Timing depends on kind of shrub. In future look up pruning of each before doing anything major. This kind blooms on old wood so you must have old wood present to get a full bloom. Due to the variation in growth types and the number of different techniques entire books are written on pruning alone. I may have as many as 10 of them myself, and there are ones in stores right now I haven't bought.

Aw thanks everyone for the warm welcome back. I missed chatting with you. I used to have kind of a "meh" attitude about Florida and now I can't for the life of me figure out why. It's so easy on the eyes. And really nice folks there - although maybe they're just so nice because they're living in paradise. /Eileen. I hear you about the furry babies. I have been out of town so much lately that my cat is punishing me. ._.' So great that you have 3 sisters down there! I definitely hope I get to retire near my sisters someday. /Poseidon. "I agree, joni is one of those people that you just do not forget meeting." You just could not have put it better. That's what I keep trying to explain to people about her. I can't quite put words to her, but she's one of a kind. /Pug. It is exactly like that. I felt like Homer in that episode of The Simpsons where he is in The Land of Chocolate. All those little planty faces staring up at you, and their moms nearby so you can see exactly what they will look like when they are of an established size. It should make it easier to decide what you want, but really what happened to me was that I suddenly saw the appeal of all the plants I'd previously vetoed when merely viewing them online. Unfortunately Kelly has been busy addressing some health issues. We recently heard she was making some progress and I'm sure she'll be on here again eventually. I miss her too. /Renee. Whoa a vacation with both Bulbophyllums and Hoyas?! That's pretty posh. :) I hope you're able to make it out to Sarasota/Siesta Key. My sister really wanted me to drop her off in Siesta Key while I was visiting Joni but unfortunately for her, she slept in and I wasn't going to wait any longer! :P /Ima. It's a really pretty area, so I think it would make a fun day trip. If your daughter takes you, maybe as a thank you gift, you'll be faced with the same conundrum as I was: what a person's First Hoya should be. I went with polystachya, but Joni's suggestion of merrilli was a really good one, I thought.

Paint gets me excited too. I love thinking about it, picking up chips on my lunch hour, finally buying test quarts and the whole painting the trial color on the wall. It's frustrating too, but in a good way. Love the Tobacco Road strip. I've tried the tobacco road but it didn't work for the room I was painting. I realized it would have been a great choice for the master bedroom if I had had it then. (MBR is Laura Ashley Gold #3, a great color but more gold than TR) I had Dried Tobacco for years in my master bath. Very dark and bronze green and pretty. Red

put the sparrow trap out yesterday. went to the shed to get the junk seed for bait. over the winter, the darn mice ate it all! went ahead and opened the ends. picked up some seed today, went to bait the trap and found this... two males and one female!! squeee!!! the blues have been checking out both nest boxes, the one in the back yard and the one out front. :)