reider84, i hadn't checked the boards over the holidays, so this is a bit of a late response... i hope that you check back this long after your question was posted. njoasis is correct. your plant is an aglaonema. the variety name is "Silver Queen". it is a plant that was widely planted - some say over planted - in Dairy Queens, shopping malls, banks, etc. back in the 1970's, but now seems somewhat rare in the plant trade. it has been replaced with newer hybrids. the newer varieties are more tolerant to low temperatures and they branch and sprout more which means that the plant looks more full. older Silver Queens often look lanky or 'stalky' until they get cut back and the tops are rooted and replanted. BUT, what i wrote above might only apply to the plant or stem in the front of the photo and the plant or stem on the left side of the photo... i think that the plant or stem in the rear of the photo might be something special. if the leaves always look like they do in the photo, then i think that you have what is called a "sport" or genetic change. i'm guessing that one of your plants or stems has lost one of the genes that codes for the variegation pattern on the leaf. even regular Silver Queens will sometimes produce a leaf that looks a lot like this, but the rest of the leaves will be normal looking. but i've never seen a whole plant that looks like this. i should mention that i'm merely an amateur aglaonema enthusiast and am not an 'expert' or breeder. it's possible that your plant is another species or variety i'm unfamiliar with that was mistakenly potted up with two Silver Queens. if the plant is all one plant, and the darker green stem on the back is just that, a stem, then it is clearly a sport. now... i know what you're thinking... Woo Hoo! goldmine! right?! :-P well, probably not. as i said, Silver Queen was replaced for a reason. if these plants get even a shade colder than 60 degrees Fahrenheit, they suffer leaf damage. this makes them difficult to ship to stores for much of the year, and many people let their homes get fairly cool overnight in winter to save on energy costs. plus, the plant has the lanky/stalky problem. if i had to guess, it might only be of interest to (1) You... because you may have a one-of-a-kind plant which is kinda neat. (2) an aglaonema or aroid nerd like myself. and (3) general house plant collectors that hear the word "unique" and are sucked in. in my case, i need another plant like i need another hole in my head :-) even so, if later in the year, once the weather warms up, you'd be interested in trading a cutting of your plant... i have quite a few aglaonema varieties that i'd be willing to send in exchange. Silver Queen isn't the world's most amazing house plant - there are varieties with much prettier leaf and stalk colors and patterns - but i have a soft spot for it because it was one of the first plants that i learned to grow well. if nothing else, congratulations. cheers, nancy ps if you would like any more info about the history or care of your aglaonema(s), you can check out this link: Here is a link that might be useful: Success With Your Aglaonemas Indoors

I'm going to restrict my comments to tomatoes that you might be able to find as transplants, since that's what you're looking for. What I have liked: Amelia has worked well for me, lasted a long time through disease pressure, good fruit. I grew one of the BHN tomatoes (I can't remember which one it was) with results similar to Amelia. Better Boy: My mom and lots of people around here swear by Better Boy, but I have not personally grown it. Solar Set is kind of iffy - the fruit were small for slicers and the flavor was just okay. It did set fruit in the heat as advertised, though. Cherry/Grape Tomatoes: If you like cherry/grape tomatoes, a lot of them do really well - they handle the diseases better than most of the big tomatoes and set better in the heat. Sweet 100 or Sweet Million are commonly available reds and usually do well. For yellows, I like SunSugar, but have to grow it from seed - you might be able to find the similar SunGold as a transplant, though. Once it really gets going, one plant usually supplies all the cherry tomatoes my family can eat, all summer and into fall. A cherry tomato will become a huge sprawling plant if you let it, but you can harvest hundreds and hundreds of tasty little gems from one plant over the course of a season. What I haven't liked: Celebrity never did well for me, either! I thought it was just me, since everyone sells that one. Roma has always been mediocre-tasting for me, just bland. Works okay for sauces (cooking concentrates what flavor it has), but blah for salsas. Yield has been erratic. I am trying to find a better paste variety. Bush Goliath was a big disappointment. It made a very healthy-looking plant with lots of blooms, but very little fruit set and it had huge problems with fruit rot when no other tomatoes I planted that year did. (I wonder if that's because the fruit it did manage to set was in the very middle of the plant surrounded by dense foliage? By "surrounded" I mean that the few fruit that did ripen were really hard to pick without breaking branches - there was no way to get a hand in there or get the tomatoes out!) My mom had the same experience. To be fair, both our plants came from seeds that I started in the same year, so maybe it was a bad batch? The few fruit we got were pretty good, but I haven't been inclined to try it again. Brandywine grew into a huge plant quickly, but set almost no fruit. The fruit it did set were early - didn't set at all in the heat. Apparently the bugs, birds, and squirrels think it's tasty, too. Both years I tried it, it was always attacked first by everything. I got two fruits one year and none the next, and it was the first to succumb to disease in midsummer. I have to say the two tomatoes I did get were some of the best tomatoes I've ever had. I just don't have the space for a big plant that is going to produce little or no fruit, no matter how good it is. YMMV, but I hope this helps!

I'm working compost in this weekend and letting my beds go fallow, locked down under black plastic for the next several weeks to chase away nematodes and block the weeds. Will start my tomato seeds in about 9 days for transplanting out in the beds in mid-August. I'll also start broccolli seeds in August (and will continue starting seeds every two weeks through October so that I'll have a continual supply through the winter). Corn and beans will be direct sown in early August. Lettuce, onions, carrots and strawberries will start in October. I agree with you on the citrus. It'll be a bumper crop as long as we don't have any disasterous weather. My trees are absolutely covered. I just finished the last of my peaches. Man, they sure beat the hell out of anything you can get at the store.

The advantages of planting most perennials, shrubs, and trees (in our zone) in early to mid fall is slight compared to planting them in early to mid spring. In colder climates, it's often best to wait until spring to plant. If you are planting a fast growing or top-heavy deciduous tree or shrub, fall might give the roots time to get more well established before the plant experiences wind that could push the tree, with a smaller root ball, over. Basically, plant at whichever time is more convient to YOU. If you plant them correctly and water them until they get established either time (in this climate zone) would work just great.