Thanks Judy. We are having a green crismis this year tho.

I will be having a new knee on April 29. Why do I think I will be able to buy plants at local nurseries in late May?
It's pushing the envelope to believe 3 weeks recovery will have me in shape.
Time to call on GF's to do the driving, maybe call ahead and have my order ready for pick up.

Good luck with it, Jo Ann. Some do much better than others. We know a local former NY Giants football player, in great shape, but he still didn't bounce back as fast as he and his doctors thought he would. Then there's a friend who was doing so well I couldn't believe she just had two knee replacements 10 days before I saw her out walking - no cane, no scooter! She did get the nerve block and credited that with her amazing recovery.

My GF had both knees done a year apart. The first was slow and painful recovery,the second was a breeze. I want at least 4 weeks after surg. to be able to walk a greenhouse. My fall back plan is to phone in my order and pick it up. I would have my friend drive me.

JoAnn, good luck with your surgery and recovery. My neighbor had a knee replacement and feels just great. She did a lot of rehab and had a very good result. It was a few years ago and I can't recall how long it took though.

@ge1836 Jo Ann God bless you. I am taking FML to take care of my husband after his knee replacement 5 weeks ago. It's probably been worse for him because he is 72 and has a history of chronic pain. At 58 I am also in need of one but I have noticed being off the leg and not constantly walking for my job has helped tremendously. I'm encouraged for when retirement finally gets here!

@ge1836, Jo Ann ...

When I was facing possible knee surgery a few years ago, my physical therapist told me that if I exercised before surgery, I would have less pain and would recover faster. It turned out for me that I didn't need surgery ... I had a MCL injury that was only stage one ... and targeted exercises were sufficient to help me avoid surgery.

I just did a Google search for "exercises before total knee replacement" and there were a lot of hits. Here's a link to one of them.

http://www.healthline.com/heal...

I am NOT an exercise fitness nut because I hate to exercise ... , but I have used exercise to manage pain most of my life.

Just a thought.

Smiles,
Lyn

Thanks everyone for your support.
I have a 100 page guide book for knee replacement. I will start exercise 6 weeks befor surgery and continue PT after.
I also have been taking a gentle yoga class for seniors since September. I hope to be in as good shape as possible by late May when planting season starts.

We should get back to topic soon . Happy New Year everyone.

JoAnn, hoping you'll be jumping and frolicking around the garden this summer! Glad to hear you're taking yoga, that will be a big help. Happy New Year to you too!

It was cold today, but I still got out and spread some mulch, and went out on the farm and gathered frozen cow patties. Placed them around some Roses and Japanese Irises- been reading about folks using fresh horse and cow manure, figure I'd give it a try. And it will break down enough through the rest of winter not to burn.

The cow gifts should be no problem, Neal. I agree that they should break down enough and they aren't in the root zone so it should work well. Report back and let us know.

Happy and healthy 2015 to all.

I cant remember where I started the "Tree Removal" thread but I posted a area where there were dead evergreen trees.
The men came today and cut down 5 trees. Three were mine and 2 were a neighbors, all in the same area.
Its 5* but they came anyway.
They have a neat system.Cut the tree and attach a cable and draw it into the huge chipper.
All of this took an hour.








Attaching cable

Wow! They made quick work of it, and I bet the cold made them get it done as quickly as possible! That will be a nice change come spring.

It waa a great dappled shade spot. I have Ghost ferns and giant hostas there. I plan to put in a clumping RedBud to replace the shade thats lost.

That will be lovely, and the shade of deciduous trees is much easier to work with in the garden.

The garden is in there. I just need to return some shade for the ferns and epimediums. I have no idea how the established garden will react.

They'll do better than you might think. Having trees removed in winter is better than in the heat of summer as it allows the plants to get accustomed to more sun gradually instead of as one huge shock.

Thanks Pirl.