I have some perennials, too, in the small front garden, but since I live in a townhouse I can't have lovely big gardens. Lots of pots on my deck, though. It's probably a good thing because if I spent too much time down in the dirt I probably wouldn't be able to move for the next day or so. Our frost date here (SE Pennsylvania) is May 15, but I always cheat a bit.

Rose, such good news! Congratulations!! Totally understand the elation/panic rollercoaster. How can anyone not feel that way?? I need a billboard! No wait, a cave - or maybe a plane ticket out of here. Everyone will know me! No wait, I should have used a pen name... on and on and on. It's fun on the highs, though!

Vijaya, I don't know why Amazon did that! It's really cheap right now and so I bought one too!! Costs less than the ebook and author copies. It got an odd review from a friend of mine in her 70's who thought she was doing me a favor and I'm sure doesn't read anything remotely fairy tale or fantasy. She's a tad above the YA age level, too. Hasn't done well since, so maybe that's why. sigh. Oh well.

Happy gardening, all!

  Welcome, Kassidy! I enjoyed your introduction.  You'll learn a lot by poking around in old threads. And of course if you have a specific question, start a new thread and ask.

Hi everyone!
I started writing children's stories a little over 6 years ago.  A mix of chapter and picture.
Outside of that I am an artist specializing in realism, exclusively oil paintings... and...
Currently I am working on a self published picture book with a friend.  My role is art director (I think?).  I don't even know what to call me.. I do things in Photoshop.  Magical things?   And I help storyboard the book.  That person.

I know nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  But I am doing stuff, so that's a start.

So I am looking forward to becoming a little less dumb by using this website!

Rose, I'm with you on travel and culture. I'm not sure we'll be able to afford to see the world even if all was stopped though. And you have a good head start on me. We do eat many cuisines, but I've only been to London, Puerto Rico, contiguous US states, and Quebec and Ontario provinces. I have studied two languages though.

My Lemon Balm came back for a few years and died this winter. It could be we didn't have enough snow protection for it. It's hard to say with pots though. It may just have run out of room to grow. Or maybe I didn't move it into the sun soon enough. (I shelter the pots against the house for warmth in winter.)  A good blanket of snow is insulation for plants in the ground.

I wish I  loved gardening--everyone else in my family does. Sadly, I kill plants just by thinking about them. I have to be content with having a plant name I guess...

Writing note: am I the only one who vacillates wildly between feeling like a complete imposter and thinking, yes! My media empire starts here! I am releasing my first book this week and am suddenly struck by complete panic that *people I know* will be reading this. I need to talk to my local bookstore that features local writers, but the introvert inside me is scrabbling to hide in the wall.

What I like to do apart from writing: hike in mountains. (Sadly, I live on a prairie with the nearest mountains a day and a half's drive away.) What else I like to do: learn about other cultures and languages. I want to try out all the food and meet all the people (despite the introvert part of me--the two parts of me come into frequent conflict over that), try out all the alphabets, watch or read all the stories from all the places I never thought about while growing up. I want to know what it is like, not just as a tourist, but to actually live in Mongolia. What do people in Greenland think about all day? Tell me about teenagers in Burkina Faso. Do they sass their parents in the morning, too? What are the good people of Tirana, Albania having for dinner tonight? I need all wars to stop and for a good 50 years and unlimited travel possibilities to see all these places.