Except for the standard white Wisteria (which I've seen gorgeous pictures), I've either grown or am now growing all this stuff. Lots of flowering plants have white cultivators, so it's easy to put together a unique garden just by being selective when you shop for plants or save seed. I like to put plants with very dark purple/red foliage around and behind white bloomers because it deepens the shadows and makes everything stand out more. I don't use any electrical or solar lighting in my garden, so it's all moonlight or maybe once in a while a candle or lamp on a table. And there are some great plants to add for their scented foliage. In the dark, your eyesight becomes secondary and your other senses get a chance to "shine". Windchimes made of bamboo or capiz shells are more noticeable at night when the rest of the world has quieted down. Plant lamb's ear where you can reach down when you're sitting and stroke a leaf (soft, sweet smelling), and mint; mmmm, mmmm, mmm. On a humid summer night, the oils from peppermint, chocolate mint and (especially) spearmint can carry half way across the yard. I like to plant pineapple sage or rosemary where you can brush against them walking down a path. It's nice in the daytime, but especially lovely in the dark, when you get a whiff of it just as you pass.

Ilene, I think George is growing Moon and Stars, and someone else may be as well. When I have grown Moon and Stars, I've gotten large (20-30 lb) melons with a very dark green rind with the bright yellow moons and stars (many more stars than moons). The flesh has been a fairly bright red (not pink) in the case of original M&S or bright yellow that is almost a golden organgey-yellow when growing Yellow-Fleshed M&S. The flavor of the red-fleshed one is very much a true, strong watermelony taste that is sweet but not overly sweet. The flavor of the yellow-fleshed one is a bit more mild. When I grew the yellow-fleshed one, I am almost positive it had white seed. So, I am not sure if you have a different strain, or crossed seed or what, but your watermelon sounds different from the ones I've grown. The blue rind question baffles me. Every M&S I've ever seen has the rind that is a dark blackish-green with the gold spots. I have heard some people describe the dark green rind as 'purple' and I don't see that either, but assume the rind is so dark that they are seeing it as a purplish-black. One problem with knowing what to expect with M&S is that there are many strains of it around. Unless they've changed in recent years, the one offered by Seeds of Change is very small compared to other strains, and is round like a bowling ball. The one from SSE is most like the one my dad grew. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange sells several strains that are different from the original, including Amish Moon & Stars and Long Milky Way Moon and Stars which is very oblong in shape and has tons of stars and no moons, or very few moons. I believe Long Milky Way was bred by Sandhill Preservation Center's Glenn Drowns. There's also a Cherokee Moon and Stars but I don't think it is markely different from the original M&S except its flesh is pink or pinky-red. In addition to the aforementioned strains, there are some other strains available to members via the SSE yearbook, and that used to include M&S Moons of Jupiter and M&S Early. I didn't take the time to drag out the old yearbooks and look for descriptions of those two. However, I did pull out Amy Goldman's melon book to check and see what she lists for brix (measure of sweetness) for M&S and she shows a brix of 10. Here's the brix numbers for a few of the other melons she lists for comparison's sake: Carolina Cross 9, Sugar Baby 9, Fairfax 11, Blacktail Mountain 10.5, Chris Cross 8, Tom Watson 12, Orange-fleshed Honeydew (which I find very sweet indeed) 13, Old-Time Tennessee 12.5, and Santa Claus (aka Christmas) 9. Moon and Stars is a wonderful melon when picked fully ripe and I think you have either an odd strain or crossed seeds or something. Dawn

Thanks for the pic. It does look like peat. Watering 1x/week is probably too much. Peat retains water; it will be dry looking on surface but still wet inside. On top of that, you have it in cache pot that doesn't allow for any air circulation and if there is too much water, it will sit at the bottom and be re-absorbed back. And covering surface with plastic doesn't help either. I hope this doesn't sound mean - I am just pointing out things that contribute to plant rotting. If you want to grow succulents successfully, it would be good idea to learn about well draining mix - adding generous amounts of perlite, grit, turface, scoria, pumice - any of these (best would be more than 1 ingredients) will give plants drainage and air circulation. If you use that kind of potting medium, plastic decorations may be ok - but just few. Cache pots are much nicer than plastic - so I don't blame you for using it. Just make sure that after watering (wait about 30 min) you take the plastic pot out and drain any water that may have accumulated in outer pot. It may be easier just to take pot out, water it, let it sit on a saucer and after a while put it back into cache pot. I think that your plastic pot sits too low in outer pot, and also plant is potted too deep - raise soil level when re-potting, and raise the pot too. Btw, what happened to the top cacti? (the colored one) Rina

Can you post a picture of the room? You told us what is on the floor, but nothing else about the room. I have a bathroom with a gray floor, white tile and vanity, Cararra marble vanity top. I used a very light green paint - BM Woodland White at 50%. I painted my secondary bath Billowy Down which is closer to what you're considering. I wish I had cut it by 50%. It's a little too intense for me (but DH likes it, and he painted, so I won't ask for a redo). My powder room is Bright and Early at 50% which is a really nice blue. Everyone doesn't like the same things, so I don't know what to tell you about the ones you're considering, but sample them at full strength if you think you'll like it and cut them in half if they come off too strong. Cutting in half doesn't work with all colors, you do end up with a different color after all, but I've found it is more predictable with blues and greens than neutrals. This isn't the first house I've done the 50% trick in. But I recommend doing it in a quart instead of in one of the sample cans so the small amounts of pigment will be more precise. I'm not sure every technician in a paint store cuts tint the same way, but they should put the formula on your sample can so you can replicate it when you're ready to buy a gallon. For what it's worth, I like Clear Skies better than Icy Moon Drops.