Well, I believe I have figured out what happened. In between sowing my Keystone Giants and my Cali Wonders (separate containers), I left the room for a moment, and my son (3 years old) got into my starter mix and my seeds. He had made a huge mess with the seed starting mix, putting it everywhere. Either I had spilled a few cabbage seeds when I sowed them (just before the Keystone Giants), or he spilled some of them. Anyway, I scooped up the spilled mix, and put it back in the bag, then I used the mix to sow my Cali's. I must have put most of the spilled seeds into the container with the Cali's. And 4 days later, they started sprouting. I didn't notice how similar the seedlings for my cabbage and "peppers". The first leaves of many plants look very similar. I wasn't studying them, I was just excited that my "peppers" were up. I didn't think that anything was wrong. Anyway, I just looked at my cabbage and my "peppers" and I couldn't tell them apart, without the labels. Well, I guess it's because they are the same. I will be able to really tell very soon. I am putting the "peppers" into my cold frame and letting them go. If they can survive, as the cabbage should, they should start to get very cabbagy.

purple, in other photos from EU countries, I saw prices which didn't use the Euro symbol. I linked to that particular photo to show that the same model of yellow price tag is used in Italy. Some of the tags in the other photos had a comma where we use the decimal point (the comma is European usage); I'm not sure if there's a comma in the photo above. At least one photo showed the last two numbers underlined (as Americans underline the cents). I think there were others with the entire price underlined. Many years ago, my parents lived in Belgium. Prices of everything were much higher than in the U.S. Food, gas, everything in stores. (I think the same was true the last time I was in Britain.) So I'm not surprised by the price of the mum. And maybe it's a high-end store where all the prices are high just to make you think they're ultra exclusive mums.... As for the gradient coloring, ombre (shaded; variegated) yarn has been sold for many decades. I know how low-tech crafters make it, though I have no idea what the big yarn-producers do. So the gradient-dyed fiber is the easy part. Then, maybe, chunks of dyed fiber are clamped together and glued to a piece of something-or-other. Then the piece is attached to the top of the "trunk". (I'm sure there are other ways to do it.)

I am not sure how much water they are getting but it sounds like not enough. You said they are watered 3 times a week; 10 minutes of sprinkler watering. Any idea how this translates to gallons per watering? If there is no "lack of water" problem with the soil as you suggest, I think you need to get an appropriate diagnosis from your Agriculture Extension Service or universities rather than via the Internet. There is nasty fungal infection making the rounds in California the last few years called Phytophera Ramorum and I hope that is not what the trees have. You may remember about 5 years ago when the government issued a recall of all camellias shipped from California to other states in order to prevent/minimize the spread of the disease. I am not an expert on this disease but someone in CA should be able to assist since a correct diagnosis is important. The little information that I remember indicated that the disease sometimes produced leaf spots that, in some camellia varieties, were not visible unless you viewed the leaf from below. I did not see any spots on your photos but these were mostly photos of the top part of the leaves. I hope you do not have any spots on the underside of the leaves. If you send leaf samples for analysis, I would include a few fallen leaves, some of the affected ones and healthy looking ones. If the trees are of the same variety, send the samples in a single bag. Otherwise, separate the samples by variety as camellias respond differently to this organism. In the meantime, apply good sanitation techniques and water well. Throw any fallen diseased leaves in the trash. Do the same with any other plant debris. Replace the mulch with new mulch. Maintain good airflow around the plants. Do not overwater. Water the soil only and do it early in the mornings. Water again (1-2 gallons) when a finger inserted to a depth of 4" feels dry (or almost dry). Clean with 1 part bleach 9 parts water solution any pruners used on these three trees. Post again if there are any new developments, Luis

I've only been in my house 6 or 7 weeks, but I really like mine so far. From the research I did, the hardness varies quite a bit from manufacturer to manufacturer so be sure to check the Janka rating for the specific product you are looking at. As far as how it feels to stand on, I'm not sure that is something that we can really perceive within the range of the Janka scale...I doubt I said that well, but I'm trying to say that while I'm sure 3 hours standing would be very different on wood vs tile, I'm not sure that there would be a significant difference on two types of wood (unless of course, you throw cork into the mix). Two of the features of the bamboo that we really like(d) are the very light color it's available in and the fact that as it ages in the sun, it moves in the neutral brown direction rather than the yellow direction (which I personally despise). However, those are aesthetic characteristics, and thus what I like, you might hate:)