The funny thing about plants is that no matter how expensive they were originally, once an owner has too much of them, the owner is, most of the time, quite willing to give it out for free. It's part of the feeling of just wanting to get rid of it as fast as possible, and it's part of the feeling of not wanting to destroy it when it could bring happiness to someone else. At the same time, there are some plants that owners love to share, so if they find someone interested, they would be quite glad to give some cuttings. I check my local Craigslist or freecycle group frequently. I also walk or bike around the neighborhood, especially back-alleys, to see if any plants have been put on for trash. For buying, I make regular trips to the places that I know put plants on clearance, such as Lowes. When I do buy, whether it is on clearance or not, I try to pick a plant that I might be able to take more cuttings from right away. Once home, I start on those cuttings also, so that they might still have some time in the growing season to thrive. Also, many friends are not much into gardening like I am, but many of them do have enough care that they want their yard to look good along with their neighbors. So I just make it known that whenever they are taking care of the yard, if they have extra plants or trimmings that they don't want, I'll take some (trimmings being basically some possible cuttings!). I have also gotten free plants when they over-buy and know I might be interested in the extras, or when they redo landscaping and want to get rid of certain plants. I myself have given away plants that, when I see a similar size at the nursery or store, realized that its value of $5-30 must have been a great bargain for the person who got it!

Wow, you sure have done your homework! I now have 7 trees in the ground and three in pots which will be in the ground next month. Six different varieties! I live in Florida, but have seen fig trees in the ground as far north as NYC. Wilmington DE area is near enough to the coast that using pots or planting them in the back yard can be done successfully. Winter precautions will be required either way. If you keep my email address (budbackeast@aol.com), I will gladly send you some cuttings in the fall. Wait, it's Delaware. When would be a good month for cuttings? I will send them for free, postage paid and all. Have you gotten any figs or cuttings yet? Oh, one more thing... You should put it in your profile that you are in Delaware, as then other fig lovers in your area will find you here in the forum. Fig-folk are a generous bunch. You'll get other free offers and probably meet other fig-folk in your area. To find these people, post a new posting entitled, DELAWARE FIG LOVER SEEKING CUTTINGS AND ADVICE! That'll get you some good cuttings. Rejoice!

Well, it looks like I may have killed my Adenium plant. For some reason I watered it, maybe because the tips had turned brown and then other tips were starting to show green. It's very obvious the base is rotting. I'm not sure if it's totally going to die yet, but I'll most likely end up taking as many cuttings as possible to save it. It has no leaves, yes, but I still have some green tips. I have never propagated an Adenium but will probably try. This is your chance to get a cutting or two off a decent sized plant. It's more tall than multi-branched, just so you know. Just let me know if you are interested. I don't care so much about trades more than I do the cuttings having a good home, but I would be interested in anything along the lines of hardy palm seedlings, Colocasia/alocasia plants, Musa Basjoo, etc. I've had the plant for years and this is kind of sad. It has bloomed every summer for me. It likes our summers.

I was just googling around for rooms with little natural light, and I ended up looking at a lot of finished basement or basement apartment interiors and also high-end hotel rooms. The ones that were the most pleasant and inviting (where the lack of natural light was not a noticeable deficit) had kind of a lot going on. Not in an overwhelming way, but those rooms had curtains and wall treatments and knickknacks and area rugs and artwork -- millions of little decor pieces and several layers of decor interest in most areas of the room. In particular, there were a lot of different textures in most of the rooms. It makes sense now that I think about it -- basements and hotel rooms are very bland rooms -- usually no architectural interest of any kind, including lots of big windows and natural light and moldings and all that. Which means the room isn't really pretty on its own. To make it pleasant and charming anyway, you need to bring in a lot of things that are pretty by themselves. And you need enough of them that you don't really notice anymore that the room's bones are bad. So your home, being a house, is likely a lot better than the average basement, but it still suffers from the same lack of natural light. This leads me to the conclusion that, while I also generally prefer a clean, modern type of design in kitchens, I don't think it will suit your house. It will just be so quiet and minimal that your eye will have plenty of opportunity to notice how dark the room is. Like a plain person forgoing makeup and accessories and wearing a simple beige shift. That kind of simplicity works well for the great beauties of this world, but the rest of us look better wearing cute earrings and mascara. However, on the upside, with all the professionally-designed basement spaces I just looked at, it didn't seem to matter at all if the actual elements in the the design were dark. Usually, there was a mix of dark and light. The bigger thing seemed to be that ALL of those rooms had a lot of lighting EVERYWHERE. Pin lights all over the ceiling, lighting on top of cabinets/soffits that diffused on the ceiling, pendant lights, etc. So: 1) I'd mentally set aside a big part of your budget to add lots of lighting. Have under cabinet lights, above cabinet lights, cans, pendants, a chandelier, in-cabinet lights -- whatever. Go nuts. 2) I think you are on the right track with a walnut floor. Walnut has a really interesting grain. It is thoroughly beautiful in its own right and will layer beautifully with anything else you add. Natural materials in particular are great for adding interest without seeming overwhelming or busy. 3) I would not repeat the walnut on the cabinets because, again, I think the super-layered design approach works better in low-light rooms. Cabinets just another opportunity to add interest, and you should take it. Make them a different color or painted or whatever. Also, think about something other than slab. Your floor will be flat walnut. If the cabinets are also flat walnut, then then that is EXACTLY the same thing. Here is an example of a kitchen with a lot of interest (cool tile floor, two cabinet colors -- one that is interesting and bold, glass cabinets with unusual glass, open shelves, unusual cabinet pulls, feet) that still has clean lines and isn't crazy fussy/busy: That is the kind of thing that will hold its own and still look pretty and charming even in the dark months. Also, it would look great with walnut. :D