I hate weeding. But dh gets annoyed when it isn't done, so this year I need to make a concerted effort to stay on top of things.

Plus he enlarged the vegetable garden last fall. :-/

She now arguably spends the GNP of some impoverished African country buying discount Wal-Mart plants at the end of the growing season when they are 75% off, and sticking them in the ground. Whatever was meant to survive survives, the other 80% doesn't. Your sister tries not to think about how many plants she has killed. Her rationale is that those plants were not intended to grow in Zone 4+3/4 and that it was a mistake for Wal-Mart to stock them in the first place.

I like being outside, and I like doing something, so I end up doing gardening. The dishes don't get washed and the house doesn't get clean, but I play in the garden. For me it's therapeutic. I've also learned lots from talking to Wendy at the local herb/plant store. I read about plants online. It's a hobby.

On the other hand... I also dream about having a nice kitchen, but for me it will never happen - I won't get in there in paint, I won't reorganize my stuff, I won't figure out what will bring together my plates and my serving dishes.... in short my kitchen will never look as nice as yours - because, frankly, I don't have the interest. It doesn't make me less of a person... but I'll probably never be a great cook, and I'll probably never have a paint color that I really love, and when people come over to dinner they will not say anything nice about my kitchen or my cooking.

That's really, most of the time, OK with me.

I say find one of your kids that has an interest in gardening. For some reason I'm thinking that might be Tobi-Wan... I think it was T that helped me rake for like an hour when we were raking leaves in your backyard last fall? Take the interested child(ren) to some 4-H extension classes on gardening, or some community center gardening basics or whatever. Maybe Moog or Poppie would be willing to attend a class with them?

Give them the 'responsibility' of the yard, telling them that the rest of you all are willing to help. Take them to the gardening center and let them pick out some plants. Give them a budget, and tell them they can't touch the sea of squill. That way even if they fail, it's educational failing, and it's no worse than leaving the yard neglected.

I just wish I lived closer, so I could garden with your T and my Chickie and maybe Bubbie, and you could figure out a paint color for my kitchen. But then I guess I'd need to go wash the cupboards. :o)

Flowers and landscape are nice, but if it's not your thing, move on to something that doesn't make you have fits. Sounds like your kitchen is both cheery and yummy!

So I found a good compromise. On Memorial Day weekend--after ALL threat of frost has passed in Michigan--I go to Walmart or McDonald's nursery, and I buy lots of impatiens, marigolds, and petunias, getting at least three different colors of each kind. Then I throw in something new each year...I just wander around and find something pretty and cheap. I also purchase some of that spiky grass, and maybe some lobelia.

I take all that home, and over the next week, I plant. (A lot gets done on the weekend, since it's a holiday.) I put all the petunias in a "circle garden" around a tree; plant the marigolds wherever they'll get plenty of sun; and plant the impatiens in shady places. I pull out a few pots in different sizes, plant the spiky grass in the middle, and a few flowers all around it. The lobelia works well because it's "drippy" and hangs over the edge. Then I place pots on my deck...porch steps...porch railing...by a sunny door...wherever I want a pretty splash of color.

Then...for the rest of the summer...I assign children to water and weed. Every morning, one older child and one younger child goes out before breakfast and waters everything that needs watering. I divide the weeding into "zones" and have them rotate around. So they might weed 2 or 3 afternoons a week--usually after lunch--and get through all the flowerbeds every 2 weeks. By doing this, it doesn't take them long, because weeds only have 2 weeks max to grow. While only 2 kids water at a time, all 5 help with weeding.

I find this system do-able, because I only have to work at it for about 1 week in the Spring--getting everything bought and planted--and it gives me "instant" color which increases nicely as the summer goes by; and if I get tired of certain flowers, I know I can get something else next year.

Someday, when I have more time to research and work at a garden longer (i.e. remembering to plant bulbs, etc., in the Fall!) I would still love to do perennials. But in this season of my life, the Annuals Compromise will have to do.

Betsy