Don't know what happened to the website. You might try the old contact info: American Kelp Corporation Po Box 370178, San Diego, CA 92137 (619) 239-5357 Wayne

Thanks for all your kind comments, looking forward to next year to. Threas - hope you can start them indoors, they're slow growers from seed in the spring, I'll be lucky to get flowers from my babies even next year. I'll be covering the babies soon with dirt for mulch. Not a leaf left in site, some fungus got on the them, so not taking any chances. I have Neem Oil to kill fungus/mold. Has killed the white stuff that grows on the surface of outdoor soil brought in or that grows on unsterile soil. It also kills the bad insects and stops reproduction of them - so they say. honeybunny - I envy that you have the lord baltimore full grown. It grows the tallest of them all, that I'm aware of, and a beautiful red color. It was very good of you to offer plants and I'd be glad to pay you for the plants as well as postage for that price and take a chance that it'll get across the border without dirt. We'll chat come spring. If I've no 'sure thing' canadian option I'll take you up on that and we'll see what you can do. eloise - you have an orange tropical then...I know of no hardy in all my searches (and I have searched) and the oranges are tropicals as are yellow. There are some annuals, like manihot which is a pale yellow, I got one flower from it this year and a seed pod which I had to pluck before it cracked on it's own, an iffy situation. You californians are lucky, you can grow the tropicals all year round. Though they don't grow as big as the hardys we're talking about now. You should check out the japanese lantern hibiscus-schizopetalus, not so large a flower but a most unique flower. It was easy from seed even for me but would of had to be brought in. You'd have to have the room in the garden to, it's a big splayer like the butterfly bushes are. Happytoes - I had seeds for plum crazy, it is up there with my favorites. They have a unique crepe paper like flower and light shines through them like chifon. 5 seeds was just not enough for this lady to successfully grow one. Fireball has the same type of petals. Love your garden karma, especially the style...looks kinda like the japanese rock gardens. Very neat and ideal for specimen show offs. I'd get a kopper king in that garden, it's a good stand alone plant with your personal touches of coarse. Karyn - that is strange, you'd think you would have tons of babies. Maybe they just need that tropical environment the 1st year to get them going. You still have the mom's coming back for you and the only hibiscus I know for sure that'll be invasive with their seeds are the rose of sharon - single blooms - so all be warned. green_go - I gotta have something you want!! I couldn't even find the seeds for that one. I saw the foliage color which you all aught to note the contrast. There's a red veining through 2 others, fireball and plum crazy, but nothing like the foliage on this one. Red shield has a nice foliage as well but doesn't have the bigger sized blooms. The foliage is worth it for those into it. Your flowers are much more prettier than even in the pictures I've seen. They look a lot like the lady baltimore. I'd pay you for a good sized specimen of that plant plus postage. (big hopeful grin). I see you have an anna belle blooming there in the background, I've one of those to. I think I might split the root ball for 2 plants. Granddaughter and I are going to spritz the flowers with food coloring next year. There's a lot more kinds out there, I'd advise starting with an established plant if you want flowers this year. I've no idea how they do their first year started in a greenhouse or indoors. To tell the difference tropicals and hardy when shopping or identifying http://www.trop-hibiscus.com/gindr.html A good link in the hibiscus forum for those in zone 5 and up/colder/lower zone #. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hibisc/msg0820200032075.html PS. They do die back down to the ground and won't come up until late May early June so don't think they died. You'll just have to wait. Glad you all enjoyed. Happy winter gardening or spring planning. - Sandy

This has been a fun process for me because I've decided to downsize considerably in order to justify having a few nicer things in the small space. I'll be going from an 1,800 sq ft home with separate garage/workshop to a 530 sq ft apartment above a 500 sq ft garage/workshop. This is an experiment for me both in simple living as well as in designing a living space that will cost as little as possible to heat or maintain. I'm also a bachelor, so it's a bit easier making a tiny space work. This structure is also being built on the edge of an heirloom fruit orchard of mine (16 acres), and much of my time is spent outdoors. The apartment is a comprised of a main living space divided into three areas: a well-equipped little kitchen, a dining area, and a home office. There's also a separate bedroom with a large closet as well as a full bath. The workshop/garage is large enough to hold a pick-up truck, tractor, a laundry area, a workbench, and three large chest freezers for storage. My challenge has been to take a serious look at what I truly need and I'm willing to give up in order to make this space work. I've learned a lot about myself in the process. In particular, a piano is more important to me than a sofa! When guests come to visit, our time indoors will have to be spent around the dining table. This is a concession I decided to make in order to have space for an upright piano. I also had to give up having a big, comfortable leather club chair and ottoman for reading and relaxing. Instead, I opted to have an over-sized bed (California King), really comfortable dining room chairs and an ergonomic chair for my desk (Aeron). Having sized down so drastically though, I will own my home outright (and all of its contents.) It's also been designed to be so well-insulated and airtight that I'll have a monthly utility bill of around $195/mo that will cover all space heating, air conditioning, hot water, electricity and propane, including a gas range and a top of the line steam shower. My Scrimps have turned out to be what I've simply given up: *No formal living room *No sofa *No space for a comfortable leather chair *No guest room My Splurges are: *Kohler Unwind Luxury Steam Shower (with six shower heads) *Sun Valley Bronze architectural hardware *Custom made Cedar garage and entry doors *Custom made Cherry kitchen cabinetry *Custom made Cherry rolltop office desk *Custom made Cherry Shaker Panel bed and nightstands with storage drawers beneath *6 Cherry dining chairs & table by Gary Weeks & Co. *BlueStar LP gas range *Yamaha Avant Grand N2 piano *Lie-Nielsen Roubo workbench (in garage) *BR-111 Tiete Rosewood floors and staircase *Sorpetaler Triple-Glazed European windows (from Germany) *Farrow & Ball paint *Caesarstone countertops *Rohl faucets and apron kitchen sink *Fisher & Paykel refrigerator/freezer *Bosch dishwasher *Motawi tile for bathroom and kitchen backsplash *Jaga...

thank you for your input! It's nice to know I'm still "alive." Last year I wrote a note on this forum called "stopped dating." I really thought I had lost interest, then I met someone but that went to hell in a handbasket very quickly ...the "I dont get it, what happened" entry on this forum I wrote about 6 months ago. It's interesting, looking back now, at the personal growth progress I've made since that first entry. That is not to say that starting to date again is necessarily a "great personal growth" but rather all that happened inbetween then and now. I am not a fan of hidden agendas either. life is interesting, and is even more interesting when one realizes it really has a purpose rather than to simply endure the mundane daily routines.