And imagine, a tiny bulb that shrivelled to almost nothing, Exotic Star, is bringing a scape. Amazing. It is in the brink of dying, yet, it will still give out one last swan song... But I will take care of it. I will make sure that it survives, even though I am not too crazy about Exotic Star. Jodi, be prepared that Exotic Star tends to wilt very quickly. At least mine lost its flowers in a matter of days, and only gave out two flowers per scape just like it's not so distant predecessor, Papilio.

We looked at the Robern cabinets which are excellent quality, but so expensive. We were very impressed with Maax medicine cabinets - also great construction and unique features, but the style was not a good fit for us. We even thought of changing our vanity style to match a Maax. In talking to our cabinet designer, he was able to custom design a cabinet with all the features and dimensions we specified for much less than the Maax pricing of $700-$800 for a 24 x 36 unit.

I don't know why I torture myself so, but wading back into this mess of half-truths, mis-statements, and outright misinformation go I. Do you folks, jumping on a simple-minded bandwagon of focus on one pesticide type, really not understand that if not neonics, some other, older and even more nasty chemistry will be employed? Look up organophosphates, and tell me you'd rather it was the choice of pest control in plant production. This world is complex, but much of what I see on this and other boards is extreme simple-mindedness when it comes to this and similar issues. Europe, where neonics were banned a few years ago, continues to suffer horrible bee losses, more so than here in N. america. Australia, where neonics have been and continue to be used, has had no dramatic drop in bee and other pollinator numbers. BTW, not directed at the folks just above, who indeed do have a grasp of the situation, my crankiness being more generally aimed at those who have not done their homework in trying to understand such issues. One way or another, large-scale growers of the plants we enjoy will continue to use whatever methodology works to protect their crops. Do we really want to tie their hands, forcing them to go back to items we're much better off without? Organophosphates are general, wide-spectrum nerve poisons. They work on humans too. Why would you want to push the industry back to those things? Neonics, bashed repeatedly by newbies to the whole topic, were developed precisely to help us get away from those earlier, more harmful chemicals. +oM

No, I buy what's called a "paint pen" at Michael's craft store. Sharpie started making a no fade marker a few years ago which faded the same as their regular " permanent "markers. I noticed in the store last year they have come out with an oil based marker now, and I imagine it would also hold up. Sections of mini blind do work very well as a label. Pencil works fine on those, but a bold, dark paint pen is easier to see from a little distance. I tried the oil base pen when I bought some zinc markers on ebay. The seller said that labels written on with oil based pens hold up about ten years outside.