Haha. It aint like I have a ton of room. Actually, The lemon tree, that you can barely see in the white square pot (back yard @ 2 o'clock), was in that spot I potted it up because it froze to the ground and my neigbor gave me the angels trumpet so i figured it would be a good home for it. One day I hope to line the walk from the street to my front door with brugs, gardenias and daphne. maybe wrap them around the whole property With a couple other odd things here and there. Lucy, you should have never told them how good I treat mine. Now they will be mad at you and start demanding more room. They might even wanna leave you and come live with me. dont worry I'll splain to them that you are doin the best you can for them :)

Thank you both for your feed back it's much appreciated. Beach barbie, I do move the trays regularly by default- my cat keeps drinking the water, even though she always has a fresh bowl available. And I do think it's a tropical variety. BTW I love your name, it creates a warm image. Watergal, I don't see any evidence of pests, but your comment concerned me so I sprayed the entire plant with insecticidal soap just to be sure. On the under side of the foliage I do see some VERY TINY white powder like specs that rub off with the finger, too small for aphids. Any idea what that may be? And am I on target for March to expect new buds. Thanks, Happy Valentines Day..

M-A, yes, do keep us updated. That goes for everyone that are fighting these evil little white worms. Here's my update....Last fall I notiiced nematodes on a couple of my Gold Edgers that were planted at my campsite. Since I had 7 Gold Edgers, I dug all of them up. I tossed the 2 that showed signs. The 5 remaining plants I put in a plastic bag and put them in my car to take home and treat. Well, I forgot about them for over 2 weeks. After remembering them I figured that being in a black car kept outside in Aug for that long would be the the same as a heat tx so I just replanted them. Late last fall it looked like only 4 of them were going to survive, but this spring all 5 came up. So far all 5 are thriving with no signs of nems. Also, last fall in my garden at home I found nems on 5-6 plants. I did the heat tx and SO FAR they are OK. BTW, while doing the heat tx the plants just divided themselves so I ended up with quite a few plants to replant. I now have a large hosta hospital. A couple days ago I found nems on 4 of my Lancifolias that I have at the campsite. I pitched them. After reading the article that Janice posted the link to from an entomologist, I ordered what that article recommended, Zerotol. The smallest jug that I could order was 2.5 gal. I spoke to the manufacter and was told to use it at a rate of 1:300. 1/2 oz per 1 gal water every 5-7 days...if no results I can bump it up to 1 oz to 1 gal water, but not to exceed 1 1/4 oz. It's expensive but what the heck, they're my hostas. My plan is this...I don't think I'll ever do the heat tx again. (Too much work & mess) Any new plant with nems will be pitched. I will treat all my hostas with the Zerotol. I also plan to spray them with insecticidal soap. I guess there's no 100% cure except the heat tx, but at least I hope to control them the best way I can. BTW, about my heat treatments...my hotwater tank just happened to be set at 130 degrees so that saved me some time/work. I kept them in the water bath for AT LEAST 15 min, much longer than recommended (I figured I had nothing to lose). I was surpised to see that nearly ALL of them came up this spring! Hosta really are tuff. I just hope that they are nem free. So far no nems, but it's only July. As for the chemicals....Well, I will be careful.

That is the prettiest backsplash I have ever seen. I love: - the surprise sparkly squares - the color flow between the backsplash and the granite - the large amount of bright white in the backsplash and granite, with a minimum of grey (I like silver/gold, but not grey tones) - how the cabinet stain seems to match a hue in the mosaic backsplash... PERFECTLY! As though the cabinet stain was designed for that mosaic or vice-versa. Wow. Also quite clever is that curve-around feature on the peninsula. That looks very fun and very practical. Questions: Do you do cartwheels into this kitchen every morning from sheer glee? Did you put brackets under the granite curved out part? What chairs did you settle on ? Thanks to the person who linked to this thread from a posting today!