fire ants/termites I had a termite problem twice in the last 40 years. 1st fix was to create a barrier, this kept them away, however it eventually faded and they came back. 2nd fix, (same company)...$2000 each fix. First episode which was treated by a professional co, was to drill holes inside and outside of our home, and blow in what they called a barrier, didnt kill, just kept them away. $2000.00 for that one.15 years later..their back again.. New treatment and it works. another $2,000 A termite needs to shed to grow, if they do not shed they die a natural death. Tubes are placed in the soil with bait sticks that termites enjoy eating, when termites are detected these bait sticks are removed and special sticks are added into these tubes. They enjoy eating this stuff also. When they go back to their buddies they inform them how delicious this meal is, they all go and eat. When termites eat this material they continue on with their lives, however when it comes time to shed they die, because this material keeps them from shedding. The colony that was here isn't any more. If you use a termite killer, it only kills the termites affected and not the colony, you want to eliminate the colony. I wrote this to explain how termites are now eliminated. I know very about ants, needless to say fireants.. It is my opinion you should try to destroy each colony, you'll never do that by targeting individual packs of ants..

Sorry for the confusion, @deeinohio. I was unclear - my mistake! I do indeed mean width. It appears I can get woven bamboo blinds in just about any length, but the maximum width at every site I have tried is 96". I need 104" width. Thank you for the recommendation @jennybog, but unfortunately the width of the blinds on that site also max out at 96". I had tried emailing one site whose beautiful shades I really wished could be made wider. They told me they could not make the shades any wider,as 96" was the max from the manufacturer they sourced their shades from, but I could try getting a longer width locally from a custom shade/drapery company. This gave me a small bit of hope that such a thing was indeed possible. Before opening myself up to the expensive sales pitches from the few (very high end) local shops we have, for what was supposed to be a simple window covering (lol), I thought to ask here if anyone knew of any secret online sources. But so far it is appearing that 96" is the max of any site suggested. Boo.

Since we talked about marcotting Michelia alba a few months ago, I would like to share a few photos of my marcotted Michelia alba. Marcotting propagation on plant is also called Air-layering propagation. I did the marcotting of the Michelia alba branch last year. I cut the branch off and potted it two weeks ago. It is amazing to see the branch has such wonderful design built in to be able to transform itself into a new plant.

I'd be weary, even if they're a good brand like Hunter Douglas. we have two different brands of cellular blinds. one cordless, one with a single loop cord. they each had totally different problems. the cordless ones were fine at first but went slightly slack on one side, making them crooked. the corded ones are not slack at all, but the strings seem off balance so they're also crooked. The reps told us there is no way to fix them. I can fix old school mini blinds by pulling different strings, but when it comes to these newer shades, the string winding mechanisms are contained inside the header and I couldn't find a way to access them. granted my brand was cheaper, so maybe Hunter Douglas will not do that. but be sure to ask your rep what to do if they go crooked. will they fix them? (if they say that they can't be fixed but they'll replace them, run away. do you want to ask for new sets of replacement blinds every couple of years, and then toss the old ones in the landfill?) as far as cordless -- I wouldn't recommend that for really wide shades. it's easier for one hand to go up higher and make them crooked, and then you have to stand there and adjust. imagine how annoying that would be on super wide shades. the loop cord is easier to operate.