yukichan, thank you :) It is indeed Epicattleya El Hatillo - bought it a few years ago at Lowes or HD as a bagged seedling. This plant needed way too much light to bloom... What is my orchid growing situation like...well, orchids are "the main crop" in my yard (main obsession, that is) All outside, with no greenhouse. A variety of species, under the oak, under the grapefruit tree and all over the yard. A lot of my orchids came from bagged seedlings... If you are asking about this particular orchid..It is in a plastic pot with lots of holes, rocks on the bottom, and the rest - sphagnum moss. I have not repotted in a while, so it is just a mass of roots, and not much moss in comparison :) Olya

Irises vary in toughness . There is a woman in Arizona that sells xeric irises but the iris that I brought down from PA. from my grand mom's place just vaporized on contact with my soil, so Go figure and that was in the richer zone". I add the bonemeal because my soil is so anemic. I have grown them without bonemeal.The old cemetery white irises are a very tough thing indeed. They were originally from North Africa and came over with the slave trade and used in Black cemeteries before they crossed "the color line" and every one in the south ended up with them and they became the passalong standard entryway iris. I think you got some in that bag of bulbs I gave you..This is the info that I was given over the internet. I know, one should not believe everything one reads.

You're asking the big questions, Anele, & you are getting a lot of wonderful responses that are speaking to Truth, if not providing concrete "answers." There is something to be said for Surrender...accepting that we don't have all the answers & never will. Life is largely a mystery that can't be contained by our minds- within our concepts & thoughts about it. But while we will never have all the answers tied up with a bow, there are pointers! A common theme you see over & over on this thread is the redemptive nature of adversity. Repeatedly, we see that without losses, hardships, suffering, the better angels of our human nature would not have been revealed, much less developed. We can't help but conclude that ultimately, Suffering, the situation we would never ask for, serves a purpose in our evolution as humans. I like this quote from Eckhart Tolle- "Even within the seemingly most unacceptable & painful situation is concealed a deeper good, & within every disaster is contained the seed of grace." Another pointer I see expressed on this thread is to be careful how we label things! Do we really know (since life is so mysterious) what is "good" or "bad?" Here is one of my favorite stories that illustrates the wisdom of not labeling experience. "Maybe"- A Chinese story, kind of a Taoistic story about a philosophic farmer: One day, the farmer's horse ran away, and all the neighbors gathered in the evening and said that's too bad. He said "Maybe." Next day, the horse came back and brought with it seven wild horses. "Wow!" they said, "Aren't you lucky!" He said "Maybe." The next day, his son grappled with one of these wild horses and tried to break it in, and he got thrown and broke his leg. And all the neighbors said "Oh, that's too bad that your son broke his leg." He said, "Maybe." The next day, the conscription officers came around, gathering young men for the army, and they rejected his son because he had a broken leg. And the visitors all came around and said "Isn't that great! Your son got out." He said, "Maybe." Often we decide what is good or bad too hastily, while Life's wisdom unfolds...

pbrisjar, I forwarded your post to DH...I'm sorry you all experienced that and it does corroborate what happened to us. I thought that was only for "other" companies, not USAA. I will say that dealing with the car repairs (the tree fell on our car too--it was BIG) was a breeze, wonderful, no problem at all. Also through USAA. We had thought maybe it's just that one adjuster, or maybe just the house repairs part...we thought about it and there's got to be massive $$$ to be made ripping people off in their moment of crisis. Just so no one misunderstands, I'm talking flat out lies in quotes about the costs of very specific researchable materials, and inflated labor rates like I've never seen. It's got to be a scam. All accompanied by "I'm so sorry this happened to you -- we specialize in making it right" garbage.