Summer, my Gardenia was purchased 1994/5. It has its ups and downs, but continues growing. I agree with Nj keeping your Gardenia in a plastic bag would be more harmful than helpful, however, it wouldn't hurt setting inside a plastic bag a few day w/the top opened. Especially if your 'dena has been kept in a green house environment. Afterwards, place pot on a saucer w/stones/pebbles, and water, but water mustn't touch drainage holes. During winter, my Gardenias are misted 2-3 times a day.. If possible, keep in a sunny, cool room, away from a heat source. Shower foliage once a week, sink/shower. How tall is your Gardenia? Over the years, I've purchased Gardenias in 4" pots..They died. However, standard types, at the minimum 1' in height are doing well. Not the best-looking, but thriving. I believe everyone who live in cold climates should own a humidifer..lol.. Not only does humidity help our plants, but healthy for people, too. Who likes dry skin? I can't breathe when air is too dry. When it's time to fertilize, use a fert for acidic plants. My Gardenias are fertilized with timed-release, Rhododendron/Azalea fertilizer. They're not the easiest plants indoors, but with some work, your Gardenia should do fine. Toni

Ei, babble on! Your musings are always fun to read! 'bug, Love the picture of Ivy and dad with Reed in the backgound. Is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby in your arms? Skyler and dad look mighty fine in their beautiful jackets. Any story behind those? Well, I went to the dentist and am scheduled for the first round of surgery on my gums on Monday. Yuck. Seems I really do need about $30,000 of dental work including crowns for almost every tooth! I am so irked. Then, today I have our regular workmen here. I wanted a new fan in the hall bath because the old one seems to blow only when the heater in the unit is running, too. Mostly, I just want the fan. Time was, this would have been a DH job. Seems those are few and far between these days as my list just grows and grows. Talk about being irked! I scheduled Jorge before the good news from the dentist. Anyway, I thought it would be a quick, cheap, and easy job replacing the fan/light/heater unit. Think again. One of his guys was up in the attic and came down through the ceiling above the tub-not all the way, but wow, what a hole in the ceiling. So now they have to patch that. Jorge is wonderful and I am sure he won't charge for it, but what a pain in the neck. I always feel that any job here becomes much more complicated than he expects it to be. He's one of those quiet types, so I never know what he thinks about working here. He probably cringes every time I call. The people who lived here before us were not prone to doing things the right way, so one thing always seems to lead to another and in trying to fix the jerry- built old set-up, the guy just put his foot though the ceiling. Oh well. Kathy, I am so going to need that reunion in June! I am determined to figure it out! V, keeping my fingers crossed for you. Nice to get good news at work, isn't it?! Michelle, beautiful progression of shots. Oops-got to go get Jorge some paint for the newly repaired ceiling. He is using my hairdryer to dry the patch-lol. Later, all.

Hi Wendy, nice to see you posting. :-) Yes, they will be pretty large pots that I would need to go up one size. I didnâÂÂt think the two I have now were all that big. I just checked and they are 16 inches high with an opening that is 17 inches across. IâÂÂm sure there are 20-22 inch pots out there, that would be just one size up. I am planning on pruning the rootball. I havenâÂÂt taken them out of their pots yet to check the condition of the roots, but I imagine after all this time they are pretty root bound. Thanks for the info about how much to prune. Oh what fun. [g] No, I definitely will not want to be up-potting further. This will be the first and last time IâÂÂm going to try it. Bill, I really like your resin pots. Very pretty! I keep forgetting about cement/concrete planters. That would be heavy enough to keep them upright in the wind, I imagine. Being able to move them into place, would be the challenge. [g] Once theyâÂÂre in place, theyâÂÂre staying as long as possible. Thanks!

Ditto above. I am quite familiar with these trees and had 4 large Norways removed from my lot, with 1 huge one remaining, which is the biggest. :( They are extremely weedy, and have started to invade the small woodland areas in the neighborhood. I cut, poison, and girdle these suckers at every opportunity and am still debating removing the last big one which is indeed a beast ($$$). Acer platanoides 'Crimson King' is a very common cultivar and may be less aggressive than the species. However, since it is a Norway, I would trash that sucker and plant a much nicer native tree instead (I hate Norways too).