Kate, I lurk over here once in awhile, and happened to see your post. I do smoothies in several ways. Recently I've bought some little push-up containers for freezing and I'm making popsicles that are 'the bomb' - excuse the pun. I'll start with two recipes for popsicles that were given to me 30 years ago, and they easily converted to sugar-free, fat-free. The first is for fudgesicles. Mix a 3 oz box of instant sugar free chocolate pudding mix according to package directions, using nonfat milk. Then blend in a ?13 oz? can of nonfat evaporated milk (not the sweetened kind, just plain evap milk. If you're not watching your fat grams, regular evap milk makes a creamier fudgesicle, but these aint half bad.) Pour into molds and freeze. (If you're not on a diet, a cup or two of brewed flavored coffee and a can of that sweetened evap milk, frozen, is also yummy. But I digress......) The second is for dripless popsicles. It calls for a 3 oz box of any flavor Jell-o, mixed according to package directions. Do not chill. Instead, add a can of evap milk to make a "Dreamsicle", or 2 cups of mixed fruit, (mashed or pureed). Pour into molds and freeze. Now, for what I call a "milkshake", soften 2 tsp. of unflavored gelatin in about 1/2 cup water. Then place this in the microwave until the gelatin has melted and the mixture is kinda like eggwhite. This takes only 30 seconds or so. Into your blender, place whatever kind of fruit strikes your fancy. I like peach, banana or strawberry the best, or a mixture. Maybe about a cup. Add about half cup of water. If you want it like a smoothie you would not add dry milk, but I add 1/3 cup dry milk because I like it better that way. Start the blender, and while it is whirring, pour in the hot gelatin. Then start dropping ice into the blender until the mixture thickens and becomes smooth. Pour into a glass and eat it with a spoon. If your fruit is not sweet enough on its own, add some artificial sweetener or sugar. Smoothies can be made with all kinds of different fruits, and lot of times I just throw frozen fruit into the blender in lots of different combinations: plum and banana with some frozen apple juice concentrate. Canned pineapple and frozen strawberry with some frozen orange juice concentrate. Something tart with something sweet, you know? You can leave out the gelatin if you don't want to go to the trouble, but I like the smooth creaminess it gives to the finished product. You can make a very nice 'cheesecake' by using the gelatin, fat-free cream cheese, some dry milk powder and lemonade concentrate. Of course there's sugar in the lemonade concentrate. You can also make a 'chocolate shake' by using the gelatin mixture recipe, replacing the fruit with 1 cup water and another 1/3 cup of nonfat dry milk powder, and adding maybe a tablespoon of cocoa. I like to go to Allrecipes.com and I notice they're featuring a lot of smoothie recipes there. So if none of these appeal to you, try there. They have a search function you can use, just search on 'smoothie'. I'm not connected to them in any way, I just like the site. Oh, and BTW, lots of things can be frozen and eaten without thawing (besides cookies, but I'm digressing again...). Grapes are delicious frozen, as are blueberries, peaches and apple slices (dip the apple slices in salt water, drain and freeze, 1 tbsp to a gallon -- do the math for smaller quantities, you don't taste it and it keeps the apple from turning). Bananas can be frozen in the skin, but not for a very long tine. To eat, run water over the skin to thaw it a bit, score it down the length of the banana and pry up along one edge. It will peel right off, usually in one piece. The skin will have blackened but the banana inside is still yellow and creamy. My kids used to call frozen banana 'ice cream'. LOL You must eat it while it's frozen though because when it thaws it's not a pretty sight. Watermelon and cantaloupe make wonderful popsicles. The trick is to puree them first. Cantaloupe is wonderful blended into apricot jello for popsicles. I think they have watermelon flavor jello now but I haven't tried it. There are all kinds of possibilities for smoothies, and any smoothie can be made into a popsicle. If you're interested, I bought my popsicle push-up molds at organize.com (not affiliated with them either). They're called cool cones. I like them very much. They don't leak out the bottoms so when I freeze them I set them upright in the freezer and let the 'stems' hang down between the wires of the shelf until they're solid. I hope this helps! --Ilene

I agree with homechef59's recommendation of getting the basic "C" model Vitamix. In other words, I would save myself $100 and buy the Vitamix 5300 model which is in regular stock at at the Costco stores. (It was about $350 at Costco when I was there yesterday.) BTW: The current 5300 models at Costco now have the shorter container that fits on kitchen counters underneath the upper cabinets. IIRC, the main differences between the 5300 and 6500 are: (a) slightly different control interface with the 6500 having an additional dial with three quick presets; and (b) the 6500 package comes with some accessories. I do not care about presets but you might like/need/want them. (IIRC, the presets were "soup," "smoothies" and "fozen desserts." Also, IIRC, the manual speeds markings on on the 6500 will give slightly different motor speeds than the ones on the 5300. ( My memory is that the 6500's dial adjuster goes all the way to maximum high where the 5300 has a separate toggle for switch for max high.) For the accessories, take a hard look at them and consider whether you would actually use them. You always can get the ones you want later if you develop a need for them. FWIW, I bought my my 5200 from Costco 4 years and and have been pleased. Far and away the best blender I've owned. (The tall cannister/blending jar is not a problem in my kichen --- the current 5300 model is essentially the same product with a shorter cannister/blending jar). The thing is strong enough to mix concrete. Tried a Blendtec (Costco roadshow) and thought it equally capable, but the roadshow Blendtec unit was more expensive than the VM5200 on the shelves at Costco at that time. I do not care about smoothies but, as ifoco mentioned above, the VM lets you puree soups without needing to strain them. Basically the same idea as smoothies except for being hot. My biggest tests for making soups I do not have to strain: (a) ginger carrot soup (also use VM to make carrot juice for this recipe in addition to getting a creamy soup when everything is cooked together) and (b) creamed pea and spinach soup. All my previous blenders required straining from the blender to get these soups creamy smooth. The pea soup has a lot of fiber in it: petit pois (from Costco) with lightly cooked fresh spinach (bags from Costco with the stems), sweated onions, cooked rice (cream substitute for my aging lactose intolerant friends), chicken stock and secret herbs and spices. (Okay the herbs and spices are curry powder, white pepper & lemon zest). For checking out earlier reviews, the current 5300 is a slightly newer version of the 5200 and the 6500 is a slightly revised version of the 6300. For further reviews from users, search the "cookware" forum at chowhound and the "kitchen consumer" forum at eGullet.

My Berry Smoothie was in afternoon sun (1pm to sunset) and grew like a weed for 1.5yrs. However, the dusty rose/purple color it takes on in summer made me move it to the back of my bed yesterday (it looks great Spring and Fall though...). Can't speak for forever purple.

Seems to have been around long enough so that if others had found it to be a dud it would have shown up on Don Rawson's list of Difficult To Grow Hostas, and it hasn't...so, if yours is stuck in neutral I'd look at environmental factors. For instance could there be root competition? Pieter