Thanks Karen, Oh yes! If you go back and read the description for the first pic (Aster) you'll read my warning :O I'm so darn close to just yanking them all out for one not so invasive. It is more suited to my prairie bed and may be just where they're gonna go since they are a prairie plant; they'll get along just fine with the Rudbeckia, Ratibida, Echinacea, Mondarda, grasses, ect! I winter-sowed them and germination was 100% and out of about 50 seedlings I only planted 3 in back and 1 in one of my small front beds. I let them go to seed to harvest for trades and the following year I had Aster seedlings coming out of my ears. The fluffy seeds are carried by wind and boy did it ever blow around! Last year I cut them back before setting seed and this spring I still had a ton of seedlings cropping up....between the crevices of my rock border, in the gravel road outside of the bed and just about everywhere else:O

misslucinda, I went with 4 x 4' T5 bulbs in each box. I lined the inside of each box with 2mm mylar reflective film. I also made reflectors directly around each light using the film to simulate a "W" to drive light down to the tubers. Tubers are planted pointy end down to, as you say, maximize the planting area. From them I'd take cuttings or simply transfer the tuber into a 4" pot once sprouted. If you lay a tuber with a vertically growing sprout on its side, the sprout will turn. gladzoe, Very few have sprouted as of today, maybe 2%. I am very disappointed with myself as I left them for a week once I'd planted them, without additional water. Right now a lot of the tubers have a very shrivled look to them, particularly those with very thin necks. I'm worried I may have killed them by not providing sufficient water (including spritzing them to keep the outter surface moist.) Time will tell. poochella, My plan was to move larger plants into my sunroom in early spring. They wouldn't get enough light there to bloom, but I would keep them trimmed back if they started to get too spindly. At this point I'm really uncertain I will get many of them to actually sprout...;-[ Cheers, Russ

Thanks folks. Those of you in the south have such different conditions and a much earlier spring. Your plants are probably just tired. I think the weather brings out the color. A slow, bright fall seems to be the best from what I remember. I do have some that have flopped and look awful but don't usually take pictures of them. As far as the view - I'm very thankful for it and I do have trouble getting anything done!

I planted Carnival Fall Festival last summer. I really like how many colour changes it went through. I wonder what it will be like in the spring. I planted Tiarella 'Oregon Trail' I think 3 years ago, has done well but the specs say spread of 3ft. mine is about 12 inches. I was excited to see a spreading tiarella , maybe it takes a while to do that. This year I'm going to put a piece in a pot as someone here suggested and see what that does.