I placed my order for the leaves on Monday and they just arrived here today on Wednesday. They sent two of each. I was tickled to see that. The leaves were nice and firm but I trimmed the ends a little and have them all sitting in little Solo cups of RO filtered water with the labels I made for each leaf. I already have plenty of space under fluorescent lights for them as I make leaves into small plants into big monster plants but I am already planning on adding more shelves and lights just for the AV's. I baby my hostas constantly. I water about every other day unless we get a good long rain. I buy many tissue culture hostas so those always get babied. The AV's will fit right in because I am like a mother goose over the babies. I tend them constantly, never go on vacations or anywhere else that keeps me from taking care of my plants and house full of pets. Five dogs, two cats, two parrots and a snake. I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. Apache Brave. This one actually has pink variegation. I had never seen any variegation on an AV before. I can hardly wait until I have huge plants! Home Fires. White variegation. Lacy Lass. I love the scalloped edges. I am a big fan of fancy foliage. The date stamp on the pictures is wrong. I just bought a new camera over the weekend and I was off by a day when I set it. My bad. This is my new plant growing area in the basement. I will build something similar down there for growing out a bunch of AV's but without the pond liner. I will propagate and grow the baby AV's upstairs on my big seedling cart and under the other shoplights I have set up upstairs. I get the feeling that I know where all of this is going to end up. Once I get everything down pat I will probably end up showing. I just think these AV's are gorgeous and they should be shared. I also love giving things away to brighten someones day so these will fit right in. The recipients will also receive proper education into the care of their gifts with me as a source of information and rescue of the plants as needed. This is a picture of the kind of seedling cart I have upstairs. The pictures I take of mine don't look right since I have so many other plant lights lit up in the room.

Hi, Y'all-- Well, I inspected my gardens to see what I'll be bringing to the swap. Unfortunately, because of the new beds I put in this past spring, it's a case of "slim pickin's", as I used up most of what I had on hand. Question: Is it considered appropriate/acceptable to bring "whole" plants that others there at the swap could take cuttings from? I can bring several things that fall into that category. Although I had intended to start a bunch of stuff last week when I realized this swap was coming up (thanks to sylvia *grin*), I've had to be in "cleaning frenzy" mode instead, with enough still left on the "to-do" list to keep me outta trouble 'til at least Friday (g-r-r-r). I have out-of-town guests arriving Saturday, and even if I didn't have tons of household loose-ends left to tie up, I'm afraid that--regretfully--I'm now out of time to try to get anything started. So, if it's not considered a colossal 'faux pas', here are the "whole" plants I could bring: Yellow (unnamed) coreopsis (lots and lots) Curry plant Kalanchoe Oregano Lemon Balm Purple Heart Rosemary Sage Spider plant I also have these to swap: Aloes Gazanias One pink iris Artemisia And, if anyone is interested in the following, let me know, and I'll make it a point to dig some up to bring along: White irises ("Old Homestead" variety...I. florentina?) Tradescantia 'Lilac Frost' Hymenocallis (unnamed, but HUGE plants if they're happy where they're at...mine grow to be 3' to 4' tall...) Cannas 'Red Beauty'(?), 'Orange Beauty' (?), 'Pretoria' Another question: can a sucker from a rose bush be rooted like a stem cutting? If so, I can bring a "cutting" from my Graham Thomas (it's growing a really healthy-looking sucker that I've been meaning to cut off). Also, I will definitely be bringing a lot of greenhouse equipment (plastic flats, 6-packs, small styro cups, etc.), as well as seeds and (possibly) old issues of Neil Sperry's magazine.... Oh, and munchies, of course *grin*... Well, if anyone is interested in any of the "dig up" stuff, be sure to let me know, otherwise I'm not going to bother digging until later on. Can't wait to see all y'all there!!! Best to all, Cheryl

Hello. My name is Caroline and I am a forum-a-holic. I don't spend long stretches of time on the computer (very often, LOL), but I do take all my "breaks" here and I check forums at least twice a day. I even use a time to keep myself on tract. I have a routine...check and answer emails (delete the silly "forwards" unread; they could steal my forum time, LOL), then I check the Home Decorating, Kitchens, Baths, Remodeling, and The Kitchen Table forums. Less often, I check the Cleaning, Cottage Gardens, Small House forums, too. We are currently remodeling two bedrooms (new closet configurations, new closet and entry doors, refinishing hardwood floors, installing baseboard, casings and crown, and paint all round), a bath (gutted), extending a linen closet (to hide a 24" square patch where the chimney use to be), and planning the new kitchen, sun porch, entryway, and livingroom. Yes, the Little House of Horrors is living up to its name. I've learned so much on the forums here. The forums, and all the kind, helpful, friendly people, have been such a blessing as we've tried to muddle our way through this "it's a fixer-upper" ordeal. My name is Caroline, and I am a forum-a-holic. But I could quit any time I want...yeah; right! Anytime I want to feel lost and alone and overwhelmed again!

I learned to sew from my mother who and made most of our clothes and all our doll clothes. She saved a piece of the cloth of everything she made for us and my sister and I are now cutting all those pieces into squares for a couple of quilts. We laugh ourselves to tears in the process. We were all in 4-H. We also sewed in home ec. Now, however, we would never be able to have machines at the middle school level due to parents' safety concerns, but the home ec teacher still teaches kids to sew by hand. They make stuffed animals and do cross stitch. I teach my 6th grade art students to weave, and we all make woven bags with twisted cord straps. That being said, things that we learned at home are no longer common. I am no longer amazed by how many kids don't know what their clothes are made out of, or have absolutely no idea how to thread a needle (that pointy thingy), they don't know yarn from string, they have never heard the word "stitch" and it is not unusual to have one not know how to tie a knot (velcro shoes you know). Before I started teaching I would have never imagined I'd have to demonstrate to my classes how to take the end of a piece of yarn and start rolling it into a ball, but now I do it all the time. Amazing. Bravo to you all who make stuff with your kids - I suspect you read to them to!