Jon, yes, it is shorter growing than most of my epis and the stems are thicker as well. I don't know if the flowers are starry or not, I just bought it a few weeks ago, right before we started getting the greenhouses covered for the winter. It is such a temptation to tease you about how I've never seen a flower stare, and I'm obviously immune to anything but temptation, lol. Sorry. Diane, living in the deep south has advatages and disadvantages. We pretty much have a 12 month growing season but that also means we have a 12 month mosquito season too. Slugs and snails don't seem phased by what passes for winter here but on the other hand we can walk out in our gardens and see things like this: Clerodendrum indica Meyer's Lemon Variegated Angel Trumpet Alsroemeria psittacina Justicia brandageana Solanum jasminoides Manettia luteo-rubra So I guess it all evens out in the end.

I'm in KC...I'm well aware of the illness that is befalling me! I started out with three raised beds in the backyard and now have 9 as well as a large pumpkin patch with two AG plants going crazy. 85 tomato and 64 pepper plants, zukes, cukes, okra beans, and a plethora of other stuff keeps me out of the seedy (pun intended) pool halls in the summer. I think we're going to go with the E-W orientation and definitely want to keep the GH where we can see it every day out of our dining room windows. I did some ciphering last night and I think that he sun should hit the roof panels most all of the day in the winter. The side panels may only get about 1/4 of them hit with sunshine i the winter though. In summer...they should get over 3/4 full sun. As for my uses of the GH...I'd like to be able to bring in some of my tomatoes I have in containers and try to keep them producing until Nov. or Dec. The GH will be mostly vacant in Dec and Jan though. In late Feb, I will be moving my seedlings from my indoor grow table to the GH to get more light and hardened off. Besides my big garden I keep most of my family and many friends away from the garden centers and put heirloom tomato plants in their hands. With this building I may need a lot more friends! ;-)

Hi Annie! Yes, I think I see buds already! I am in heaven. Shoukd I take a pic so you can tell me? Oh, I can't wait for this one to bloom! Robert, privately e-mail. Let me work something out to send you:-) You WON this contest. Rosey, trust me when I tell you, I didn't kill any plants because I had no room? What I have never killed off any plumeria because of a lack of room, in fcat they require no room, except that is if you want to bring them into bloom by starting early and leafing them out. I got tired of all the work to get them to bloom and the bugs associated with them. I never had enough HOT sun to do them justice and if I started them early in the spring, I was always scared to put them anywhere near my other plants because they would infect them with bad pests. In fact, one year, I had put them in my greenhouse, the only place for warmth, and they infected all my plants with Thrips, Spider mites, and other maggots all at once. Never again. Now,if I can't put certain trouble plants in my grenhouse, or plant rooms and be safe, then I avoid certian ones. I do have just teh special ones given to me that sit on a heat mat under lights far away from the rest of my plants. Now, I play it safe.:-) Mike

well, well, well...isn't that interesting! I walked in from our hike and showed these to my father in law (who's lived in Monterey most of his life) and he identified them as chestnuts so I thought nothing of it, but I definitely think you are correct. The green pods had opened to yield these dark brown smooth nuts of about 2 inches that were beginning to germinate (and rooted nicely in my pot) looks just like what is on your page and that would make more sense. I'm going to try to attach some pictures. I bet these were the beautiful silvery branched small deciduous trees I was seeing everywhere as well. I checked another page and they end the article with: "Though thoroughly inedible (unless leached of their toxins, as the Native Californians did), there is something irresistible about this seed, looking as if it had been carved, lacquered, and polished; few can resist picking up one or more, often pocketing them to be brought home for a show-and-tell with family or friends. And then the rains come, and the year-long cycle begins anew. - See more at: http://www.pacifichorticulture.org/articles/california-buckeye-a-tree-for-all-seasons/#sthash.zsT2m7jo.dpuf" I was definitely one who couldn't resist pocketing a few... In this case, I'd be dealing with much smaller trees/large bushes, which would be better for this spot, but we are zone 6a (changed from 5b as climate change has happened over these last decades). So I may lose them if we have a harsher than usual winter--we had one of the 10 coldest winters here in 2013-14 and I did lose some variegated hollies that are more suited to Great Britain but had been on the lot for about a decade. But it is still worth trying since we are in the range they can take and would be fun to see what they can do. Sounds like the plans for a well draining corner spot where the acorns don't end up in the yard and I can keep them watered the first couple of years and they get reasonable afternoon sun, would still be just about right. If they end up establishing, the seedlings do sound like a bit of a pain, although I already have landscape fabric and mulch through that whole area to keep all of the other non-native stuff (like the asiatic shrub honeysuckle and trumpet vine) from getting a firm foothold. So pulling weeds along the lot line is already a part of my life. Thanks for the information...I guess these are the hazards of collecting 'magic beans' along a hike. It has already been fun to watch them growing in my pot.