Sharbear, I meant to ask Santa for another house to put up, but I forgot. I will have to try to get another one before February, when they start their nesting. This little house has been so fun to watch. Melissa, he was so easy to see. Almost at eye level for me and in full sunshine to warm up! Did not even move a muscle as I scooted around the bananas. Marion, come to think of it, my yard is usually buzzing with dragonflies (because of the pond), but I haven't really noticed one lately. Haven't seen any dead ones either. Will have to keep an eye out. It always feels good to know we have helped a creature survive. The car was a good idea. Kate, I got a new camera for Christmas, so I'm eager to start using it more and more. There is little in my yard to take a picture of right now, though! Denise, most of the banana leaves are brown and sagging. The trunk and the little bananas on the one bunch have some brown spots, but don't look awful. I wonder if the bananas will continue to develop or it I need to cut off the bunch? By the way, the native rosinweed you gave me is looking great and starting to bloom. The dwarf poinciana is about four feet tall and had a few beautiful blooms before the cold came. It should do great this year. Will take pictures sometime. The kalanchoe are still waiting for you if you ever come up this way again. Trini, I seriously need to get more houses! Gary, could the heater be too warm? I've found lizards in my hoses trying to escape the cold. Boy are they sluggish. Anna

It's hard to tell from your pictures, but if you're sure you're not over-watering, it looks as though there might be a high level of solubles in play. Also, no plant likes to be root bound. The unwanted effects of tight roots include shorter internodes & loss of branch extension, smaller leaves, lower vitality, shedding of older foliage so that most growth is concentrated near meristematic regions (near branch tips), and often the inability to water properly. I would do a complete repot, which includes bare-rooting, root-pruning, and a change of soil. Repotting and root pruning has a SIGNIFICANT rejuvenating effect on plants. Plants repotted can be counted on to exhibit greater biomass by the end of the growth cycle than their counterparts that may not have been so fortunate as to be as well cared for. If you're interested in how to take care of trees in containers, I would suggest you read and become familiar with the information in the thread I'll link you too. I've have been growing trees in containers for more than 25 years, and teaching gardeners in my own and surrounding communities, how to improve their skillset relative to container culture. I currently have somewhere between 250-300 old woody plants, covering many dozen species, in containers - all perfectly healthy. Al

oops...I sent your pkg off this a.m. & you should have it tomorrow. But, sure, I'm totally OK with waiting. If I hadn't been out so early this morning, I wouldn't have dug today, either. Went to bed very early yesterday & was up waaaay too early today. I did look at the forecast but (last week)the weather wizards told us that this week was sposed to be cooler than last week SO I just figured that they were lying again and next week will be hot, too! (Have decided that they lie about bad weather forecasts to keep everyone from committing mass suicide!) Suffered a case of heat exhaustion when I lived in OK...you definitely don't want to go there because it pretty much changes you forever as to how much heat you can tolerate.

What kind of seeds? Usually, only freezing is a problem. The seeds that reguire cold for germination require cold, moist stratification, not cold dry storage. If anyone has wildflower seeds that require cold, the correct method is to plant the seeds in damp soil and store in the fridge or to mix damp vermiculite with the seeds in a baggie and store in the fridge.