Here's my take. I know we all have our preferences but I never blame a medium for problems. That is just me. Here again, however, we have a testimonial from someone who deciding that their mix is too 'soggy' repots into something more open but then experiences continued problems now perhaps due to too dry conditions leading to brittle, dead, roots that don't develop. The unassisted (by artificial light) west window is at once too much light and too little! Your area can see frequent clouds and I suspect an atlas would show your locale receiving less than 180 clear days out of 365. IMO this is too little for good growth of anything but 'low light' species. OTOH when the sun 'is' shining and temps are up in the mid-80's possibly higher that is too much, even I admit that. The only recourse is to shade away the worst of the natural light. What is left will not cause heat stress or scorch but neither will it be able to put size into a p-bulb. The difference must be made up artificially. If someone knows of another way I would like to hear it. When orchids stall, sulk or otherwise go on strike the reason will always be found outside of the pot. Too litttle (rarely too much) light, too little or too much heat, too little or too much ventilation... external causatives. Water 1x/wk for a plastic pot, 2x/wk for a clay pot regardless of what is in it and call it good! Do not spray or mist or otherwise try to 'top up' orchid pots. That way lies madness and also root rot. With experience will come the ability to experiment in ways that will not harm your plants. Until then its best to follow some rules. They won't always be a perfect fit but they work for quite a lot of growers new and old. H

Pretty pics Lois! Delphinium are one of my fav flowers. They do well in my garden, of course we don't have slugs here. I seeded some last summer and altho the germination rate was not great they've survived the winter. I'll have to look for the variety you mention and seed more. Quilt mommy, I've heard that diatomaceous earth is good for slugs. Just top-dress the soil around the plants with it. It's organic as well.

How cute! I've always loved yellow rubber duckies--but chocolate ones! Yummy! Really like your tablecloth with the matching ruffle and topper. And the silverware is really neat too. As always, your food just looks so yummy, you are a very creative cook and come up with such nice variety. My cooking is "boring", I'm afraid. I have a DH who isn't much into veggies and is diabetic besides. My cooking is really in a rut! Hope your computer troubles are over. We used Norton antivirus and it seems to work good. I spend some time today catching up on all your posts, your flowers and the beach scenes are all lovely too--enjoy while you can. ;o) Luvs

Dear Stewie and Elmo, Thank you so much for the update on your white stuff and all the excitement in your lives, I'm sure chasing the birds was a lot of fun, and laughing at Mommy and Daddy acting silly is ALWAYS fun! I'm not able to watch your video at this time, stupid broadband is acting up, but I will watch as soon as it's working again. I'm sure you're doing something perfectly adorable! Thanks again for checking in, you sure do have a nice view out that window, and a fun castle to sit on, too! Don't tell her I said so, but I think your mom thinks you guys are really special, I bet you could turn that in your favor and con her out of some treats today! Love, Flamingo