Thanks, folks. My choices so far have all been from local nurseries catalogs.... there's not really anyone there to talk to this early so I'm just catalog shopping. I know people on my road grow all manner of Magnolias (saucer and star) but they're mostly people with professional gardeners, so just the fact that they look great in the neighbors yard doesn't mean they're right for me :) I did notice some of the nurseries catalog entries noted "very disease resistant" Malus varieties, so perhaps thats due to the cedar rust. I'll have to look into that. We have two very old, very overgrown, very tall crabapples in another part of the yard: what does cedar rust look like? Ammelanchier looks great! Love that it has fruit and fall color, too. It might be a little big for my space, but will investigate further... thanks for the idea!

From what my Aunt told me who grows her's very well..She say's,,, It is dying from poor soil and root rot. They like a soil that is light and stays evenly moist, and the soil your using does not. That soil can kill a plant like this in a few days...Try a more light airy peaty mix or something that drains well, and does not stay "wet" for long. Also, they do not need humidity to do well. Just about most plants do well with humidity, but this one in, the Boston fern, can do just as well without out. They adjust well. She knows many people that have them growing in their homes locally, and the air here can be very dry all winter. In fact, she has a huge one growing at her office. As for location, a good diffused light works wonders. You could also set them in an East, West, North window, and they will do fine. The sun in the dead of winter will not harm them either. You have to watch for burning as the sun gets higher in the sky right about this time of year though. Good luck with it.. Now, I myself, in my opinion, would check the roots and make sure they are not starting to rot.. I always do this with any plant, before I assume it is a different issue. 80% of the time, symptoms in the leaves can always be traced to the roots from bad watering habits, or poor soil mixes..I just aquired one myself, and I hope her advice, along with everyone else's here, will help me grow a beauty too..:-) Mike..:-)

Well thank you for your kind replies! I was really encouraged by posting with people on Gardenweb, and doing quite a lot of lurking too, especially when the weather was so awful in the early part of the year, it sort of "keeps the flame alive". I was so inpatient to get going though, I think I probably set some of my plants back because I went for it a little early! As for the bike scenario, it actually was quite fun to overcome the difficulties and I got quite a laugh out of the idea of how stupid I must have looked at times! The scavenging was hard though, and yes  I did bring the pots home on the bike, one pot at a time and balancing it on the seat while I pushed the bike. Quite a distance. But it was worth it, and I also got other pots, though the picture I posted was of the nicer ones. The lamp is lovely isnÂt it? I have to admit, I intend to take that home to Ireland with me  my fella thinks I am totally mad!!! I found so much stuff out on the pavements though, it was brilliant. I can see why some people go out specially hunting for things. Pics of my Ireland garden, IÂm flattered you might want to look, and delighted to show it off! I have some pics here, mainly of the veg garden and tunnel in previous years but not last year, which was the best, and a couple from this year, when we returned in July. It was really bad after 7 months with no care at all! But after hacking everything down it was not tooo bad. The tunnel was so overgrown, as you can see from the pic. It was like hacking through a jungle in there! Lots of the vegetation was self seeded coriander, which was interesting. Here is a link that might be useful: The other garden!

Hi Pixie, When you posted about Little House on the Prairie I looked some things up and was planning to post but just haven't found the time! I'm glad you explained why you wanted to do the plains! At least now it makes sense! After you posted I looked up DeSmet on google Earth--to get the "lay of the land," and I think your daughter would be really disappointed with the "plains" we have out here compared to the terrain you'll find in eastern SD. The link I posted to a pic of "our" plains up above really is pretty accurate--there is simply nothing out there! If you do DeSmet I doubt that she'll actually be looking at "the land" very much when you do it, and she'll have all the Little House things, which is what she actually thinks of when she's reading the books. (Love it when kids are reading books!) So rather than taking her for a hot, dry, flat drive, and destroying her mental image of Little House, I now very definitely think you should skip the plains and enjoy the extra time in the hills! A couple things about the fishing if you're gonna stick that in. Wherever you do it you'll need a Colorado fishing license, so be sure you plan ahead for that so you're not disappointed. And if you do decide to go to the Poma Ranch near Pagosa Springs, you'd really need to stay there two nites to have time for fishing. Checkin is at 3:00, so that wouldn't leave much time on the day you arrive, and checkout is at 10:00, so there wouldn't be time on the day you were leaving. The Weminuche River that runs thru the ranch flows very gently and it could easily be fished wading or from the bank. Check out their Fishing page at the link below, and there's more fishing info on their FAQs page, including that they rent "basic" and "kids" fishing gear at the ranch. I don't really know anything about fishing so I'm not sure what all that would include, but if you're seriously considering it and have any questions, call the ranch and ask for Karen! Also, since the river flows gently--and is shallow (a "river" out here is not the same as a "river" in the midwest or east!) your daughter might enjoy wading around in it (probably with a pair of cotton tennis shoes or at least flip flops since the bottom will be "rocky")! But she probably wouldn't stay in too long since water in the mountains is COLD--it's melted snow--and the ranch is at 8,000'! Also, if you're seriously considering staying there, PM me and I'd be glad to send you some more pictures of the inside (and outside) of the Hideaway cabin! I've stayed there three times now so I have pics of the outsides of the other cabins too. This is a favorite pic! I couldn't help but smile the first time I drove in there and saw the Welcome Home sign! I immediately knew I was gonna love the place! (The sign is on the back side of the "bathhouse" building that has the "waterfall showers!") And before I got to the welcome home sign (on the small building on the right) I ran into this roadblock on the drive in! (If it looks gloomy, that's because it was raining on and off on the drive from Pagosa to the ranch the first year I stayed there! Then, right after I got there, the sun came out just in time for sunset!) This was a view heading out of Pagosa toward the ranch that year! The ranch is in them thar hills! I also highly recommend the "Cozy House" at Dolores for the Cortez part of your trip, and would be glad to send you a bunch of pics of that place too to help you decide if you're interested. One more thing since Zinnia brought up Dinosaur Ridge! Just a little further down the road, in Morrison, is a place called Tiny Town! Perhaps in lieu of Little House your daughter would like to see some "little houses"---and other buildings! I don't have time to live link these pages, but here's a copy/paste link to their site, and if you google for images of Tiny Town you'll come up with lots of pics of the buildings with people standing by them so you can get the scale. I haven't been out to this place since the late 70's when it was a run down (tiny) ghost town all overgrown with weeds, but it's been all spiffied up and is back in business, and this could be a real fun Kid Thing! You could plan your whole last day to do Red Rocks, the dinosaurs, and Tiny Town, and then head to the airport for your last nite's lodging! http://tinytownrailroad.com/ Out of time for tonite! I can't wait to find out what all you finally decide to do! Skybird Here is a link that might be useful: Fishing on the V. A. Poma Ranch!