Hmm, worse than a drummer next door? Someone I know had a bagpipe player next door. Now I happen to like bagpipe music but it's not everyone's cup of tea. And even I would not like to hear it next door in a close-built neighborhood. My own experience is that rust is a problem that is worse in spring and fall. In the midst of summer only susceptible roses seem to suffer from it. I do remember though that on the El Niño year about 10-12 years ago, all the roses had it, pretty much all summer long. It may just be that you are experiencing a local pocket of rust-inducing conditions this year. Someone twenty miles away may not have the same things going on that you are. Rosefolly

hopefulauthor, I was really just doing my shopping for Christmas and birthdays. With those, and some other non-succulents (13 total plants) my wagon was completely full. I still got away for less than $50. I probably will keep the Cussonia. I bought one last time I was there--C. transvaalensis (also originally intended as a gift) and couldn't part with it. That one--during a 25% off sale--cost me less than $4. These are old pictures. More than half of the foliage has turned red, so it actually looks better: Cussonia transvaalensis from above: Cussonia transvaalensis from the side: You can probably see that the pot is bulging and the soil is also being pushed up on the top. I took a peek--the part you see above ground is only a fraction of the caudex. Hopefully I can get a picture when I repot it. Annie's has a couple amazing pictures of this species on their site: http://anniesannuals.com/plants/plant_display.asp?prodid=3067&account=none When I picked up this plant I passed on a different one--that may have been a big mistake. It's the only one I saw that branched into two trunks at the base. I didn't pick it because I was planning on giving it as a gift and the snowflake appearance of the leaves wasn't as clear due to the proximity of the trunks. Oh, well. Here's another plant I regret not buying at my most recent trip. It seems strange that they would have discounted it that much(to $7.25 pre-sale) but that's what I remember. http://www.anniesannuals.com/plants/plant_display.asp?prodid=3110&account=none

I had a couple of pink flamingos in my yard for awhile. I named them 'Tongue' and 'Cheek'. They finally died. I think of,embarrassment.

I should have updated this thread again. In June, our air conditioner died. Something electrical - it would run for 5 minutes, make a loud grinding sound, and then shut off and trip the switch on the panel. Called an AC company out to repair it, said that he could repair it but that it was on it's last legs. Didn't surprise me - it's 8 years old, extremely cheap builder special, and we used it year-round, almost every day, both day and night. Life of a normal use AC unit is 10-12 years. So, we opted to replace it, and got an American Standard unit - very nice. This thing is silent - our old unit sounded like an airplane roar. No joke. We had a very hot summer again, September being the worst. Rates did go up too as they said last summer. Last summer we hovered between 750-900, and this summer? The September bill was $495. NO JOKE. And that's even AFTER the rate hike. I can't even imagine if we had the old unit - it would have been well over a thousand dollars. Our new unit will pay for itself very quickly. Moral of the story - if you are running a builder special AC unit and your bill is high - replace it. It'll be worth it.