Yes, I don't have any facilities for fussy plants. They all go outside, they all come in. Plants at ease in the conditions I have are what I prefer, and Philo genus offers ample opportunity to fill a house with various pretty leaves. I wouldn't enjoy a plant that couldn't grow well here. Apparently I'm one of the unlucky few sensitive (or have developed sensitivity) to the alkaloids in some Philodendrons. Heart-leaf vine gives me a rash if I get the sap on me. I haven't experimented with other Philos, but now operating under the assumption that all will give me a rash if I get their sap on me. So that would be one thing to not like, but if I eliminated all of the plants I have that I'm allergic to, that would be a lot of them, definitely not just Philos. Knowing about it, I can just avoid exposure to sap when trimming/propagating. Just touching the unbroken leaves or stems is harmless, but washing right away after contacting the sap doesn't seem to avoid getting a rash. I don't think this should prevent anyone from being able to enjoy these plants if they find them appealing, as long as caution is taken for sensitive individuals to avoid touching the sap.

Hi Elmire, I've thought about this some too, and as I've looked through various pictures I've tried to define what I do and don't like. I tend to like flowers, period. What I like best probably depends on the distance I'm looking at the plant from. Up close, a frilly picotee edge is the greatest thing... but from a distance, a simple single flower probably has the greatest impact. I like big yellow centers and no visible centers, both. I like both singles and doubles, but overall I'd rather have more semi-doubles than anything else, and I like them even better if their petals have some waviness to them. A rose with a subtle color blend to a darker or lighter color on the edge appeals to me hugely... though if the entire yard were composed of those kinds of flowers, there would be too much competition between them. So just a few Mrs. Dudley Cross roses (or roses of those types), sitting perhaps right next to Duchesse De Brabant to help point out the sublime in Mrs. Dudley Cross. I have always liked roses, but less so the hybrid tea forms than their smell. The brief amount of time I had Belinda's Dream with the same form, though, I liked it plenty. It looks especially nice with roses of other forms in a vase. I liked the effects of the tiny Rose Rosette to add variety to a vase of flowers, too. Overall, if I had to name just one favorite flower form, I'd probably go with a rhododendron, especially those with a bit of a frilly and/or picotee edging to the individual flowers within the truss. I love rhododendrons, huge trusses and small ones both. Rhododendrons don't withstand drought well, however, so I wouldn't suggest getting started with them if you can't give them plenty of water during a drought. Oh, no, maybe I should have said the one favorite was a camellia, all kinds of camellias... And daffodils! The Ice Follies variety is pretty much a perfect flower. But peonies (of all kinds) can't be bested by any other flower! Oh, I forgot to say how wonderful the tiny-leaved karume azaleas look when they are covered in a blanket of tiny flowers. They make for spectacular arrangements in a vase too. I like flowers, period. In a mood to really look and appreciate, I can get excited with just a single bloom from a native woods violet. And at that moment, it seems that nothing could best the simple woods violet. I guess the real luxury is in having a good variety of flowering forms, and especially in having them at various times of the year, which roses and camellias are both good at. Though I do have one rhododendron that blooms a bit every fall. I can't think of any flowers I actually don't like, though irises are probably fairly low on the list. I have stronger opinions on garden design than on the flowers themselves. (I'm not into geometrical/formal gardens so much as very informal ones.) Mary

Meyermike, Why grow citrus? Many years ago my then girlfriend had unlimited access to citrus at Christmas. I ate lots of it and put several seeds in a potted plant. I think every seed sprouted. I was hooked. I gave them all away. Later I raised orange trees on purpose (for the challenge). They were left out and froze. Several years ago I received an orange tree as a gift. It has produced some fruit for three years. 1. For the challenge. 2. For the envy of those who are either unable or unwilling to grow them. 3. The one that I have produces the best tasting orange that I have ever eaten (in memory). 4. I have four grown children that covet my oranges. 5. I would like to have enough to share them with my 12 grandchildren also. 6. The aroma is so intense that we cannot keep it inside the house. We keep it in the attached garage in the winter. 7. There are too many reasons to list them all.

We bought Kohler Purist for our shower. It has the thermostatic valve (as opposed to just pressure-balanced), so there are separate volume control and temp control valves like Pam describes above. We have 2 volume controls, one for the main (extra-large but not quite gigantic rain shower) showerhead and one for the hand shower. I love this set-up! Love having the handshower for cleaning the shower stall as well as specific body parts. We also use it as sort of a body-jet with it's adjustable and pulsating sprays. In general, love these items. Nitpicky complaints: 1) the main showerhead is too big for the wimpy water pressure in our house, so it's a pretty gentle rain that comes out of that showerhead. I often use the handshower, up high on its slide bar, when i want a more powerful shower. We do have truly wimpy pressure, though, so it would probably be fine in someone else's house. 2) The handshower is LARGE... a bit too big to be ergonomic in one's hand. It LOOKS great, though :) I recommend going to see your choices in person before ordering. Things look a LOT different than on the web, sometimes. Scale, in particular, can be weird on some we looked at, either too massive or too dinky. The Purist valve trims are bigger than you'd expect from the photos, but not too big, unless your bath is teeny tiny. The level of finish on all the Kohler Purist trims is great. Much better than the Moen Monticello we had in our old house (though I'm considering that for my daughter's bath... it's "fine"...) And better than the Jado tub set we got.