Hi Jason, Welcome to this message thread. Zinnias are not houseplants, so growing them indoors is considerably more trouble than growing them outdoors. At least, that is the case here in most areas of the "lower 48" United States. Since your Philippine climate is summer and rainy season only, I would consider growing them outside as a less troublesome alternative. Zinnias are tender plants and susceptible to frost. Here in central-east Kansas we had a 23-degree F killing frost a couple of nights ago, so all of my outdoor zinnias are dead. But apparently that would not be a factor for you. There may be environmental factors in the Philippines that I don't know about, such as exotic insect pests or other creatures that have an appetite for zinnias. If there are any people reading this thread who have any experience gardening in the Philippines, we invite you to join in and share your knowledge here. As far as I know, there is no Philippine Gardening forum on GardenWeb, although there is a Tropicals forum, with several related forums. None of which address the problem of growing zinnias in the tropics, unless there is a message thread like that buried somewhere. There might be. Here in Kansas, zinnias are easy to grow outside and hard to grow inside. That said, as an enthusiastic zinnia hobbyist, I do grow zinnias inside, and have done so for several years, to extend my zinnia hobby year-round. I am growing a generation of newly hybridized zinnias from freshly saved seeds inside now. "I am thinking about planting it indoors using full spectrum CFL bulbs..... " I don't use compact fluorescent light bulbs because I don't need the "compact" feature, and I do need an extended light source. I use inexpensive 4-foot fluorescent shoplights, with 6500K T8 32-watt bulbs. Depending on the shelf size, I get three or four shoplights over each shelf. Each shoplight has two T8 bulbs. I overdrive many of my shoplights for nearly double the light output. Overdriven fluorescent bulbs are quite bright, although noticeably warmer to the touch, and probably have a shorter life because of that. But my bulbs are rated at 20,000 hours, so they usually outlast my fluorescent light ballasts even when overdriven. I get several years of use out of both my bulbs and ballasts. "should I germinate it first using paper towel method and then transfer it to the soil?, or should I just plant the seeds directly to the soil?" With paper towel germination, you risk damaging the root or cotyledons while handling the sprouted seedling to transplant it into the growing medium. The seedling can get into a contorted shape in the paper towel that is difficult to get properly situated in a growing medium without damaging the seedling. I plant my zinnia seeds directly in a growing medium, one seed per 3.25-inch square plastic pot, about a quarter-inch deep. I use a sterile growing medium instead of soil because there are several soil-borne diseases and pests and because a growing medium can have superior drainage and oxygen availability for the zinnia roots. Zinnias, like many plants, can "drown". "...and how many hours should I expose the plant to the light? " I usually set my timers to 16 hours of light and 8 hours of darkness. Sometimes 17 and 7. Zinnias are nominally Short Day Length plants, which means that the shorter days (or longer nights) of Fall trigger flowering. But the problem with indoor growing is that even with 17-hour days, zinnias will put out a first bloom in 5 to 6 weeks from when they germinated. I would prefer to get more vegetative growth, and I wish I could find a way to get that without pinching the growing point to cause branching. I am still learning the ins and outs of zinnia culture myself. I am thinking about experimenting with still longer daylight time periods. I can go into more details about growing zinnias indoors, but first I would like to know more about your situation -- in particular whether it might be better to grow your zinnias outdoors. And maybe somebody else can "chime in" with some comments as well. ZM

moccasin - those are some nice lights! i can see why you like them. I bet they're more than 20-30 $s each tho... I loved that the globes come in colors... I'd stay away from the red tho. OTOH that could be good for an emergency signal to a neighbor. I'm too poor to pay much for the lights - even if I find a SWern one i like it's sure to be more than 30.00 and I think I should limit it to that. I need 3 - plus a few (plus) inside need replaced based on they are UGLY. I found these 2 at lowe's. both plain but would do the job - cheaply. it'll probably be the first one unless I find something better for the price in the store. around 25.00 with clean lines. I'd have to see how my chubby little fingers fit for changing the bulb. it's better I don't have to mess with those little screws and chance dropping the globe since things seems to jump out of my hands. I remember changing bulbs in the screw on globe type yrs ago. max wattage is 100w this one is about 21.00. I like it, again clean, simple lines - this one has a frosted globe. has the little screws tho and max wattage is 60w.

Nice blueberries bushes Sam! he he on the good luck rocks...lol Straw, here's a pic of our largest and best D. Ko bush that we have in our yard. I planted it directly after I took out another rose that was in that spot for 30+ years. No ill effects at all...Only positive results in this case... If Thomas Affleck itself is capable of blooming well in that spot out front he will when he is ready. If not he will get replaced by a rose bush that will bloom better without having to change soil......(My grandpap god rest his soul would turn over in his grave if I ever changed our native soil for a rose bush or any other plant/shrub..) I can still here him saying for every plant that doesn't work there is one that will...lol... He would also say NEVER change your native soil unless you plan on veggie gardening the rest of your life...lol.. (Referring to our soil here).... Come to think of it I had Zinnias in Thomas Affleck spot last year. After seeing these Zinnia pics again and remembering we got the most compliments ever from them out front. Thomas Affleck will be surrounded next year by a few Marigolds but tons of Zinnias! A bit smaller ones though as we can't block the sun from Thomas...I'll get 2ft high Zinnias for the back and 15 inch Zinnias for the front...

I thought it sounded like a lot of filler too. I've got a call in to Dr. D's office to clarify a few things. I know nothing about fat transfer, but will do some research. Dr. D did tell me that the area on my face that is starting to slightly jowl is not as a result of saggy skin, but I have excess fat in that area and due to other parts of my face on which gravity is taking its toll, the jowling is taking on more of a prevalent look. I don't know if I should be pleased to know that it's not just saggy skin but a fat face that I have! LOL!