You know what I'm stunned by?  The difference between these maps showing the average "last frost date",

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Last year, my mama gave me bulbs to grow saffron crocus.  There are a few very useful websites about this, but the gist of it is, they’re fall-blooming desert plants.  The bulbs shoot up and bloom in fall and the leaves die back over the winter; then from spring through summer, almost any amount of water will cause the dormant bulb to rot out ( Read more... )

Despite the fact that I am spending way too much money on our house-outdoors this spring, I am not what you'd call a gardener.

For example, Dirk had to school me on what a spade is.  I know it digs things, I'm not that bad.  But consider:

This is the ace of spades:

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