Jane - it's not uncommon for someone to make unsupportable statements, then treat them as fact and build an entire case around them. It happens on every active forum every day of every week. I'd like to take 4 paragraphs you wrote and use them to illustrate the difference in how we think. Your offerings are in bold and I'll comment intermittently. I have seen more underlit plants than I care to mention. Those plants lanquish and eventually decline. Plants growing in light that limits their potential ("underlit plants") needn't necessarily be in decline. Decline is a condition during which a plant is using more energy than it's able to produce - nothing more than that. It's entirely possible, and it happens very often, that a plant we might consider unsightly due to it having received less light than it needs to keep it looking good (from our POV), is able to sustain life and growth under light conditions insufficient to keep it looking as attractive as we would like - indefinitely, as long as it's life span isn't limited by the fact the plant is an annual or biennial, or by other potentially limiting cultural factors. Many people mistake the label, 'low-light plant' or 'shade,' without realizing how much light is lost by having a plant too far from a window. If a plant stops growing, it is not producing roots which uptake water. Without growth doesn't matter what a plant is in. I promote light first and foremost. First, "A[ny] plant that is not growing is dying" ~ Alex Shigo, PhD; this, because growth is a byproduct of the plant's ability to make more food than it needs to keep its systems orderly. A plant that is too far from a window to keep it looking healthy can still be growing and producing roots. Even if the top of the plant seems to have stalled, the roots can still be growing because root growth always precedes top growth. Also, it does matter "what a plant is in" if it's not growing because in most cases a lack of growth is directly linked to inhibited root function, which is very often related to limitations inherent in poor media. I have no argument with your recommendations to people who choose to use a grit mix. I think its good. But the majority of people who have multiple house plants are not going through the effort to put it together. A very quick scan of any of several fora will clearly illustrate otherwise. They will just continue to stick their plants in Miracle Grow. This is also untrue. While you focus on labels like the gritty mix and the 5:1:1 mix, I focus on helping others implement a concept, the effectiveness of which you can't question because you regularly note it's superior to methods you use. Growers implement the concepts I espouse with great regularity - primarily because it makes so much sense to do so. I suggest a alternative using bark or perlite to keep the mix from clumping and enhancing the drainage. Drainage isn't enhanced to a notable degree until the threshold that's been described in many conversations is reached. It occurs when there aren't enough fine particles to fill potential air spaces between larger particles (the BBs and sand analogy). And how is a 1:1:1 ratio of bark: peat or potting soil: perlite better at preventing "clumping", something I've never had to deal with. These same people are not going to get involved in perched water. This is very important: They ARE involved with perched water. If your medium supports it, you're involved with it in a direct relationship based on how much of it there is. I'm sure to your eyes and ears this is horrifying. Not at all - I'm a realist. But it is what I deal with on a daily basis with both orchids and house plants. Its my reality and I have found my alternative is simple enough for them to follow. It is also less expensive for them. It takes exactly the same amount of thought and effort to locate and mix the ingredients for the 5:1:1 mix as it does for the 1:1:1 mix you suggest because the ingredients are exactly the same - they're equally simple mixes. The 5:1:1 mix is actually LESS expensive because it utilizes a larger fraction of low-priced pine bark and a smaller fraction of higher-priced potting soil ..... and it's lighter. My plants do not seem to have a problem with perched water. As I noted previously, they DO have a problem with perched water, in that it is sapping potential. You might be perfectly happy with the state of your plant's vitality, but you can be sure that anything that limits the roots oxygen supply limits root function limits the plant and robs potential. We all know the 5:1:1 mix supports some perched water and that the 5:1:1 mix already includes some compromise to extend watering intervals. Therefore, it would be unreasonable to ask growers to believe that a medium with a much higher volume of fine particulates doesn't hold perched water and that the perched water it does hold has no impact on the root system's ability to function w/o limitation. As I said, the roots fill the base of the pot and will grow out the drain holes. I would think that would not happen in a mix holding too much water. Why would you think that? When the soil dries sufficiently, more or less normal root growth resumes, and some roots will grow outside of the pot. When roots die from hypoxic conditions, it's always the finest roots that die first - the ones that do all (ok - 90%+) of the work. The most significant loss is in the constant death and regeneration of the finer, nearly microscopic roots. To replace the roots killed by soggy soils (so the plant can return to 'normal' function) is an expensive outlay in terms of energy - energy that would otherwise have been directed toward more blooms, fruit, longer branches, more leaves, or a simple increase in biomass. IOW - lost potential. The roots would rot and would not grow into the base of the pot. Roots DO rot and die, it just happens that it's the fine roots that easily get overlooked that take the hit. That is not what happens. It actually IS what happens, but this is another case of someone floating an explanation that doesn't fit the observation in order to refute something we know to be true. Perched water IS limiting and the more you have the greater the limitation(s). I hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday - raining off & on again here in mid-MI. Al

@dizzyizzy I haven't tried this (they are fabulous, so much talent around here) but I think it depends how much effort you want to put in and where your located. We have an architectural salvage store where you could walk in and buy an older window anywhere from $30-$100+ depending on size, condition, # of panes, etc. Easy but you're paying for it. You could also check out Craigslist. I've seen them on there from $5-$50+. Less expensive but more hit or miss. Then you could look around on trash day or look for a remodel job and score them at the curb for free. I like the last option. Part of the fun is the hunt.

The Kansas City Star, local newspaper, featured a conifer garden in their Sunday edition. The article was so interesting my wife and I decided to contact the owner to see if we could visit the garden. The owner was Marvin Snyder a past president of the ACS. The garden in a residential setting is a product of 40 plus years of incorporating natural limestone rock, over 300 rare conifers and many deciduous companion plants. These three main ingredients make this conifer garden truly unique. There are also sculptures and fountains. That's how I got hooked...it took about an hour. My wife and I embarked on a new journey...create our own conifer garden. This was about ten years ago. We then purchased our first conifer a Howell's Tigertail. It is still with us today. This addiction comes on slowly almost unnoticed until those sudden impulses to visit the local nursery almost daily to look at the various plants. Studying each label to determine if your garden has a spot for the selected plant. Currently, we enjoy each season of the garden. We now anxiously await spring to incorporate new thoughts and ideas that have accumulated over the winter months. Dave

What a wonderfully thought out house. I like that the guest room can accommodate a health aide, in the future. Something like that can extend the amount of time one can maintain some form of relative independence in one's own home. We're also building an empty-nester house & we could have reduced the footprint of the house by putting all of the "guest" bedrooms in the lower level (unfinished, for now). However, we chose to generously size the room and include an en suite bath so that whoever may need to stay there for a more extended period than the occasional guest would be comfortable. Even if we don't have a health aide, there may come a time when one of us needs extra equipment (hospital type bed, oxygen, etc.) so it will be nice if the other can rest more comfortably in another room while still being within calling distance. Tell your kiddos, "Well done!" You have every right to be proud and thank you for sharing. Jo Ann