Christy, I strongly suggest that you check out a local Orchid club they are so much fun and you can get fantastic plants, more so then what you find at HD not to say that I have heard some stories about terrific needle in haystack finds but you will learn so much plus its so much fun. This weekend the group I go to is having a Mother Day Sale they do it to help thin out collections and also to hopefully find new members. They will be holding free classes this week open to the public at Enchanted Park I posted an invite on the Florida exchange section and I am going to copy paste it in here as well. The person that will be doing the class is fantastic teacher and has a very relaxed attitude and you will learn a bunch from her. She had a TV show on channel 2 years ago. I live north of you in Davie but the group is called Gold Coast It would be great if you could make it out on Saturday but if not your welcome to come to our group meeting they have many terrific speakers and if you decide to sign up they give you an Orchid you also get one on your birthday and Christmas. But of course there is absolutely no obligation to join Anyway I thought I would throw that in if you have any questions please feel free to contact me. BTW when I joined the group I had 4 orchids I now have over 200! lol but that is a small collection compared to most.

Hello Everyone... Animalcracker... Yes i would agree that the ET Lemom Drop is a prolific bloomer!! It has been the longest Pluneria that has been blooming for me all summer and hasnt had any signs of slowing down. Always has a strong fragrance of Lemons and i just love the color, so bright and sunny!!! This bl0om would make anyone smile if they were to have it near them!!! This is a must have!!! Sept? LOL...OH, MY!! Only kidding...LOL I wanted to clarify..that it is the California Sally not the California Sunset that i was talking about with bud... I stopped counting at 60+ LOL...its a terrible disease!!!! Dewaine...Love the Pic of the Lava Flow...what a beauty!!! I wish that i could visit the tour of their garden. I bet it is a beautiful yard!!! Iso...now the dates have changed...you can go to both!!! Are you going to the show in San Diego? So now we have three Jens!!! LOL Jen from CA (Labland) Jen from TX (Jandey) Jen from CA (animalcracker) LOL...nice to have you all here... Jen....which day were you at the SCPS sale? I was wondering if we were all at MOna Lisa's booth at the same time? LOL I wish we new you then...you could have joined us for breakfast!!! Take care... Laura in VB Guillots Sunset is another favorite.... Take care everyone, Laura in VB

I am doing the same thing right now? WHere exactly are you? I am in san fernando valley..I starting with one lonely queen palm and some guava bushes and my vegie gardent. Got a pool too! I am having sush a hard time planning out the trees etc....my pool divides the yard...my husband wants tropical and I am a native plant person...i like salvias, drought tolerants etc.... So i am doing "sub tropic" I have a subtripical plant book and mounds of books on trees, i ahve been to every tree nursery in the vallye. Its soo hard planning because you cant move trees like roses etc..onece its there its there and i am racing against time....you really have to do it before june...before it gets too hot!! very overwhelming what trees did you finally decide on? I am going with hong kong orchid on left of pool and on right against back wall going with australian willows and fruit trees. Also we are facing 2 story homes going up on other side of our wall...darn it!! so we are adding lattice ontop of block wall for privacey... its all too much

Re-reading what I wrote, I realize how much social drinking used to be a part of life for me. There were a whole set of sensations associated with that. Floating. Swaying. Hilarity. Bonhomie. Uproarious. Glowing. Impulsive. Unreserved. Openness. Unguarded. Truth. Youth. I'm content to drink much less now. Sure, I'm also much less likely to hurl open the door and bound out into the night with friends in search of adventure, camaraderie and T & Ts. Instead I prefer to open the door and let friends in for an evening of cooking, eating, conversation, games when SWMBO has her way, and, admittedly, drinks (including T & Ts) are always served. But I'm usually too busy cooking to keep track of my wine glass, guests are more focused on food than drink, and big dinner parties aren't something you do every night or even every week. There's something else that I've started to write and thought better of it, but it keeps coming back to be said. Above, I mentioned being unreserved, unguarded, open, etc, as something that came with drinking back when. It feels to me, today, harder to be as thoughtlessly candid as my friends and I used to be with each other, especially when alcohol had loosened thoughts and tongues. It feels like there are more sensitivities to be considered, feelings to be hurt, wires to keep uncrossed, taboos to be observed, pronouns to be remembered, ideological lines to keep untrodden. So we, or at least I, watch what we say, even at our own dinner parties with our friends. We may not be conscious of it, we do it so naturally as to not notice ourselves. But if we, or I, summon enough self-awareness to see, there's constant editing and self-control going on. Which doesn't really go with pounding back cocktail after cocktail. I don't think this is that much a reflection of ideological polarization in America or anything so socio-dramatic. After all, I live in one of the uniformly "bluest" parts of one of the bluest states. My feeling is that it is somewhat about life becoming more complex, and growing challenges to individual's and society's ability to satisfy divergent goals and the resultant tension. As well as my and SWMBO's tendency to be friends with alert, passionate people. And, perhaps, I'm slowly becoming a cranky old dinosaur who is still trying to get along with the mammals. Anyway, to finish off this unaccountable digression, I think that's another reason why I don't drink as much as I used to. That plus I'm just too busy to spend a day recuperating with Bloody Marys in a fern bar.