I had posted some pics on the perennials forum too, and someone over there wanted to know what the foliage looked like, so thought I would post it here too! :o) Thoses little white shoots that you see in the picture will all be blooms. As I said earlier they are really sprouting out all over. Glad those of you that are looking for it have found some places that carry it. But, BEWARE it does get big, and remember that "dumb" me planted 2 of them. Thought with our cold winters and shorter summers that it probably wouldn't get as big as advertised! Well lots of things don't (at least in other peoples gardens!) my daughter swears she does NOT want to know what is buried in our yard, as everything gets so BIG! ;-)

Hi Mike! Oops! you may be right! My gardenia could be nasty to me because I have the gender all wrong! You see, in my native language, Gardenia is a "she", but who knows what happens in the plant world? Gardenias are acid loving plants, Right? I have mine in mixed soil composed of peat moss, compost and good soil. I water it solely with rain water (of which we have plenty) I do not let the soil completely dry out. It gets sun in the morning and later on in the afternoon; total about 3 hours. I fertilize it with coffee tea every 2 weeks.( I haven't been able to find Miracid in my area). At the moment the plant has two buds, but they are like that for the last 3 weeks and they do not open. What am I doing wrong? Is there another acid fertilizer that I could use? anything , at all that I could do to get it t o bloom? I have checked for insects and the plants seems healthy otherwise. What is it?Please help!! Europe is going through a heat wave, no rain and we here in the east are short of having a deluge. Every plant is nice and green but my tomatoes are waiting for some sun to ripen. My geraniums are reeling from so much water. I lost two pelargoniums and who knows what else I will lose! Mike thanks for the offer to come to the rescue with the insecticide recipe. My plants will apreciate and so will I! Today sunday is raining again! Depressing!

I think Sierra went out on a high note, her little speech last night at tribal council was coherent and strong and rational, something you sure couldn't say about Coach's- that man is a lunatic! He and Debbie are perfect for each other, they're both lying snakes. "I'm a professional! I won't be lectured to by a 23 year old! I don't remember what we said yesterday." Geesh, what kind of example is SHE setting for those children at her school? That lying is A-OK if it's for a million bucks. Sierra busted Coach wide open, he thinks she's delusional and has herself convinced that what she thinks is the truth, is the truth? HE is the one doing that. That nutbucket has so many lies going on in his head on a daily basis, he's living in a dream world! I just want to pinch JT's head off, for not voting for Debbie. And Erinn's, too. Man. When you have an opportunity to get rid of someone, you should take it! They could have gotten Sierra anytime at all. Debbie, on the other hand, as they keep saying, is in it to win it, she's strategizing and it might end up biting them all in the butt now. And of all times to win your first anything, it had to be last night for Coach? I wanted to choke when he was going on about meditation and martial arts(super-secret stuff, don't bother to google it!) and prayer helping him out... don't forget LYING!!!!! When Coach walked past Brendan to cast his vote, Brendan was just cracking up. That was worth seeing.

Gosh, how could anyone NOT love that face? ? ? He looks so durned lovable! I don't blame you for looking forward to meeting him, hopefully he and your cats will get along well together. Looking forward to more pictures when he comes to visit. Rusty