hey ken...when u say no luk with golden spreader as in death?? i looooove this plant and its rich yellow...mine isnt as great as ones ive seen before but im wondering what kind of bad luk and any advice on improving my luck??any good detailed description about your experience with this plant would b helpful as in where was it planted, how, etc etc...thanks ====>>>> i dont know why.. but two failed.. small babes ... and i know other peeps have failed .. and a few succeeded ... but let me tell you one thing about gardening.. no matter what the plant.. the most cherished is usually the one that fails ... lol i think one died on spring transplant followed quickly by extreme summer heat.. and full sun and one failed on fall planting over the winter ... i think it has something to do with the sickly yellow tissue, as compared to green ... reducing the vigor of the plant.. reducing root growth ... and the plants ability to move water on transplant ... and searing full blistering summer sun complicating the root issue ... most likely.. proper siting with reduced late afternoon sun.. would be beneficial.. but too much shade and you wont get the good yellow color ... but since i failed twice.. i can not do more than speculate.. perhaps if you start a new post specifically about this plant.. you will get answers .. instead of burying them in this post ... i once had live BB conifers in the house for xmas .... and did exactly as your guy suggested....took them out ... healed int he pots ... and planted AS SOON AS THE SOIL THAWED in spring .... 3 things are imperative: A -- soil drainage ... if you are in clay ... then they need to be above ground.. to insure that the pots do NOT freeze into an ice cube.. roots need air as much as water ... B -- a black pot/root ball can NEVER be heated in the winter sun.. or the roots may come in and out of dormancy leading to root rot and death ... and the old joke 3 -- some protection from blistering winter wind ... i would group them all and put some burlap around the group to reduce direct winter sun and wind .. if you do all that.. and they remain fully dormant, as you did not answer if they are still outside ... you should have no problems in general .. but for that problem chucker if you had them in the heated house.. you MAY need to harden them off before throwing them into the yard .... you might have a hard time finding mulch to cover the black pots this time of year.. good luck with that ... ken ps: tell us about your property.. since you are dreaming about some plants that can get rather large ... perhaps another post ... have no fear about lots of posts.. its rather dead here at GW in winter .. and volume is not a bad thing .. IMHO ...

LOVE a good ham bone! Almost need a coin toss to decide whether it'll end up as split pea or bean soup... both "dump" recipes I learned from my grandmother. As for chicken carcasses... I just CANNOT toss bones without making stock, even if it only ends up being a few pints. My sister calls it "chicken-ade"!! I like using the FREE stock when cooking rice, polenta/grits, etc. instead of plain water.

When I was in graduate school I was literally living hand-to-mouth. At the library I discovered a great new poet I knew my father would love, but I couldn't afford the $20 for the book, even if I'd been able to order it somewhere. (This was computer/pre-internet days, at least for me.) So I painstakingly typed out the whole manuscript on my rinky-dinky work processor, printed it out and sewed it into folios, then bound it in a pasteboard cover with handmade paper. He still has it beside his bed, more than 15 years later! My best gift came from my younger sister, when I had my first post-college radio job, working over night at a station 20 miles away. She bought a large cosmetics bag, then bought a sheaf of inexpensive washclothes, little soap, a little bottle of moisturizer, a travel toothbrush and toothpaste. She also bought a case of ramen noodles and cup-o-soups. When I'd leave for work at 2am, I'd get a fresh washcloth and a noodle snack, and be able to have something to eat, and freshen up before the rest of the day staff arrived at 8. I used that little travelling case for nearly ten years!

Another great thing is that I brought my 1984 Kodak Instamatic camera with me. When I left Lewis it was the end of the semester and all the faculty were gone. I never got pictures of anyone. But i took LOTS of photos at the party. Can't wait to get the film developed! SamKaren your resident DJ