'Rococo' is a New Guinea impatiens which loves full shade. It could be a good choice to replace impatiens walleriana in the garden. I. walleriana were devastated by impatiens downy mildew last season.

These plants are infected with impatiens downy mildew. The flowers fall off, then the leaves and the plant collapses. Photo by Doug OsterLast year many gardeners were affected by impatiens downy mildew. The disease struck at the end of the season, killing many impatiens plants. The airborne spores drifted north and attacked as fall approached.

Impatiens walleriana is one of the species which contracts the disease, it's the most popular variety for gardeners to plant in the shade.

Since New Guinea impatiens are immune, they can act as a substitute. Many New Guinea impatiens however are bred to grow with some sun.

'Rococo' is a New Guinea which loves full shade. They come in colors ranging from deep red to soft pink.

They will be available at Home Depot stores this spring.

As the flowers emerge they resemble rose buds and when unfurled have ruffled blooms.

The plants can grow 16 inches high and 24 around.

The variety is in the Viva line, the same company who brought us SunPatiens (which I love) and many other introductions.

Here's a recent story I did on impatiens downy mildew which should answer any questions you have about the disease.

I'll be growing plenty of impatiens walleriana this season, but I expect to loose many of them at the end of the season. There's a long list of shade loving annual plants to fill the garden including torenia, begonias, caladiums, coleus and more.

There are also lots of perennial shade lovers which don't have to be planted every season, some of which are native plants.

Every season offers new challenges, it will be interesting to see if impatiens downy mildew is as rampant as last year...I hope not.

Blogger: Tamara Reese, Squirrel Hill (for Kveller.com)

Nothing has ever made me feel more inadequate as a mother or as a woman than my nursing challenges.

After 11 weeks of shame and tears I called the health department as my final Hail Mary pass. They sent to my home, free of charge, a lactation consultant who just so happened to be a La Leche League leader.

She wasn’t afraid to look into my bloodshot eyes. She saw my desperation and how much being able to nurse my baby meant to me. The first thing out of her mouth, I will never forget, was:

You are a wonderful Mama and you’ve done a beautiful job with him.

I went on to nurse my firstborn for 25 months.

I successfully breastfed a toddler and yet I was terrified to nurse my second baby.

Read more...

Tamara Reese is a qualitative epidemiologist turned stay-at-home Mama turned consultant for Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and contributing editor at Kveller.com. She is the mother of two boys and her passions include child injury prevention, gentle parenting and breastfeeding advocacy. Her posts on baby name battles and the killing at the zoo have also been featured on PlayGround.

Blogger: Burgh Baby, South Hills

"It's not my fear to own," I thought to myself.

It felt like an act of defiance to march out of the house and pile into the car. While other parents were huddled in their homes, carefully guarding their words from small children, I was out and about. Alexis and I were on a mission to eat dinner together and go shopping, even as other parents and their children discussed bullets flying through the neighborhoods of their city that was completely shut down.

It wasn't my fear to own. I could borrow it, but I wouldn't keep it.

Read more about trying to keep things kid-friendly the night the Boston Marathon bomber was captured...

Burgh Baby has previously been featured on PlayGround for her posts about the equal-opportunity holiday of Halloween, strawberry-monster cupcakes and rolled tacos.

Nothing compares to the spring garden. Tulips are the stars and even though they will fade away in favor of perennials and annuals, these flowers make us smile.

White tulips are thriving in the vegetable garden. It's the perfect place for them to grow as I don't feel any guilt when I cut them for a vase. If they were out in the flower garden, I would be reticent to cut them because they add so much to the landscape.

I've stopped tilling the garden, just adding compost when I plant. The vegetable garden is fenced, the tulips can grow unmolested by deer.

When they are done, tomatoes will be next.

Sitting in the spring garden is something everyone should do, and I wish I did it more. From a chair in the corner of the garden I watched as those white tulips swayed in a gentle breeze. Then I noticed an insect on one of the flowers. For 20 minutes it just sat there, happy to be photographed.

Tulips come in many shapes and sizes. They are the stars of the garden right now and open the door for the long season which awaits.