Mehitabel - The good side of things is that I've realized what a ridiculous waste of money so many things are. Starbucks? No way! 4 tall lattes = a new orchid. I'd rather take the orchid, thanks. Q - you clearly are much more well behaved than I am. You should try the sedirea though - no need for a tank, and if it can survive in the cold, dry, sun-less canadian winter, I'm sure it'll do fine for you. MrB - Hopefully I don't come across as being presumptuous for getting these kinda hard to grow plants - honestly, I do realize how much I need to learn! :) Actually, some of the things I ordered were not listed on the oakhill website; I e-mailed Greg and he sent me a list of things. That was pretty cool of him to do. Still searching for that distincta/splendida though Carol - those ghosts are really cute but weird...there are several of them mounted on one stick...seems like they were recently mounted. I've popped them into the tank and will be keeping a close eye on them. If they do well in the next few weeks I'll post an update. Let me know if you're interested in trying one or two :) Kev - you terrible enabler. Yes, I definitely did eye the dends. That's for my next order :-) And speeding across the great lakes on a boat? Puh-leeeze...that's soo crude - I'm much more of a jumping-from-a-plane-with-parachute-orchids-in-tow-in-the-dead-of-night kinda guy. PS - my habenaria woke up! what should I do with it? WC - You've seen right through my pathetic delusions! Yes...sob...you're right...curse the internet, Jay's orchid species website, and this forum and you bunch of lovely evil enablers :D

I did some research about figs in Canada and the west coast is where you'll see fig trees loaded with crop. It's amazing what they can do on the west coast. There are bay leaf trees, 30-foot palm trees, huge laurels, huge rhododendrons, tall bamboo!, redwood, eucalyptus and of course figs... with a second crop!? I can't find much about Ontario figs but they need forms of protection. I'm reading about climate and the west coast winters are much milder than Ontario's but the coast has cooler summers than the BC interior and southern Ontario. But in pure irony bamboo and palm trees grow with ease on the BC coast. They have grapes and wineries on Vancouver Island. Rosemary is evergreen there. I like video evidence. Videos of figs on a BC west coast island or palm trees swaying in the wind in Vancouver tells a bigger story than was ever told before the Internet existed. Retiring gardeners should explore the west coast online at the very least. Here is a link that might be useful: Figs galore in BC

Not all cowhorn types get that tall, especially in drought years and particularly if dryland farmed, which is how my family always grew okra. With good soil and good irrigation, most cowhorns get unmanageably large. To control their size somewhat, you can plant them in your worst soil and don't irrigate them and they'll stay more manageable. There are a few types of cowhorn okra available commercially that remain a reasonable size. Two that I can think of that are available from Baker Creek are Grandpa Kurtz's Cowhorn Okra, which gets only about chest-high, and Pitre's Short Red Bush Cowhorn Okra (I probably butchered that name by trying to type it from memory, but it is close if not exact). Fife Creek Cowhorn generally doesn't get any taller than 6 or 7 feet tall for me if I plant it in unimproved soil and don't water it. Since I'm only a couple of inches over 5' in height, a 6' or 7' tall okra is still taller than I like, but it is not as tall as regular cowhorn okra. I'm fairly sure that in the children's tale about "Jack and the Beanstalk", those tall beans must have been climbing a cowhorn okra plant and using it as a trellis. Little Lucy is becoming very hard to find, but Burpee's Baby Bubba is a green okra plant that stays under 3' in height. It is pretty ornamental but not as ornamental as Little Lucy.

Having received e-mail about this post, will address several of the comments. 1) “Underlining of “found” roses, having an official AEN was not indicated, and could cause some confusion”. (I now realize that in “Word”, the underling of information does not appear when posted on the GW) 2) “Additional data on any “found” roses having an AEN would be helpful”. 3) “The fact, that “found” roses can be exhibited in a show that has a special class for “found” roses”. While they cannot receive ARS awards, are shown strictly for their educational value. (This being one of the main purposes of posting this list. That if a show schedule did have a special class for them, the exhibitor would at least have an idea of what roses are considered “found” roses). With this posting it will move down the line, replaced in the near future with one with more complete detailed information. Any comments or suggestions please use this post. Thanks