mbug, I am sorry for contributing to bringing your thread into what is apparently a hot topic on this board. I buy the majority of my hostas from "reputable" sources, just for the extra bit of piece of mind. That said, I go to nurseries and if something strikes my fancy there, I'll buy it and hope for the best. I consider myself pretty educated now about the pitfalls of this hobby, BUT I still want to enjoy it- if I find a huge specimen somewhere locally and want to share my excitement about it on this board or ask questions or whatever, I would hope I could do that without the perpetual lecture. REgarding the nematode infected hosta I received, I'm willing to anyone who wants to know where I got them, but it will have be by email. I'm not getting into any of public forum rating of businesses, especially over a transaction a few years ago where it was my fault for not addressing the issue with the seller when I realized the problem. I got the plants in the summer and potted them up. By August it was apparent a couple had nemes. The thing is, I share the belief that they are pretty much an inevitable part of gardening. I am sure more people have them in their hosta companion plants than they even realize. As I said, the hosta were potted and isolated (which I believe is a sensible practice with new plants) and when I realized they had nemes I simply gave them the old hot water bath and they are fine. That vendor lost my business, but not because of the nemes- but because I thought the plants were very small for the price. But you are correct, Steve- I should have emailed and let them know they sent some plants with nematodes. Of course, it's been a couple years now and my memory is not so good that I would remember if I set the pots near a fern or a heuchera in the time before the nematodes showed up in the hosta leaves. But I don't think I did.

I nearly bought that plant a month ago, but then saw the Tokudama name underneath in parentheses, and I have that. Otherwise they would have listed a cultivar for example like H. tokudama 'Happy Hippo'. But obviously I could be wrong. Bernd

SE PA and NJ are not exactly pineapple capitals! My Dad started a pineapple from the top of one he bought at supermarket... sliced top off with very little flesh and just planted in a pot. It had to be repotted several times as it grew... over several years. It went outside on his front steps in late-April or so and came back inside around the end of October. After he passed away and sibs and I were clearing out his house, just didn't have the heart to leave it behind. Kinda funny how outside plants are immediately BIGGER when you bring them inside!?! It sat on a stool in corner of my NJ liviingroom. Then one day in the dead of winter I was almost scared by the sight of a TEENY pineapple growing up out of the center on a stalk. It was about the size of an egg. By the time I moved it outside in late-April or early-May... about the size of a lemon. Was about the size of a decent sized orange when it started bending the stem over, so I cut it off. The AROMA filled the house as this ROCK hard mini-pineapple sat on my kitchen counter for a week or so. The minute it had the slightest give, I cut it up. It was absolutely delicious! Even the core, that's generally tough in a regular sized fruit was tender. Needed NO sugar. Have a little Asian market near me... gonna have to see if they have yuzu!?!

I hope you don't mind an American chiming in. Episcopal is derived from a Latin word meaning bishop. It refers to the the authority of bishops in the hierarchical structure of the Church of England and Episcopal church, derived from the structure of the Catholic church. At the time of the American Revolution, churches too wanted to separate from England; hence the change in name. The same thing happened to the Church of Scotland, which became the Presbyterian church in the US after the Revolution. Presbyterian is derived from a Greek word meaning priest. It refers to the structure of that church, which does not have bishops and a hierarchy but governing bodies of presbyters. The Puritans, who were named for their desire to "purify" the Church of England from Catholic characteristics, settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They evolved into the Congregationalists, so-called from their style of church government in which the congregation is the ruling body. At the time of the Civil War (American), many churches divided along sectional grounds, sad to say. Most reunified after the war but the Baptists did not. Hence the Southern Baptists, one of the country's largest denominations. The Baptist church in the North, fairly common here in New England, is quite different from the Southern Baptists. As for the use of the word Episcopal in England, I hope some Brits will reply to your question.