Well, I resisted reading this thread as long as possible because my collection is supposed to be getting smaller. The current reframing - it's getting more refined. Like that? Not-so-clever rationalization for adding more plants BUT, they're different and almost all are lots smaller than previous ones. Blooming: - Bl. Richard Mueller, just purchased - Dendrobium ceraula (gonzalesii) - still blooming from 8/07, when it arrived - Dendrobium Mini-Snowflake (Den. aberrans x Den. johnsoniae), just purchased - Dendrobium moniliforme, Scented Moon - first moniliforme to rebloom under my care! - Doriopsisium Little Emma (Pixie Star 'Starry Night' x delicosa 'Tinkerbell'), blooming from purchase - Dtps. Kenneth Schubert 'Blue Angel' (Doritis pulcherrima x Phal. violacea), everblooming - Oncidium Twinkle 'White Cap' (Onc. cheirophorum x Onc. ornithorhynchum), 1st time reblooming under my care - Oncidium Twinkle 'Red Fantasy,' 1st reblooming under my care - Paph Estella (fairrieanum x godefroyae leucochilum 'Cabernet Splash'), 1st reblooming under my care - Sl. Marriottiana (flava) (L. flava 'Clone 1' x Soph. coccinea flavum), just purchased In spike/sheath/bud: - Aerangis fastuosa - 1st Ang. in spike for 1st time under my care! - Baptistonia echinata, just purchased - Brassavola nodosa, var. grandiflora, 1st time in spike under my care - Chiloschista pygmeas - in the middle of sequential blooming for the first time under my care - Dendrobium aberrans, 1st time under my care, after skipping the last time - Dendrobium atroviolaceum ('Pygmy' x sib.), 1st time under my care - Dendrobium Himezakura 'Sanokku' (Den. Oberon x Den. Cassiope), 1st time, etc. - Dinema polybulbon, just purchased - Dtps. Sogo Gotris (Phal. Be Tris x Dtps. Sogo Manager), 1st time, etc. - Dtps. Sogo Melinda 'Caribbean Sunset' (Dtps. Autumn Leaves x Phil. Sogo Lit-Angel) - Masdevallia Celtic Frost (Angel Frost 'Orange Parfait' HCC/AOS x glandulosa 'Nemo') - 1st & only Masde spiking for 1st time under my care! - Phal. Baldans Kaleidoscope, peloric, budding from original spike when purchased in early Sept. - Phal. Cameo, aka Phal. Windsong's Sonnet 'Pine Ridge Peloric' (Zuma Poem x equestris) - Phal. Center Stage 'Pine Ridge Cockleshell' AM/AOS - Phal. Guadalupe Pineda (amboinensis 'Pisang Ambon' x bellina 'Whitey'), 1st time, etc. - Phal. I-Hsin Salmon 'Joy No. 3' (Princess Midas X Kuntrarti Rarashati) - Phal. javanica (KF#1 X KF#2), 1st time, etc. - Phal. parishii, 1st time, 2 spikes - Phal. Penang Girl âChing Reuyâ (Phal. violacea x Phal. venosa), 1st time, and I've had this sucker since 6/05. Thrilling! - Phal. schilleriana-stuartiana (schilleriana (2N from the Phillippines) x stuartiana 'Miami Beach'), just purchased - Phal. Summer Beach (Ken Peterson x Mama Cass) - Phal. Tetra Bell (bellina 'Star of Borneo' x tetraspis 'Snow White') - Phal NOID, white - Phal NOID, yellow, 2 spikes - Polystachya piersii - Psychopsis Mendenhall 'Hildos' FCC/AOS (Butterfly x papilio) I didn't realize this many are spiking/blooming for the first time under my care. Exciting! Congrats to everyone - Whitecat8

I am winter sowing a lot more than planned: Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepsis) Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) Purple Love Grass (Egrostis spectabilis - not yet - will sow it next month) Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium) Native White Baptisia (Baptisia leucantha) Helenium - a few red ones Texas Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis) VA Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum) - hope this one grows. I really want a whole lot more. Hmm- what else? Can't remember. :-)

Annette, my grandma did not make pickled walnuts that I ate. I somehow remember them, but I think my uncle made them. He lived in Leamington, Ontario (eventually) and did a lot of foraging. I remember being 16 and fascinated with his forage and that got my mind working... Grandma did not grow much fruit. We had gooseberries which I love, rhubarb (my favorite fruit, that I never get here), wild raspberries and currents. Grandma did some canning in my day, and I remember going into the scarey basement to get things from down there - but she didn't do anywhere near as much as when my mom was a child. My grandfather was an engineer on the boats of the Great Lakes and was only home with pay in the winter. So she had to make do and can etc. to last the rest of the year. They had their own cow, and I imagine either they had a chicken or two or a neighbor did. My mom said Nana preserved eggs in glasine. My grandmother was not the best of cooks at all. My favorite things she made were pancakes with a smear of butter and brown sugar, rolled up and eat for tea, or a dollop of fried oatmeal with a bit of brown sugar. Yum. She also always made fried green tomatoes, which she grew up with, and laughed at people thinking they were Southern. Cheese was always potted!

Color theory! Now there is a lost art. 98% of the posts on this forum have no clue - white + black + gray, gray and more gray is the extent of their repertoire. Meanwhile if you look at what real designers are doing, color is in fact being used in new and contemporary ways but knowledge of color relationships is prerequisite This has nothing to do with taste and fashion, its how humans are hardwired to experience color. Yes exact shades/tones of color may go in and out of fashion but not colors themselves. When I read a so-called "pro" on this forum declaring she "hates" orange, for instance, that raises a red flag. Real designers love color, all colors, and none would write off or "hate" an entire section of the color spectrum. IMHO the problem is that by making design into infotainment, they had to dumb it down and make it more about emotion than fact.