Babka - It is a labor of love, but so worth it in the end. I'm not a fan of perlite either but I found this new potting mix called METRO MIX and it is delicious. It feels like air and the water just runs right through. The perlite floats, but I suppose I could skim it off the top - kind of like when you boil potatoes. :) Phil - agreed, I have plans to put them all in the ground . . . as to when . . . I'm still working on that part. :p I really want to take my time and think about where I want them to live for the duration. The soil could probably support them just fine as is, but I would feel better if they were planted with the intention of permanency with some nice soil to dig their roots in. I'm not in any hurry and will get them in the ground when the time is right. Until then they can live the posh life in pots. :p Steve and Jan - I usually do a bunch of research before I end up deciding on anything to buy, and all research for Andrew pointed to “don't waste your time”. But for some reason, I am bewitched by the foliage. The combination of the three colors along with the twisting of the leaf and overall size just scream “showstopper”. The reason I have three is I ended up ordering the first two Andrew from Hostas Direct. This was before I joined the forums and found out about other, better, retailers. I am not one to bash and I don't like to start drama, but I was so utterly disappointed with Hostas Direct. When I placed my first order with Naylor last year I saw he had Andrew as well and knew that Gary's plants were no joke, so I bought the third to act as a back up in case the two pip squeaks I got from HD petered out on me. Then come to find out that there was a bad batch of Andrew at some point (thank you Mocc and Chris) and I'll probably end up getting a fourth once the new TC batches have been out for a while. If after four attempts I can not get one to maturity then I guess it wasn't meant to be. Suppose I'll pick up the bad habit that is Great Expectations once I'm over Andrew. Glutton for punishment. Leafwatcher - I'm such a fuss bucket when it comes to the hostas I decide upon. I would love to be of a Collector's mindset and be able to justify the purchase simply because I don't already own it, but I seem to be leaning more toward the Gardner side where I'm looking for aesthetics versus functionality or quantity. Prime example of that is my obsession with Andrew despite it being a poor performer. I'm curious what three you share with me ? I'm also curious if I enabled you a little. :p Melissa - you sure said it :) I was showing my inexperience when I thought I'd cut corners by mixing 50/50. Only later did I read Ken tell someone else: “Mother Nature does not belong in pots” and that was when I knew I was in trouble, but it was already too late in the season for me to repot last year. I watched them like a hawk when they were thawing since I knew the top soil would hold too much water. Despite the horrid potting mix I concocted they all pulled through and will hopefully have a much better year in their new posh mix. :) Thanks everyone for checking out my thread. :) I'll be posting an update soon, so stay tuned. Ludi

DTD: Thanks for the kind words. This was a major learning experience for me. About the font size, I agree we'll have to wait and see, but I have an underlying faith in the basic common sense of Garden Webbers. I think most people will hesitate to blast our eyeballs with a lot of giant purple letters in their posts. And even if they do, the forum will gently (or maybe not so gently), instruct them to stop. I'm a hopeless believer in giving people a little more information than they probably asked for, and letting them pick out what they want. Claire

Soooooo......I've been googling images and scrolling through countless children's book illustrations on flickr and emailing very talented people like Hillary of Wee Wonderfuls, Sarah Jane of SarahJanestudio, and Tasha of A Little Sweetness to ask if they will custom design a couple of blocks...and.....no....they aren't doing custom work at this time. But today I did purchase a PDF pattern from Sarah Jane today that will help me with at least one block. And, I found some nice vintage images on flickr to save to my computer and then I can resize them on Photoshop. It looks like I may end up with revising a little boy to be a little girl, making a little girl into a bigger girl, and putting a man's head in one image onto the body of another man's image. I'm determined to get this how I want it! But I am finding lots of cute images for future projects and web sites of some wonderfully talented people. Teresa

I have a good one - allow edits or deletion of the original post in a thread. As it is right now, we can edit replies, but one cannot edit or delete the post that begins a thread, even if no one has replied to it or it's only been posted a few seconds. I can see why changes wouldn't be allowed after there are replies to it, but until then, editing or deleting it should be an option.