Hi Kevin! No, I didn't order it because a friend of mine at work was ordering some plants from Aloha Tropicals and I decided I would order a Hedychium called "Pink V" from them. This one is supposed to be hardy to zone 7 and I think I will try planting it in the warm spot in the front yard and see if it makes it. So now I will have a curcuma and a hedychium. I looked up the curcuma you suggested and it looks really cute. Kind of strange that it sends up the flower stalks before the leaves appear but that way you would get to see the flowers. I couldn't believe how much snow we got this morning! And it is still here, I was hoping it would be melted when I got home from work. Hopefully it will be nice weather this weekend! Linda

Hi Glenda, my family and I have been going on ski vacations once a year for the last 7 years - usually heading to Colorado. We made it to Park City for the first time last year due to the cheap flights and lodging we found. I can tell you that Park City is amazing - the town, people, atmosphere, and most importantly the snow and mountains. I fell in love with the town and recommend to anyone planning a ski trip. We booked with Park City Lodging and they were great! Very reasonable prices, great location and they can book transportation, lift tickets, activities, etc. I just checked their website and they are offering some pretty great specials. I would check them out (specials page) to make sure you're getting the best deal. I can tell you that staying in town (near Main St.) is worth it! I'm attaching their website for you to check out. Good luck! And have fun! Here is a link that might be useful: Park City Lodging

Siobhan beat me to it in suggesting Wallace Stegner, especially his Mormon Country which I remember as a fascinating collection of essays, anecdotes, and stories. Also, there's his A Gathering of Zion. But it was some forty years ago that I read them and I don't know how they hold up. If you are at all interested in America's other infamous 9/11, I think The Mountain Meadows Massacre by Juanita Brooks and Sally Denton's American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857 are both enlightening. Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders by Linda Sillitoe and Allen Roberts is fascinating if you like true crime. I recall that some of the things revealed about LDS church history seemed really bizarre and not at all pleasing to the church bigwigs. Of course, if you want to bone up on the LDS, you could read Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?, but it would probably be best to do it either before you go or after you get back home. In my experience, it is impolitic to have it in view in Utah. :-( Liz, you mentioned reading Under the Banner of Heaven, so maybe you can help me. I am trying to recall the title of a book by one of the many daughters of the patriarch living down on the Utah/Arizona line. Krakauer described this man in UtBoH (quite amusingly, as I recall). If I could just get the right surname of this man, I could probably find the book that seemed to me to be titled something like Deadly Kinfolk; but I don't get any hits at Amazon with that, so it must be something else.

I would like to try one. There is one a few blocks from my house but it seems to get fried during winter. I think its more lack of care (water) that is causing it. The Grand America has lots of redwoods on it's property and they may burn a little bit during winter but usually look good. I would call this a plant that is hardy in the 'warm' parts of the wasatch front (Ogden to Salt Lake)