Thanks all. It's Rubinette on my apple. I'd probably do cleft on this one, although W&T is the best, I think; I'm more reliable with cleft. Hadn't thought of chip, although I often do chip back ups with any splice. The Rubinette has been a vigorous grower (towards the top of my tree) and the one I ate seemed pretty good. It's also a good keeper and attractive and a convenient (not too large) size. Thanks again.

Gary...When it comes to plants, especially rarer specimens, it takes a LOT to discourage me. lol. When I first hunted Bottle Palms, 'Ebay,' all but one entry came up seeds. The actual palm plus shipping happened to be way over my budget.. :) Also, a seller can say seeds are fresh, when in fact, they're old and dry. How does one know if seeds are fertile? Especially since sellers place seeds in a plastic bag, without an expiration date. It's too bad most palms cannot be ID'd until semi-maturity, otherwise I'd snap a pic of the palm in the aquarium. It looks like most other palm seedlings.. Do Hyophorbe seedlings need direct sun? Are mature/large leaves thick or thin? When you speak of temps, 'lows,' do you mean as a container plant or grown in-ground? Seedlings or mature? I know 20-yrs is a long time, lol, but would you happen to remember how old/height your palm was when shape/bottle was noticeable? If you don't remember, it's understandable. Gary, considering my location, it'd be a longggg time before Hyophorbe would be 1/8th size of your tree.. I'd be happy with a 4'er w/a bottle-shaped trunk. Purple has a beautiful palm...smaller, but its trunk is thick and firm. It too reminds me of a Bottle palm. I wouldn't worry about adding plants near the pot rim, unless palm roots fill the entire container. A hanging/cascading plant that requires a lot of light would look great. Gary doesn't want 'pink' flowers, he wants blue..lol Asleep. I like your Sedum, especially the second plant. Never have seen that variety. Very handsome. Oh, thought you had the two Sedums now. You should write the guy, Asleep. Afterall, it was you who gave him cuttings? in the first place. If he says no, go to his house in the middle of the night and take cuttings..lol...j/k. Toni

What you would need to do would be to keep the top growth small in proportion to the smaller root system. I recently went to a lecture by a guy from Dave Wilson (wholesaler of fruit trees) and he said you could do that--keep an avocado trimmed down to about 8-10'. Of course, you are going to be out there trimming it frequently. Having said that, you want as big a planter as you can possibly give it, like 24"x24" or bigger, and as Renee said, you need to figure out a way to keep the root system cool and moist, perhaps with an outer white pot to insulate the inner one. Long term, train the tree into an umbrella shape so that the top growth will shade the container. Of course you are not going to get the yield you would get from a large tree, but if a few Avocados is enough, well there you go. And if you can return it and get a Reed instead of a Hass...the Avocado growers have a saying: "Hass you sell, Reed you eat."

You hear good and bad about all brands. There's many happy LG owners posting on this forum. There's people who have had bad luck with all brands. That's called reality. A heater isn't truly mandatory in my opionion but I think it's a good idea as long as it works on enough cycles to be functional, and raises the temperature of the water, not just maintains the temperature. The Epics have gotten a lot of good reviews, and they should, they're Whirlpools and a proven design. Samsung does not build machines for them anymore - that's old information. I understand your budget concerns and I think you're looking at good models. I do like the suggestion of the Miele though. Now $2000 for the washer is a lot, but considering the amount of laundry you do, you can justify it. However, with any of them, I would suggest you consider NOT getting a matching dryer. Save the money there and put it toward the washer. A large (7.4+) CF Whirlpool dryer can be bought for about $400-$500 or less and they're excellent dryers. I bought mine for $300 and would buy it again in an instant. If you're going HE, and especially with a heater, you need to be prepared for long cycle times. 2-3 hours worth. It takes time to heat the water and the tumbling action needs more time to clean the clothes over an agitator. You sound sold on a FL so I won't suggest looking at the HE TLs. And I haven't found anyone who can give rational reasons for steam either in the washer or dryer. I think the word is "gimmick". If you have a laundry tub next to your washer, you can run the water in the tub to get the hot water close to the washer to have it warmer going into the tub. Keep in mind the tub itself will cool the water down. That's why a good heater could be valuable. But it's not the end all be all either. Advantage sometimes? Yes. Essential? No. People have washed and sanitized clothes for years without them. And as you're looking, get figures on water temperatures in degrees, not ambiguous terms like "hot", "warm" or "cold". What's hot to you may well be cold to me.