Hi Dana, I'm sorry that your lettuce looks beat up. I hope they recover, but wanted to make sure that you understood the objective of the process of hardening. You said I had them outside today on a covered porch, out of full sun but they were getting some wind and cooler temps. They're worse off now than they were this morning. It sounds like you might have expected them to look better after a day of hardening than before? The purpose is to toughen them up so that they will survive the permanent move outdoors. As such, they are going to get stressed along the way. We want to control the amount of stress so that it isn't enough to kill them, but they will sometimes look the worse off in the process. If temperatures are already suitable for the particular vegetable to be grown, we can avoid the hardening process by direct-seeding outdoors, as others have indicated. That way the seedlings grow up accustomed to the outdoor environment from the beginning.

just my opinion: Out of several dissappointing episodes starting with a failed Kousa Dogwood, I have begun first growing the trees, which need specific sun or wind protection, in protected from the sun pots. That way I can move the tree to what ever spot proves to be the best for the the tree and for visual appeal. Now would be a good time to test your JM that way. start out putting it in a place that gets just a little more sun than it got in the nursery. If it does well there for a week move it to another place that again slightly increases the sun exposure. Continue this process at the speed needed and until the tree either is adjusted to the amount of sun in your original prefered location, or until the tree lets you know the limit of sun and wind exposure it can take in your area. Especially if the latter is the case then you will better determine where to permanently plant the tree. It is best to do this process either in late spring or in summer. That way, by mid fall you could plant the tree in time for its roots to begin adjusting before winter freezes occur. If you miss the mid fall planting time, than it would be best to keep the tree in the pot and protect it from the winter freezes and winds. Then just prior to the tree breaking dormancy in either late winter or very early spring you could plant the tree in its previously proven optimal location. I recently purchased an, difficult to find at my local nursery, Acer palmatum 'Kagiri nishiki'('Roseo-marginatum') that is 4 feet tall. Since it is to be planted at my daughter's home in northwest Fort Worth, TX, I will have to follow my advice by acclimating it in the pot here, but still testing its tolerance level to the exposure where it is desired to be planted at her home. Keeping the tree in a shaded pot throughout the testing period is also the best way to encourage the tree's survival by ensuring, throughout the testing period, the least disruption of the JM's fragile root system.

purrus, fascinating...you have found one of the few areas in the country, I suspect, where older upper-middle-class artifacts don't get snatched up immediately. I thought to myself when I asked that I wouldn't then plan a trip to your area, but now that you say you found the Heywood-Wakefield for $70...I didn't think that was possible anymore. Would pay for the flight in itself :) (JUST KIDDING--don't worry, your sources are safe from me!) Seriously, if I were you, though, I'd be looking on this as a time to jump at these deals, large and small (not nec. all furniture -- look in the glass, ceramics, art sections too). You've found a special area at a special time and you are doing the background work to deserve it. Go for it and amass a bit of an inventory! There's one website composed solely of what two guys bought in one storage unit (or something like that) -- turned out to be thousands upon thousands of dollars of Murano lamps. A rather comfy financial-cushion-maker. Imagine if they'd turned the purchase down. So go for it and and then share pics of it with us, of course :)

Hi There are several varieties plus many hybrids . I hope the one for your terrarium is a dwarf form.Many get 8/10 feet tall and of equal width lol. Some are almost everblooming often having more flowers than leaves while others develop large heads but less of them. There is also a type with a wonderful aroma .. Would think the dwarf form would be good for a terrarium if it gets enough light ?? Good luck gary