'Tis true, happens a relative of mine lives in the Bronx, literally across the street from the Bronx Zoo, a couple of blocks from the Botanic Garden & a few blocks from Fordham Univ. Given that I'm not surprised to hear that Mviridis, good for you! Thanks for the info. on that Bronx Hydro, I'll have to check them out. I posted a similar thread about this at Houseplant Forum, where I talked a bit about the set up (they sit in just an inch or 2 of water). Greenjay: Sorry, I can't refer you to reading materials. Sort of flying by the seat of my pants here. With a foundation of what I know about Sans. much learned here, especially from Norma (Love back attcha!) & a certain Aloe Boy. I did see a talk by a Hydro grower/vendor several years ago & bought a Hoya from them 3 yrs. ago that I've continued to grow w/ success in their Hydro set up. So I've started dabbling on my own & it works, I see it's almost a year since the first one. I came home tonight w/ another Sans., a unusual one which grows stolons & plantlets (like Spider babies). A leaf got damaged in transit, so I took it off & will try water rooting that too! Why not?

I can give you several reasons: There is the sheer novelty factor. "Gee, I didn't know you could do that. Let's try it." Related to that is the conversation piece factor. "Look, Susie! Granny is growing tomatoes upside down." Then there is limited space factor. If you live in an apartment and have only a small balcony, the chance to grow a hanging veggie is a plus. I have been in this situation in the past. In most cases though, I think it is the novelty/something-cheap-to-try-for-fun factor. I am starting 55+ items from seed this year. Unfortunately I find it hard to ruthlessly pinch off and compost extra seedlings. So I always run into the question of where to put all these plants. So I always have a shortage of cultivated places to put things. I always grow more tomatoes plants than I am supposed to and so I threw one of these into my cart, thinking I could put one of my extra tomatoes in it. I can't imagine that there would be any horticultural advantage to doing so, but it means I don't have to toss a plant I have fostered into the compost pile.

Thanks, Teresa. Would love to see photos of your home. I'll have to do a search later. Squirrel, it is antique pine. I do not cut directly on the counter at all. When needed, I use a cutting boards either on the island or next to the range. Don't cut directly on the granite either. We are good about wiping away water splatters after washing hands or dishes. I have never left a glass sitting on the counter overnight, so I don't know what that would do. The guys just asked me about that when they were here installing the tv cover. The pine is finished with Good Stuff for Wood which is FDA approved for food prep surfaces. I order from the below link. Have only recoated twice in 27mths. I clean the island with a damp sponge and have started using Lysol wipes too. Here is a link that might be useful: Good Stuff for Wood

Thank you for you wonderfully kind thoughts. Good idea, Tina, to try and get back once more and by myself. I'll definitely think seriously about that. Although we had a wonderful 10 day visit with my parents and family, both the flights there and back were absolute nightmares. Outbound, baggage was so unusually incredibly slow that, despite getting there at the recommended time, we missed our flight. So instead of departing at 6:30AM and arriving in Detroit at (approx.) 3:20PM with a stopover in Denver, we had a 3 hour delay in Albuquerque, then a flight to Las Vegas. A 4-hour wait there before a flight to Atlanta. Another wait there and then a flight to Detroit. We arrived around 12:30AM and after picking up our rental car and baggage, arrived at my sister's home at 2:20AM. Ugh!!! On the flight back, we were so paranoid about baggage check-in, we arrived 3 hours early . . . only to be told that our flight had just been cancelled! DH had a full schedule of patients booked the next day and was able to get the last seat on a flight that got him home here around 12:30AM the next day. The airlines sent DD & I to a hotel for the night and we were booked on the 6:35AM flight out that next morning. The hotel shuttle picked us up and delivered us to the worst hotel I've ever been in in my entire life. It looked perfectly fine from the outside, although more like a souped up motel with a big, new entrance.Three guys lounging in the lobby looked like pimps. They were obviously not guests. The room was dark, dirty and dank. My daughter's bed looked like it had a large area of dried urine on the top sheet. The table and nightstands were greasy. And one entire wall of the room was a plate glass window that looked out onto the deserted hallway. There was a heavy, dark, dusty, rubber-backed curtain across the wall, but would not close all the way. That was the only window in the room. The door locks did not work properly and we could easily hear the tv in the next room. We were out of there quickly, with me in tears by then, calling a nearby hotel and begging them to come and rescue us. They did and had their shuttle there within 5 minutes (bless them!). As our new shuttle driver was loading up our baggage, 3 very emaciated, disheveled young persons (early twenties), 2 of which had the black front teeth of major drug users and were obviously on some kind of drugs then, were holding on to each other , weaving into the hotel as we sat in the van watching them! Our driver just shook his head and said that "they should shut this place down"! I am not going to mention the airlines or the "hotel", as I'm already in discussions with the airlines CEO about it. As for the "hotel", his people are looking into that as well. I had nightmares for 5 days straight about that place! Soooo, that's my long, and hopefully somewhat entertaining saga about our trip last month. I'm still thinking about flying back again later this Summer . . . but probably on tranquilizers! (Edited for typos and to add:) And when we finally arrived back home here, I found a couple live bedbugs in the outside pocket of my suitcase! That was an additional nightmare I had to deal with for days after.