A plant she sent me back in the spring DID bring in rust. I have sprayed it half to death and so far it hasn't spread to any other plants around the garden. It has actually put up another fan. While at the National, I visited her garden. It was set up very nicely and there were some very nice seedlings and futures, perhaps some of these ( haven't had a chance to compare pictures to the intros). The one thing that really bothered me was that one ( in particular) of her expensive new introductions had an absolutely gorgerous bloom. I was all set to buy it, but as I looked, every single plant - and there must have been 30 or more of this cultivar - was blooming down in the foliage. This is a very bad trait ( IMHO) that she will hopefully breed out. I know most hybridizers try to breed this out very quickly. But I just could not bring myself to pay the big bucks for a plant that bloomed down in the foliage. Perhaps in another climate, it would bloom differently than in Florida. I know often Florida plants grow at different heights here than they have been registered in Fl. I only saw a few of her plants blooming low, but henceforth, I will probably wait to see future intros of hers growing in gardens around here before buying more.

I think that depends on the Kohleria. I don't grow them much so they are mostly outside of my range of being able to to offer advice though I'm sure Irina may be able. I have one, Tropical Knight, and it gets fun sun in the morning for about 4 hours. It takes it just fine as long as it has plenty of moisture (wicked) and keeps the plant a lot more compact that I can under my artificial lights. But Tropical Knight also has dark, almost burgundy leaves and another Koleria with pale green leaves might burn easily. If yours is reaching and getting leggy at all, I'd /ease/ it into brighter light (so not to shock or burn it) and see how it adjusts. Pinching also helps keep it busy and thick rather than bolting.

What a nuisance. Well, I don't grow a deep purple but 'Dusky Challenger' has been the favorite for many years. Schreiners turns out superb lav-blues and purples. Looking at pictures it seems Dusky is a bit darker than 'Matinata'. Which is lovely. 'Black is Back' (Schreiners, AM'14), 'Black Suited' (Innerst, HM'03), 'Black Tie Affair' (Schreiners, AM'97) --- pictures show them to be on the blacker side. Deep wine reds --- I didn't like 'Mulled Wine' (Keppel, AM'86) after a day because it opened its standards too wide but great color. 'Merlot' was meh. The names escape just now but I found the saturated jewel tones stunning. Their dawback is fade. Ghio does some. Maybe Keppel. BlueJ Iris has reasonable prices and a large selection. I think you deduct 10% if you don't want bonuses. Listed are awards which is helpful when I am unsure. If an iris didn't even get an HM I'm probably going to be disappointed down the line (experience speaking). I also look at height for my small garden. Try to resist the 40 inchers. Good luck Linnea.

At first I didnt think the dress worked, but after reading some of the comments, and reading where you said it is silver (as opposed to gray which is what I thought),and picturing it with dressy accessories- ie strappy sandals, purse etc, I think it would work. I too have a big aversion to having to buy something for an event- sounds like you don't love shopping and you do love that dress.