Hi cAROL, yes I remember you, fondly, too. During the "crisis", I had to get offline and a bunch of other stuff, and you were sending me email regularly so it probably bounced. Well I got the same email addie back! Yes, it's sobering the responsibility of it. Let's not get into the M word now; I guess our seeds don't come from them. Part of me is excited and part of me is scared, wish I had this kind of opportunity when I was 20 years younger. I did but it's part of the problem I brought up when I last posted, and I need to try to put that behind me. I'm really having a problem hearing Tiffy's sad news. My heart aches for her but she sounds determined to make the best of it. I saved lots of her beautiful photos but can't get to them now. Those beautiful terraced flower beds & trees, just can't get one particular photo out of my mind. And her blue house, never saw a view of the whole thing but looked quaint, a shade darker blue than mine. Hope all is well with you and the others here.

Haxuan: I wick or mat all my plants.. so they are fertilized each and every time. I use fish emulsion (1/2 t. per gallon) and Peter's Speciality (1/4 t. per gallon) and Allegro Plant tonic (1/2 t. per gallon) along with Physan (1 t. per gallon with each fertilizer). I alternate each fertilize each month. I completely clean all containers/trays and start fresh with a different fertilize. If I want a certain tray or deli container to begin blooming faster, I only use the Peter's Speciality each month until I have obtained the blooms or stalks I want. I do this prior to show. My favorite is FE (fish emulsion) and Allegro Plant Tonic for the babies. It really gets them growing fast and not so many blooms. I would rather have the growth than the blooms for the babies and teens, then add the Peter's when I am ready for the blooms. Their roots and leaves are more important in the beginning than to see the color. The color will come later when they are more mature. Do not push the blooms, you want good healty plants first. I buy AV's for their bloom first, then if I do not like the way the plant is growing, I will put leaves down and get the plant I want for symmetry and I will have the bloom when the plant reaches maturity from the babies. To make sure you have the exact bloom as the mother plant, take a sucker or put a bloom stalk down, otherwise you may get sports or a different variation of the mother blooms from the leaves. Do as you would with a chimera. Hope this helps, Tea

Kathleen, when you say 'huge', um, that's relative, right? One of the reasons I'm concentrating on microminis is severely limited space. Unfortunately, that means I can't take Funambule, much as I'd like to; it's *gorgeous*. Yes, NOIDS can be lots of fun. I have three new rescues that I have no idea what the flowers will look like. I can hardly wait for them to bloom! It's like Christmas but I don't know what day. Would you believe my rooted Tiny Moon Goddess crown is getting ready to bloom already?? Sheesh. Bet she's good stock for hybridizing. Hmmm... Wonder what a cross between her and Twinkle Pink would look like. Or heck, my NOID white! Oo! Oo! Sure, I have room for several hundred seedlings to get to blooming size. Really! Okay, I'll shut up now. ;-D Korina (self-deluding, but not self-medicating)

"How do you go about finding a competent person to restore the the travertine which I love? Can I do anything myself to clean it and should it be sealed in the shower?" Karenseb: My customer contacted me through www.homeadvisor. It's free to homeowners and you can read the ratings of potential contractors. You must be a contractor customer to write a review and contractors are unable to remove a poor review and can only respond in writing. I highly recommend them. Truthfully, I got a little spanking on my review on this job. She loved the work, but the vent apparently didn't suck as much dust on the island as it did next to the stove. Even though your kitchen becomes a fab shop for a day on a job like this, I offered to reimburse her cleaning expenses. I'm going to do more protection, and charge more for it, on the next one. You can get a one pound box of MB 12, the stuff I use to make it shine, for $29.95 at DeFusco Industrial Supply as well as Tenax Proseal in a pint. Ventilate well, the MB12 is pretty stinky during application only. The Proseal not so much. This post was edited by Trebruchet on Tue, Oct 14, 14 at 14:41