! Keep 'em coming! We let the chickens stretch their legs yesterday, and hoping for eggs soon. I'll upload some photos of these silly little ladies when I get home.

-Lisa

Shirley/ brittneysgran - I received the package today. Thank you so much! I only had a chance to open it briefly, so I'll post again later after I get a chance to take everything out of the box! :)

My package will go out in the morning also. I have it ready except for address, but went shopping with my daughter today and we didn't get home in time to get it to post office.

Shirley and Faye, love the pictures.

My Redbud tree is blooming

My Meyer Lemon is blooming and smells delicious

Ruth love the Springtime pictures, just beautiful.

Good morning! Just wanted to thank l1oness for the lovely package! She included a cute spring basket filled with yummy chocolates, owl stationary, Dutch Iris bulbs with instructions, a handmade card, as well as spinach, lettuce, peas, and bachelor's buttons seeds! So excited to grow all these. Thank you!

-Lisa

l1oness sends to PaperFinch (Received)

PaperFinch sends to beth_b_kodiak (Package ready. Husband will send out today.)

beth_b_kodiak sends to nottoughly

nottoughly sends to ruthz

ruthz sends to brittneysgran

brittneysgran sends to l1oness (Received)

Any other updates? :)

Shirley, your package is on the way.

edited

Tracking Number: 9505510871279080259630

shows it was delivered Monday

Thank you for the fun package Shirley! The bunnies are adorable, and I'm looking forward to the wonderful plants! Is the Fusion a lily? I have the perfect pot for the succulent, and I love extra sunflowers. Happy Spring!

I just wanted to let the members know that I had signed up ahead of time to be hostess in April, but it is not going to work out for me. I've been having medical tests done and have many appointments next month. Is there anyone else who wants to take the month of April? If not, we'll just skip April. I'll add myself to a month that remains without a hostess later this year once I see what's ahead. We still need someone for July, August and September also if we plan to swap those months.

Here are the next few months:

April .....

May.....Annie (canyonwind)

June ... Jeanne

July

August ...

September

Thanks for your help.

Jeanne

Jeanne, do you think it might help get more people to sign up to host if you emailed everyone on the address list?

A lot of members probably don't check these post very often if they aren't playing.

Great idea, Ruth. I'll do that later today.

I will host July

My package will be out no later than tomorrow

Jeanne, tried to reply to your email but it did not go through.

I will be unable to help in April due to travel but I know I suggested in the past that perhaps OBF and Fotess could combine months once in awhile. A lot of us are members of both. With the cost of postage, I've had to limit myself to one or the other each month. Sometimes the cost to send us more then the products in the box. I can send better if I limit it to one. Just a thought. Margo

Thanks, Faye !

Here are the next few months:

April .....

May.....Annie (canyonwind)

June ... Jeanne

July ... Faye

August ...

September ...

Ruthz your package is on its way to you.

Faye, I finally get a few things dug yesterday before it started raining again they are laying on the pumphouse getting showered by Mother Nature. Should be in the mail tomorrow. Between work and weather, It's been a crazy,wild month Sorry, already think I'll pass for April. LOL Happy Sunday

Ruthz I mailed your package yesterday . Beth just when you can, Mother nature has her own schedule

Faye, Wow, awesome package.

The mail was just delivered and I opened a stuffed package from Faye.

Butterfly card, pink and blue rose, pens, game day stickers, daffodils, Cyclamen tubers, Blue Magic iris, Spanish Bluebells, gloves, robin eggs candy, java chip frappe mix, and Fresh White Musk body spray. Hope I didn't miss anything.

I've never grown Spanish Bluebells and I'm excited to try those. I have bought pots of blooming Cyclamen but have never started from tubers. I like those for a table centerpiece.

I love it. Thank you so much Faye.

Mandy yes Fusion is a lily and so beautiful!

Ruth thank you for a fantastic pkg.

Flip Flop memo pad - need these

Glads - Stars and Stripes

Red Spider Lilies - I have the pink but not the red

Flag - Live, Laugh & Love

Plant Markers - Go through lots of these

Seeds - Larkspur, French Breakfast Radish, Cosmic purple carrot and Purple Lady Bek Choy

Always such fun things in our packages, it's like Christmas each month.

I received my package from Beth and it is awesome! Beth included bulbs that are Naked Ladies, Daylilies from seeds she had planted and some Greek Oregano. I did not have any of these. Thank you Beth. She also included some hot chocolate, jelly beans ans some chocolate candy. A wall plaque about planting seeds. She also included seeds of: Borage, Anise, sunflowers Autumn Beauty and Vincent's Choice, Tomato seeds of Yellow pear and Early Girl.

Thank you so much Beth. This is a great package.

Faye!

You are very welcome Faye. I wondered if you might already have a yard full of naked ladies. Enjoy

Lisa, I received a message that package is in AZ and being forwarded.

Well, the month is coming to an end. All of our beautiful spring flowers are in bloom here so I really enjoy this time of the year. Our local vocational school always has a spring plant sale and I was lucky to notice the sign on Fri. when it was the last day. I found several great plants. One was a pack of tomato plants labeled Tough Boy. I bought them since maybe they can handle our tough summer weather. Has anyone else grown these before? I also got some coleus, a verbena, a geranium and sweet potato vine.

I bought some seeds from Baker Creek a few days ago since I noticed they had a special event where they would donate to flood victims based on the sales during those days.

My family has been visiting and everyone has headed for home. I sure will miss them. Yesterday we got out to the farm and the granddaughters and I rode my older horse. (The children get led and we all wore our helmets.) I haven't ridden for about 2 years so it was great to ride again and my horse seemed to be happy to have riders! The younger horse got worked in the round pen. I hope to start riding her soon. She used to stay at a walk when I rode her, but I haven't been on her for about 3 years so we'll see if she can still behave.

I'll start a FOTESS heading for April where we can just chat and share pictures.

More doctor's appointments ahead. I did get the results of my biopsy and I don't have the more serious condition that they were worried about so I guess we keep trying to find out what the issue is --- or at least get it treated to the extent that I may not care what it is.

See everyone in April!

Jeanne

Thanks to everyone who participated! I wish I'd been able to do more, but didn't expect this new job to take up so much of my time. Shirley and Faye, I will be sending each of you a little something for BINGO. Thank you all again. Beth, did you get your package? If the bulbs/divisions didn't make it, just let me know and I'll send you more. :)

This weekend I took a lot of work home, but did take some time to work in the garden. I planted alyssum carpet of snow, refreshed the chicken coop, and had a fun little bonfire with the kids.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend as well.

Lisa

The wandering package arrived and it had endured the trip quite well.

Thanks Lisa. The Lemongrass Paper Hand Soap is a new to me item that will be fum for our summer outings. I like the idea and the fragrance. Nice green and white tea towel for streaked windows (cool) and I plan to try it on mirrors too. An adorable wall hanging of a cute little "robotic" looking little snail with a happy grin.

The seeds are Radish, Pink beauty, Broccoli and kale all nice spring croppers. Thanks Lisa

The plants look surprisingly healthy considering their travels. Tulips look great and i'll get them into a pot and outside today, Spider plant, Tennessee bearded iris and two succulents, Ghost and coral reef. All welcome additions to my plant family.

Thanks again Lisa, both for the package and hostessing. Sorry I was not able to be more active but the new job takes more time, energy and brain power than I expected.

Urooj has offered to post a FOTESS swap for April so watch for it.

Thanks, Urooj.

Everything here is so lovely in bloom right now. Rain tomorrow so I hope it doesn't damage the flowers too much.

omg yaaaaay.