Here's a rundown of best way to overwinter gunnera, got this from a local nursery (the best, Hughes Water Gardens in Tualatin, Oregon - outside Portland). Make a chicken wire circle screen around the plant, allow about a foot out from the plant crowns and if possible a foot above the plant (once the leaves have been cut off). Cut off the leaves, many folks use the leaves to cover the crowns from water but I use my leaves (leaf-casting). Once the leaves and stems are cut down and the wire fence is in place, dump your tree leaves into the circle and over the tops of the plants. I use maple leaves as I don't have to worry about creating a nursery for black walnuts, horse chestnuts, etc. (I have tons of garbage trees around). I load up the leaves and tuck them lightly in around the plant crowns. I continue tossing leaves on top until I have at least 6-12" on top of the crowns. I usually put some sort of wire mesh across the top just to make sure the leaves don't blow out. When I put the leaves on I don't use wet, mushy ones that are already heating up as a compost but allows some air in the batch. In the Spring, I can pull off a some of the top layer and the leaves of the plant will simply start pushing through all the maple leaves. When I know that frost is past, I pull back the maple leaves to allow the gunnera leaves to come through. I usually leave most of the maple leaves in the "pit" as they will continue to compost down. I've never had any problems with any kinds of bugs on this plant, at worst I get horse chestnuts falling and tearing the leaves (limited places to grow him) and too much hot afternoon sun. to handle both of those problem, I erect a tent around the plant with a type of shade tarp that shelters the plant through summer. As for ideal growing conditions, I sunk a huge plastic tub ito the ground (with a single small hole) and used half potting soil and half manuere on it. This way I can water the gunnera and he can sit in water and my trees don't suck it all up. they do love the water and while they have some resistance to cold (Ireland has a problem with these being invasive), it's just not an evergreen. I hope that info helps some folks. If well cared for, each year the plant will come back with slightly larger leaves so consider him an investment in your garden. great plants and thanks to Hughes for the writeup, mine have been doing great now going on 4 years! BTW, some plants I have bought before were really lame and didn't survive no matter what I did so the stock you purchase does make a difference. Don't get frustrated if you lose one and you did everything right.

Carolyn your eyes look a little bloodshot are you OK? Ha ha LOL :) I think that if we did not have each other to talk to and to share our plants with we would probably not have so many plants. Being able to share info and make connections has really added to the enjoyment of growing Hoyas. I think as a group we are enablers at times but more often I think we just decide for ourselves that we need this or that plant after seeing a photo or hearing about someoneÂs successes. I know that some of us really have very little space left for more plants but we can't seem to stop making Hoya wish lists and then slowly working our way through them. I made a list last night and it was around 109 species if I remember correctly, a friend sent me their list and it dwarfed mine with a total of almost 400 Hoyas including several duplicates of some hard to find species. Mike

Thanks for all the posts. We've had the calacatta in for about two months….and I love it! Even though my fabricator said it was sealed once at the shop and I saw him put on Bulletproof at my house, it was still taking in dark water marks almost immediately after water hit it. I guess I got a porous slab. I used some more Bulletproof and it got a little better. Then I used 311 Miracle Porous Plus (which I bought from Amazon). Let me tell you, that stuff is the best. You have to test it, but man….did that solve my darkening problems. I'm not going to say I won't have a problem, but it sure seems to be holding up well now. I love that Porous Plus…highly recommend. I've actually had more issues with the honed Lagos Azul limestone which I have on my bar area…that stuff takes in stains…I had a gardenia floating in a bowl of water and somehow the bowl left a ring? It was water! The ring faded after 2 weeks and although I can still see it, it is very faint….but that material seems to be way more temperamental than the calacatta. I bought the Range Kleen mats and have cutting boards all over the place. We try to set drinks on cutting boards just in case they could leave a ring, but so far so good. If anyone is thinking about white marble, I saw go for it. But ask me again in a year! I'm still waiting for my kitchen backsplash, then I'll post pics.

I just saw this thread, 10 days late, or I would have joined. I did go to the link, and it worked fine, although I did not test the sound. I'm using my laptop here in Cathedral City, and it is a built-in video camera, but I do not know where the microphone is. I would have to guess that it is next to the camera. I usually use headphones for the sound, as they sound much better. I cannot read any NY Times articles, but here's a C-NET article on the subject, regarding privacy concerns. I don't think they apply to me because I am not working from home. I did just get a call from my ex-boss yesterday, and she told me that she misses me and wanted to know how my brother and I were doing. I asked about her children in NY, and she told me that they had recently taken a trip to the Bahamas, and some of them had to change planes in NY to get to Boston. This was just 10 days ago, and she was not happy about that.