The suriest way is to hire a garden sitter. One that comes with references. I provide this service to those that can afford me. I require an A/C room with private bath/shower Access to your kitchen and a stocked refrigerator. My taste are simple. Steak and beef roast, pork chops, and chicken breasts will do fine for meat and unless you live by the sea don't even think about sea food. My veggies I will secure from your garden. I drink quite a lot of Coke so at least two, two liter bottles of caffine free coke per day. I also require that you provide appropreate wine. For the beef I would like a nice red, dry please. For the Pork and Chicken a nice dry white will do. Allow at least one bottle per day for the wine and please send me in advance a list of what you prepose to provide. Errny and Jules will not do. One of my added services is that I will cook for your Hubbie in your absence. Please be prepared for him to gain a few pounds as I am a so called Gumay cook. In addition to the drinking wine for meals I would also like several bottles of sherry and port as I use a lot in cooking. If you live a distance away from me then also please provide first class air fare both ways. The use of a car while there goes without saying. Your car will be fine as long as it is not a Chevy. I prefer BMW or MB or at least a German car of some kind. A VW Beetle is better than a Ford Tbird.I think that about covers it so check my page and email me for the details. OH, and have a nice trip. OH, one last thing. I will not work in NJ.

Hi pampered_g_jr, Many Nepenthes can adapt to your home humidity and temperature, I have heard that lowii is best given a drop in nighttime temperatures down to 60 Fahrenheit and day highs of 80. It is an ultrahighland from Borneo I believe. The alata is much more adaptable and easier to grow in home. In any case, light is one of the most important considerations for any plant, so partial sun, like in a non-south window, or strong flourescents, like a compact 100 watt equivalent or 2 40 watt shop light tubes, are essential. If flourescent light is used, it would be best to place the Nepenthes at least 5-8 inches from the light for proper color and pitcher formation to occur. Water with distilled, rain, or mineral free water from the better R/O units... some do not remove salts which would build up in the soil and kill the plant slowly. Water by top watering and let the water drain through the soil and do not have a tray under the pot, Nepenthes roots will rot if they are left in stagnant water too long and so over watering and under watering are both a problem. Just water like a houseplant a couple times a week and make sure their soil never dries or gets waterlogged. Also, do not put distilled water in their pitchers, that does very little for the plant except make it more difficult for the plant to catch and digest insects properly. Some care sheets say to do that, but they must be joking, the pitchers have lids and produce their own fluid, which is a mix of enzymes and preservatives, after all. Sometimes Nepenthes will stop producing pitchers and have dieback in it's present pitchers when it's environment changes too drastically, like a humidity shock. A slow change from high humidity to low over several weeks will help harden the plant to your home humidity level. The lowii might never adapt easily, so a terrarium or some way to provide consistent humidity (100% at night and 80% in daytime) might help it. It probably will not die, but from reports I have seen, they do not grow their best without their requirements met. Normal household temperatures should be fine for the alata, the lowii can withstand temperatures up to about 80-90 degrees in the day and down to 60 at night with a requirement for that lower temperature at night. Once again, if this requirement is not met, it probably will not die instantly, but it will be distressed and be very unhappy. Some people fertilize their Nepenthes by foliar feed directly rubbed on their leaves with a damp cloth. The fertilizers that work best are orchid blood meal in very dilute solution of 1/4 or less and no more than one time every two weeks, once a month even better. It is easier to overfeed and burn the leaves or kill the plant than to underfertilize. I never have needed to fertilize my Nepenthes, I just make sure it gets an insect every week or two. If it looses it's pitchers, sometimes a little temporary fertilizing will perk it up and make it produce again. Make sure no fertilizer gets in the soil, that can kill carnivorous plants in a few weeks or months slowly. Soil requirements are dictated by acid mix and high level drainage. One part peat moss of the bale variety with no fertilizers or additives and 2 parts plain perlite is good as is one part coconut husk, one part orchid bark, and one part peat moss, making sure that no salts or additives were placed in any of your soil ingredients. It is safe to say that carnivorous plants of virtually all types are allergic to any additive to their soil that would change the Ph from acid. Water with minerals and salts (hard water over 100), fertilizers, and chemical treatments (like copper based fungicides) would all harm the plant if it gets in the soil (copper also inhibits pitcher production if sprayed on the leaves). Fungicides and pesticides should be sparingly used and of the sulfur or neem oil extract type with pyrethrines, no soap based natural insecticides, those would add nitrogen to the soil when bacteria breaks it down. There are not many fungus and insects that attack Nepenthes, but they do occur sometimes. The conditions I keep my N. sanguinea in are as follows: Light: 4 40 watt flourescents of the cool white shop light variety 5 inches from leaves. Watered with distilled water every 3-4 days and misted 1-2 times a day. Temperature is between 65-80 degrees according to seasonal difference indoors. Humidity is relatively high in my region, probably 60-70% indoors with central air. Plant is in a 5 inch pot of coconut husk/peat/bark mix. Each pitcher is digesting a variety of insects as it's fertilizer of choice. Flies tend to be more interested in the Nepenthes than they are in the Venus Fly Trap. Here is a recent photo of the young plant with it's newest 4 inch pitcher. Good luck with your plants.

A larger pot would be a good idea. They're probably very root-bound, so try to gently tease out the outer roots before repotting. Basil will grow well in a window box and needs pretty good humidity and plenty of sun. Fluorescent lights won't help much for plants that are beyond the seedling (up to 6-8" / 15-20 cm) stage. Cooler night than day temps will help keep it from getting leggy. If your place is really dark, you might want to just harvest the basil, get some low-light plants, and maybe buy some basil oil for potpourri.

To the last three posters.......you have asked questions on a thread that is 6 years old. The chances of you getting a response when tacking onto a very stale thread tend to be rather slim :-) Posters who would be inclined to provide the answers you need usually ignore or overlook such old threads, especially on this forum, which doesn't get a lot of traffic. The only reason I bothered to open the thread at all was because I was curious as to why it was still getting attention six years later. There are many different types of verbena so I'm going to make a guess that the type you 3 are asking about is Verbena x hybrida or what are typically sold as annual bedding plants in most of the country. Like any annual, they are cold sensitive and won't put out much growth or flower buds if the temps are too low (in the 40's at night). They are also not happy in excess heat and will tend to stop flowering in high temps but will resume again once temperatures moderate in fall or with cooler weather. Some forms of x hybrida are quite upright, mounding plants and others are trailing varieties -- those that are trailing forms will have long drooping stems and are ideal for hanging baskets. They need a fair amount of sun to bloom well, even watering (not too much nor too little) and not a great deal of fertilizing - too much fertilizer will produce lush foliage at the expense of blooms. Verbena grown in a container or hanging basket will need more frequent fertilizing, but use a dilute formulation. Pinching back growth early in the season will encourage bushiness. Deadhead the spent flowers by pinching off to improve and tidy the appearance and encourage continued flower development. I wouldn't bother to attempt to winter over in zones lower than 9 - these are inexpensive plants and not worth the extra effort. You can save seeds in late season and sow indoors in late winter but as these are hybrids, there is no guarantee that what results will look like what you had growing the previous season.