Bumping this thread to report that...not surprisingly...the Azara is dead as a doornail. As is my Escallonia 'Apple Blossom' or whatever it could be. FWIW it was definitely hardier than 2-3 other Escallonias I'd tried...'Frades' being one of them...and had persisted since 2006, having variable winter damage each year but returning quickly in spring. I suppose it could still sprout from the roots, but the lowest stems, unlike any prior years, are like driftwood now. OTOH, both of them were some of the only Chilean shrubs to not mind our summers, and, when I'm in the mood again (not this year) I will probably reorder them. I think the novelty of having a plant from every continent is appealing; though I have a few Brazilian plants like Fuchsia regia (which might not return, but I doubt it...I've observed multiple times that even young plants put down roots 10-12") there was something really cool about being able to say a plant came from Chile. I might as well wrap up my antipodal/California plant deaths here: Grevillea victoriae - utterly amazing, looks better than some zn 7 rated rhododendrons. Is acting like it wants to be become a tree, so I've started limbing it up. Grevillea juniperina - more injured, but still alive Eucalyptus parvula - had been one of the better Eucs. for me. E. neglecta just gets roasted by the wind here. E. lacrimans was the hardiest but died after 14" of rain fell over 2 days one September. Anyhow it got to about 15' tall. After first round of 3F, was showing very little injury and foliage still smelled alive and was turgid. However, cold outbreak after cold outbreak took their toll, and the last time any of it seemed alive was probably late February. Then, the cold March finished that off. I suppose the roots could sprout, but I doubt it. Ceanothus 'Concha' - dead; had been in garden in since 2007 and showed light to moderate injury. In a raised bed on a south wall...about the best circumstances for it, because it protected it from winter wind and summer rain. Probably will retry, some day. I really wish someone would do more east/west crosses, or even just offer 'Henri deFosse' which is like a more saturated 'Gloire de Versailles' and would have been more likely to survive the winter in that same spot. Fremontodendron 'Ken Taylor' - dead, although it still had some green foliage until this week. (NB we are having yet another cold outbreak - the 15th since this winter started? But I luckily escaped freezing again) Was in a similar spot, but even more protected from rain by a wide eave on my garage. Even managed to bloom a couple years. I think it went into winter already dying, because last summer's consistent moisture - though loved by camellias and rhododendrons - was not to its liking and it had started to show leaf drop in autumn. Unlike the Ceanothus, I'm unlikely to repeat this experiment, but it was interesting. This winter was off-the charts cold. I've had, for example, a Rosemary 'Hill Hardy' since early 2006. Never shown a lick of damage. I was warned a few years ago by that seasoned impresario of midatlantic experimental gardening - initials A.H. for those of you in the know - that 1994 completely destroyed a giant rosemary of his. Mine was about 8 ft. X 6 ft. and 4ft. tall. So back in 2010 I pulled a runner from it and planted it right next to my house's foundation. (The mother plant was still somewhat sheltered, but about 8' from the house) Well, the mother plant? Utterly dead. I just took a chainsaw to it, to clear it out. The main stem had gotten to 5 inches wide, but even down in the layer of dead needles, the stems, trunks and runners were completely dehydrated and easily split open by pulling. Dead as can be. But the plant about 8 inches from the foundation still has some green leaves, albeit only 10-15%, and looks like it will probably pull through. (if the stems were killed, the green would no longer be, especially given the cold windy spring) A Cupressus arizonica 'Carolina Ice'? So cold and windy here that the foliage on the north side of it is burned! oh btw - not tree/shrub related, but on the antipodal front...a collection of rare montane Rhodophiala species has survived. Not the typical oxblood lily, but I do have one and it survived too. OTOH, it's looking like certain South African bulbs and rhizomatous forbs are gone, including some borderline priceless ones I'd rather not discuss in detail. This in a way is not surprising: eastern South Africa can have the odd cold outbreak when a front penetrates far to the south, but there isn't snowcover, generally, - Tiffendell ski resort has to make most of theirs and they are in the part of ZA most likely to have permanent snow cover. Winters can be so dry even in the montane areas that there are brush fires. OTOH, the southern tip of South America is much closer to Antarctica, and those bulbs probably come from places where, even though there is snow cover, the ground still freezes. So yes some things like Dieramas can survive the air temps taking a brief dip to 0F. While this winter had permanent, deeply penetrating cold, even with the snowcover, it was too unlike what they are used to. Cold, moist and frozen solid for almost 2 months, when what they want is mild, dry, and unfrozen.

I was scolding myself for being loose with definitions until I looked up steam in the dictionary. I looked in several online dictionaries, as well as an unabridged (but 20 year old) dictionary on my shelf, and all of them gave the definition of steam as formed at boiling point or in a pressurized system, but all gave the definition of visible water vapor first. If a distinction between visible water vapor and steam is made in a scientific setting, but not in everyday use, I think that for a story, steam should be acceptable (I'm thinking story connotes a theme or short story). If it's for a paper for science, then I think vapor should be used.

Right here, I thought this was the most popular place to be, and thought you were teasing when you said no one was here, that it was a ghost town. I have a very large collection but always looking for the few species that I don't have, and they are out there, but I don't live in Europe. S. gandis-rosea goes by a different name of S. subspicata it it seems to be a miniature growing very close to the ground, and will make a nice ground cover under a tree, it has dark green leaves. Brandon if you send me your address, I would be glad to share one with you, no need to send anything in return. I can't understand why people don't offer you some starts, I belong to another forum, we offer plants all the time freely. Norma

It's laughable that I even answer, I'm the last person on the planet to give house cleaning tips. But, here's what I try anyway. Good music and lots of light. I always turn on all the lights and open all the blinds before I start cleaning. That just boosts my mood. No tv when I'm trying to clean, heaven help the fool who walks in the house and turns it on when I'm in a cleaning frenzy! When I talk to a friend who complains she really should be doing housework, but just isn't in the mood, I tell her to put some music on. We use the phrase "mother-in-law" clean to decribe that level of clean where you'd pass a white glove inspection, even in the closets. I think the only thing above that is "show/sell the house clean." When it has to be MIL clean, it's a family job, DH too (it's HIS mom!). I make a master list of the chores and everyone takes one at a time til it's done. I also like to get the big things done first, the stuff you notice. If all the flat surfaces are clear, floors vacuumed, and beds made, I feel so much better and the first impression is a clean house. Then I like a good scent, if the house smells clean it helps complete the illusion ;o) Sometimes I put cinnamon sticks in the vacuum.