I second that ...Karyn you are just the most caring person ....you listen and act! You are very special and I do hope so much that good things will come back to you threefold very very soon! Lucy Rosepedal good luck with your seeds. They are so much fun to grow. I soaked the last ones I got from Shawn and low and behold. After I had taken off the hard shell. I decided to do what I read somewhere once. To soak the seeds another day. I did that because the seeds growing out that I started earlier...having a hard time loosing that thing coat that keeps the leaves from breaking out and opening up. So to my suprise at the middle of the second day...the one species...name..hmmm maybe tomorrow it will come back to me lol, had already the little white root thing coming out!!!!! To me that was amazing. Maybe it is a good thing to share? Lucy

I bought the seeds at lowes & used all that I had. You might be able to buy them at your local lowes. I would be more then happy to send you some seeds after they mature but I doubt they will grow true. I can check my lowes next time I am there if you would like me to?

I live in NYC. I have to admit, pretty much everything I have in the ground that I spend time growing really is marginal at best. The only plants I grow in the ground that I actually see around here is a Crape Myrtle, a Fig, a Camellia, coneflowers, and an eastern prickly pear. All the rest are tropicals planted in the ground for the summer, or palm trees planted in the ground all year long (and then my potted tropical plants also!). I really like brugs because they are so easy to store indoors! I forgot I had a brug for most of the winter and then I found it behind my other plants. I gave it some water and it started growing leaves within a week. I dont think I have many other tropical plants that need such little care during the winter! I want a greenhouse very badly, but living in NYC means that space is a big problem, so all my plants go in the house and its getting pretty crowded. I think my least favorite time of the growing season is early April and mid October for the same reason as you (plus my yard looks pretty bare until about late June). I was happy to see my Frostproof gardenia blooming again today (second bloom of the week), and since its planted next to my brugmansia, they both work together to make the side of my yard EXTREMELY fragrant at night! I was taking a few pics of the plants tonight and as soon as I got within 20 feet of my Brug, I smelt it! Im definitely planting more in the same spot next season! I dont think I would complain much about living in a zone 10. I would probably have spring bulbs growing in the dead of winter (and storing them in their own fridge or something for the rest of the year) and the tropicals would of course be outside all year long! It would be like a vacation every time I walk into my yard (without the worry of having to bring them inside every winter and the wait until July for them to start getting really lush looking). I think there is only 4 months of the year that I can say my yard looks very lush and tropical, but its all worth it! -Alex

Shawn thanks. Oh yes how I would love to see and have a ORANGE :-) So you think I am right about the Y...I just can not pin point WHERE it is? In the left picture on the bottom? You know this morning I said to my hubby that there is SOMETHING going on in this flowerbed!!! EVERYTHING grows HUGE in there. Got the same EE in the whiskey barrel and it does not come close to be as big as this one is! And yes that is the MOMMY from the Babies I send out :-) Mine gets sun until about 2 or 3 pm. But so does the whiskey barrel one. Lucy