Don't ask!!! LOL! My first love is hosta, altho I've become a two-timer and now have a polygamous relationship with hostas and brugs!! Wildflower, brugs do okey in the South- the leaves get as large as up North, but the petioles (leaf stems) don't get as long. The reason your containers do so well is that they are exposed to more cold, being above ground all winter, so they get a better chill than the ones in the ground. I do have some very nice ones, should get some pictures into photobucket this year! I usually hybridize hosta, but we are having early-for-June high temps, and so that puts a damper on that! Lots of my larger hostas are in pots, too. They look great! Enjoying your photos, all! Brenda B

OK, I took some pictures. They don't look like much. The plants are young. I have raked up leaves to spread between the plants. And there is a mass of Lilies-of-the-valley. I regret planting them, but they seem there to stay. The back tier has Big Daddy, Sum and Substance, Krossa Regal and Halcyon. The 2nd tier has Krossa Regal, Paul's Glory, June, Aoki, and Fragrant Bouquet. 3rd tier has Aoki, August Moon, Piedmont Gold and Middle Ridge. I fronted the bed with alternating Gold Drops and Japanese Painted Ferns. There are some ferns and heucheras intermixed. The landscaping flags mark the little Japanese Painted ferns (so I don't step on them). The pond raceway has new alba marginata divisions on the right side, but I need to weed around them. The weeds respond faster to watering than the hosta do. LOL!

Im sorry jmcbackyarddigger!! I didnt mean to steal your post!! very sorry for that!! The poison ivy is gone (Thank someone, probably the doctor that put me on steroids!!) And yes Ken i am surrounded!! but i love this little city of Ferndale, MI!! cant think of anywhere else I would want to live!! But the yards are SO small and the double lots here are too expensive (and a double lot here is probably a 1/4 acre! I dont know!)It would be nice to live out in the middle of no mans land, but I really hate to drive over 40 miles to work one way. and that is how it is around here!! even the city of South Lyons (which was farm country 10 years ago "and is only about 25 minutes from home on the xway> now even has a McDonalds!!! would you believe that!!! it is so built up now!!! my parents used to drive out there when we were kids (8 siblings, and not much money) to go see a movie for less than a dollar each!! That is where I get my hair cut ( friend owns a barber shop) so I know how much it has changed in the last 10 years !! I would love to go back when nothing ws open after 9 pm and life was SOOOOOO much slower (not even a gas station was open on sundays!!! let alone a BEER STORE!!! (and this is not the Quadrillion acre woods that winnie the pooh lived in) this house was built in 1918 and so was this tight knit comunnity) probably spelled wrong there!! OOPS!! I am rambling..... uh oh yeah now I know, Pics on the hosta forum SORRY!! Ken you are bad for distacting me!! now i am onto wine cause i forgot to pick up the BEER when i got out of work!!! okay now for some answers I guess and hopefully in order as they appear to my eyes ( the wine is starting to hit me faster than the beer ever does!! ) and this cat is sitting in my lap which makes it more diffifcult to type (she is really ornery tonight!!) sunny east texas pic 3 the three hostas in the pic are Francis williams (behind the begonia) to the left of that is Sagae to the right of sagae is aureomarginata something (or Oreo Margaritta)! Pic #6 That is Perrilla Magilla (not sure on the spelling) grows just like a coleous, no flowers that i know of (which means no picking out flower buds, and is REALLY easy to start from cuttings, usually i do those in the fall) the one on the right is planted in a pot (with some blue hosta seedlings that you cannot see, and neither can I when i look at it, around the base)the perilla was about 6" tall when put in that pot, and the other in the ground, the hosta in the middle of all of this is Rich Uncle. and the black things in the background are my neighbors garbage cans that I cannot photograph around!! Thanks for the nice comments (always love to here them, dont we all?) Hey upnort!! I didnt even see myself in that pic until i read your post!! (there is a ghost in my yard, or did you get out the microscope to check out the pic? now i see the bird feeder in there, hope the birds arent hungry!!) was having a hard time juggling the two, (the beer can just wasnt taking the pics i wanted!!)so I had to hold the camera!! DARN and i was so thirsty!! Carol ( I should have said Sunny and Carol, Sorry!!) oh wait!! the dryer is done (have to fold and put in the other load) back in 15!! thankyou for the nice comments!! my head is swelling as my glass gets more empty (does that make any sense, this is the wine speaking , it is so much different from drinking BEER) Actually my pond does not get that much sun, only a couple of hours a day, (well maybe 6 at different times) I have a large canopy of MAPLE, elms and oak, all of them are mature. I love the shade that they all make!! which makes it so nice to sit on the deck and just watch the yard grow. and then go pull another weed b4 i take another picture or go grab another can of beer(or grab the 5 gallon bucket and fill it from the pond to water another hosta). that plant is also in pics #1 to the left next to blue angel #3front and center #5 to the left (which is the same plant in pic number, oh jeez #6?) Hey starina thanks for the Zanfel tip!! is that a cream? it only cost me $10 (and 2 hours)to see the dr and $10 for the steroids (insurance). which started to work on the second day!! but took about 2 weeks to finally clear up after 2 weeks b4 seeing the doctor!! oh carolreall tough! (well, and gross!) hey mctavish6! Thanks for the nice comments! pic# 2? is wide brim if i am correct or pic # (soory i have to go back and count) oh, have to go count again...oh and again... lost my thought here... #4? to the lower ledt (i think the wine spelled that one!!) uh left? is ... darn, one more time (darn wine, not like the beer)...hold on, let me go back....oh jeez! what is that!! let me think!! ummmmm oh yah ,,, uh uh uh OH!!! summer breeze next to the uh japanese painted fern. WOOO!!! that was hard to do (LOL) okay, and for the sculptures, there are actually 3 total, only 2 in these pics, a very nice friend of mine was living in an upstairs flat, just around the corner from me, such a really nice guy. was helping him move to an apt around the corner from where he lived, they were in his back yard when he moved there. when he moved out the land lord told him that he could take them with him if he wanted to. they are made of ceremic and weigh between (depending on which one) 150 to 400 pounds each. he told me and my partner that we could have them. (had to leave one behind because after moving 3 we were pretty well worn out) (and kinda upset to leave one behind) they were made by a previous tenant which the landlord (or my freind) didnt rememner the name of. so we picked them up( and not really that easely) and brought them over the couple of blocks to our house! and what a chore that was!! but they are SO WAY COOL!! oh and mctavish? I store my elephant ear in 5 gallon buckets over winter. no holes in the bottom in a sunny window. they like a lot of water. except the Xanthosoma in pic #(have to count again, DARN)4!!! (yes!! okay,getta grip) in a very large pot, in a window. my dining room in the winter time is pretty much a over winter plant area, I have a 7' ficus and some orchids and others to deal with. and for some reason i take the tropical waterllily in for the winter too!!(which all my freinds can attest too!! and the second load in the dryer is done, hold on, more folding and hanging stuff!! AAARRRGGHHHHH!!!!!'' did i tell you that i dont have an eye patch or a parrot? If this doesnt make any sense at all or I have spelled something inkorrectlie, I will blame it on the "charles shaw" wine that i am drinking!!! (or 2 buck chuck for those who shop at (oh no !! i forgot the name of the store!! oops sorry!!) well any who thanks for all of the nice comments (except for KEN, there are no cows in FERNDALE!! LOL!!) Paul ps I hope i got to everyone here! and id this message is rejected i will be so POed

Hi Doc, BRAVO on your financial habits, and CONGRATULATIONS for finding like-minded love!!!! Is there a point where it no longer makes sense to stash cash in the emergency fund? OF COURSE! There's usually failure, risk and danger at all extremes, with optimum results in the objective, strategically balanced plan. The key is not to let yourself drift into arbitrary 'rules-of-thumb' or superstitious fallacies while seeking the path to safety & freedom. We both are approaching a year's worth of salary in the savings accounts. While that is GREAT... let's change the goalpost a bit. Rather than focusing on a time period of SALARY... let's focus on what most matters; a time period of LIVING EXPENSE. My recommended "Optimum Target" is as follows; CASH IN SAVINGS/CHECKING: 6 months' TOTAL living expenses (including insurance, sufficient retirement plan funding, proportioned 'big-ticket' replace/repair costs (like pro-rata costs of a new roof each 8-10 years, car replacements, and the like,) etc.) CASH-LIKE CREDIT FACILITY (no-fee personal lines, signature lines, revolving cards, etc.): Equal to an additional 6 months' total comprehensive budget. If you have more cash than the above tied up in your safety reserves, you are probably engaging in one or more freedom weakening mistakes; A) you are under-funding your tax-advantaged retirement accounts, B) you are under-insured for contingencies that are cheaper for insurance to protect against, RARELY are people taking too LITTLE risk in their investment plans (especially when focused on speculative securities.) It does happen... but so rare as to not be an overlying concern. To the contrary... unfortunately most folks (even when they THINK they are playing conservatively) have far too few guarantees against loss put in place on their retirement plans. We each own our own places and both existing mortages are down to roughly 25% of the current market price of our homes. We plan to sell both places, buy a different home together and finance it with a 80% LTV fixed mortgage with a 30 year term. We want to buy a home similarily priced to what one of us has today. Nice! With our cash at the level it is, does it make sense to keep adding to it or can these funds be safely used for other purposes? There's FAR more to the answer than can be formulated from the information provided... but it does sound like the two of you may benefit by getting a little more strategic in the protection against contingency risks, and perhaps a little more aggressive in your retirement (employment liberation) planning. As generic as that answer is... hope it helps ;~) Cheers, Dave Donhoff Leverage Planner