Thanks to all of you! I went ahead and skipped those particular ones for pickles this time. I'm giving them to friends at work instead ;) Great to know for future though! Because they are definatly still firm and solid. Next year I'm definatly putting those suckers on a trellis! It's so hard to find them all spread out like they are! The sweet pickle recipe that I'm using is one from my husbands grandmother. It's incredibly time consuming and starts off with a plain brine soak (no herbs) for *2* weeks prior. Then it'll take another 4 days or so to actually make the pickles themselves...it calls for boiling the syrup, pouring it over the sliced pickles - waiting a day - strain and repeat several times. :whew: I'm sure I'll be asking more dumb questions. As some of you already know...this is my first year with a real garden and first time canning/preserving. :) Thanks again! Laura

Hubby would kill me if I wanted to sand it all off and start over--it's an 8' shelf w/ crown molding and needs to be on the wall by tomorrow night (not to mention 2 smaller, matching shelves). So.... I found some "dark cherry" stain in the garage from a long-ago project and applied to a sample board on top of the "red oak" (aka walnut color) and it darkened it and with a slight red tinge (okay, so at least there's some red). I read up on Bartley's just now but don't know where I could find it locally, but I'd like to try it. What about another brand of gel stain--Minwax maybe? However, I've quickly learned (after using it, though) that Minwax isn't a preferred brand of stain. Anyway, thanks for the ideas. Tracey

Hi everyone. Christina – Your plant looks like a Guzmania to me although it’s also possible it could also be a xGuzvriesea (A Guzmania crossed with a Vriesea). As it was bought in your local Home Depot store with just a generic name tag, it’s more than likely a Guzmania though as they are commonly sold in these big stores all over the world. I imagine the same thing happens in the U.S. as here in Australia where these plants are mass produced in their thousands by tissue culture and are “gassed” so they all come into flower at the same time with the idea being, they can be sold to take the place of a bunch of flowers for the home. It’s a far better financial proposition and they outlast a bunch of flowers by far, often staying in colour for six months or longer. I can only tell you what I would do based on the little bit of experience I have from growing the few in my collection. There are no doubt many more experienced Guzmania growers on this forum from your own country who could advise you better than I, so please treat any advice I give as very basic. You can also get cultural information simply by typing “Guzmania Culture” into Google on your computer but make sure it’s from a reputable source in your country and not from some other country where the growing conditions are very different to yours. See: http://bromeliads.gardenwebs.net/guzmania.culture.htm Regarding your plant, I wouldn’t remove the pups, although they are large enough to remove; but being so tall and thin they would need to be staked to prevent them moving in the pot, and stakes, although often necessary, do detract from the appearance of the plant. I would wait until the flower has completely finished and the bracts start to lose colour and then cut off the flower spike. I would then take the whole plant from the pot and wash off the old potting mix and re-pot the whole plant in the next larger size pot in a good open bark based orchid potting mix, mixed 50/50 with a good quality well-draining general potting mix. Make sure your pot has more than just a single drainage hole in the bottom to allow for good drainage. Shortly after you water the top of the pot, the excess water should run through and out the bottom, this tells you that the drainage is good and the drainage holes aren’t blocked up. When you re-pot your plant, position the two new pups in the centre of the pot so that as they grow they will become the main plant and will take up the space previously taken by the mother plant which will gradually decline and die. As leaves die on the mother plant they can be trimmed off to keep the plant tidy. Guzmanias like a little less light than other bromeliads, and as I live in a temperate area I grow mine on the shady side of the house beneath 75% shade cloth. They don’t like cold or windy conditions and I give my plants a suitable foliar fertilizer as per the manufactures instructions once per month or at half strength each two weeks and they seem to grow and flower well for me. I hope this is of some help to you, but remember, local knowledge is best. All the best, Nev.

dviolet,,,,,just to clarify---- I thought if you remove the main crown it's gone, never to return--THIS statement is absolutely correct. But,,,,if you remove the main crown you may get suckers to take its place. But you are saying the original crown will grow back. NO,,,I didn't mean to imply the original crown will grow back. The original crown will never grow back, again only suckers may be produced around that area. Apparently I saw something in the pix that isn't there. You may have removed the correct sucker after all. I would take Irina's advice and let it grow. If perfection is what you want,,,,,,as the leaves mature move them into place with toothpicks or something until you have the leaves where you want them. You do have a nice little plant,,,,I would just let it bloom and love it! I am sorry if I confused you. My computer died and I have to borrow one to get online. Hopefully in a week or so I will have another one! Then maybe my brain will unscramble and I won't be in such a hurry! Sorry. Rosie