Well I finally figured out how to resize my pics on Photo Bucket. So here is another one..... Dianne

I can tell you right now, no one will know what you mean by pine bark fines. Most retail personnel barely know what they have in stock, and you'll get a lot of blank stares at the mention of pine bark fines, or turface... it's not what they're used to selling as medium ingredients. I actually found the pine bark in the pet section of Meijer's, which is kind of like WalMart or Target. It's labeled ReptiBark reptile bedding. It's roughly $5 for 4 dry quarts. An alternative is soil conditioner, which it turns out is pine bark, though it may need to be screened for dust and size... I've heard they sell it at Lowe's, but haven't found it there. The granite chips were located at Rural King, which is kind of like Blain's Farm & Fleet, a large farm oriented store. It's actually labeled Manna Pro Poultry Grit, granite chips, and it's in a blue and yellow bag. Perlite is available almost everywhere garden stuff is sold. There's some really great information on where to locate all the ingredients to make this medium over at the Container Gardening Forum. If you can't find posts about what you're looking for, just ask... those guys are great, and they definitely have the knowledge.

Nice! Got to LOVE spring! My sarrs are waking up, My Minor is throwing up a flower!

Really enjoyed the article along with the Conifer Kingdom site. Lots of original material to read and see in both cases. I'm surprised to have missed them in the past, it might not be a stretch to place them in the top five American conifer websites.