There are a lot of incorrect statements and claims about the Royalorchidclub made in this thread. A one sided story is never a good source of information to make good judgments on. Here are some facts: Royalorchidclub is an American corporation run by American people with farms located in South East Asia. The company had growing Facilities in Florida but suffered damages in Hurricane Katrina and could not recover. Now the company only maintains a packing house to transship its plants from place to place including retail consumers in the US market. The website has the story for those who are interested. I am not saying we are perfect, and I am sure we have upset customers from time to time. I find that some people have a different expectation than we are prepared to fulfill and there is nothing we can do about it. But if you are fair to us we will be fair to you. We have great Customer Service headed by Miriam, my wonderful wife. If you are not happy about something and if we are in the wrong you can bet it will be fixed. No, we cant control the USPS or how they handle packages, but we are probably the biggest complainers in Florida and have made great progress in working with the USPS to improve package deliveries. That being said, if you send us instructions to ship your plants into a winter storm and the package is delivered to a porch or mail box and/or is left outside over night, how can you expect us to be responsible for that and send you replacements for free? Make sure you have your plants always shipped to a safe location that is not exposed to extreme weather conditions. If we ship the wrong item to you we replace it easily. This does not happen very often. If your plant arrives damaged and you send us digital photos we replace it free of charge. If you can't figure out how to grow it properly and it dies we will not replace it or refund you. OK, on Spikes or Bids, 90% of them will survive and product flowers for you. These plants are normally flowering or blooming sized plants (aka BS or FS). Spikes and Buds are fragile and can easily blast or abort. That is not a reflection on plant quality and it is not something anyone can guarantee any more than the weather. Normally if a bud or spike aborts, the plant will spike or bud again within a few months time depending on the variety. Offspring Hybrid plants from the same parentage do not have the same flowers all the time. They can vary greatly between colors and sometimes shapes. Clone plants (meristem or mericlone) will be 99.7% alike. You can expect these plants to produce the same flowers. On plant sizes, we have several. Flowering, Blooming, Near Blooming, Medium, Small (Plant-S), Compots and Flasks. There is a detailed plant size chart available on all our websites and online sales channels available. No we do not sell blooming sized plants for $4.00, those are small sized plants and you should pay attention to the plant size details in the plant information provided prior to purchase. If you order a small plant we will ship a small plant. Yes, we do have several eBay id's. We have had them for many years and it is not secrete or conspiracy. One id is the account for RoyalOrchidClub on eBay and we sell bare root plants. the other we sell potted orchid plants from time to time which are shipped from a different location. No we do not have retail outlets in the US, but will be opening facilities in Florida and Hawaii in the summer of 2010. We hope to expand as the economy allows in the next few years to most of the major cities in the US. If you want to buy bare root plants you need to make sure you are prepared to care and manage them when they arrive. Beginners should take the time to read the information provided by the grower before you purchase to insure you can properly take care of the plants when they arrive. Most of the plants we sell are hearty and easy to take care of as long as you do it properly. Intermediate and advanced orchid lovers will know what and how to take care of the plants and have finely tuned growing space to handle plants and are rewarded with low cost plants and beautiful flowers. This is a business that I love and it is something I do because it brings pleasure to people. I hope that you enjoy your orchid experience both with our company and other great growers. Each grower is unique with different focus and inventory. Find what you like and enjoy!

I've got a small orchard about a mile and a quarter away, and a couple years I moved my potatoes to an alternative site 1/2 a mile away due to diseases in my garden. I don't think your needs will differ much from what you have at home, with the exception being that you won't be there as much, so you may have more problems with pilfering from wildlife or two legged critters. You will be more likely to need to put up fencing to keep the assorted critters out. Location can help with this, too. If the spot is not highly visible from a road, two legged critter problems are less likely, but then 4 legged critters are more likely to hang out. Depending on the distance, you may want a shed to store tools in if you are at all absent minded. Without a toolshed, make a plan for what you want to do before going, load all the necessary tools and take them along. Not a big deal usually. If you forget something, just make note to bring it the next time. Water availability all depends on your climate. If you normally have to water your garden at home in the summer, a remote location will probably take just as much. Having water nearby, whether from a pond or stream or well, is always handy, but how much will you need to use it? My issues were: 1. Water availability. I don't get enough precipitation to do any good except in unusual situations, so everything has to have a water source. I didn't have good access to irrigation at my orchard, so hauled jugs of water which I could then refill nearby. After a couple years, it took too much time and wasn't adequate, so I expanded a separate waterline project to put a hydrant next to the orchard and now use drip type irrigation. 2. Deer. They like to munch small trees or rub the velvet off their antlers in the fall. Had to use fencing to stop them. 3. Not being present as often, weeds could get out of hand before your realize it, and traveling is always an inconvenience deterring more frequent visits. On the plus side, it is a good way to get away from home and other distractions for short periods.

So far PepperPlate is a winner. I like the simple format...easy to read and navigate. With the 'add to Pepperplate' on my bookmark bar, when i search for an ingredient recipe and see something worth saving i just hit that on my 'bar' and it automatically adds it without copy/paste. No longer have the adds popping up. customizing a grocery list seems to be handy for us. If i stumble across a wadded list in my dresser from a year ago, it is about the same list. Plugging in all our standard things we purchase and have them organized by isle/type, might save us from missing something. (just realized i was out of corn tortillas for tonights tacos)....I'll just make an arugula salad and croutons for the warm smoked pork...rather than run out and waste the shopping time. Once it is set up and DH has it on his phone, he can scan the list when he stops on his way home.

Wow...how did I miss this thread till now??? I LOVE being organized, but one half of this family, not so much. My oldest DD was born with the gene, so it comes naturally for her. The youngest DD...not so much. It's like living with Felix and Oscar (for the **oldies** here who can remember the ODD COUPLE) hehehe. Frankly I love being organized cos it drives me crazy having to look for things. I'm just glad to know I'm not totally crazy for labeling my light switches. I use the P-touch labeler too. I never knew they made brass plates. When I labeled mine, I just used the small tape with small fonts. With one plate that has 5 different switches, it sure comes in handy. For my dear mother who loses EVERYTHING, I found the perfect plaque that reads "Organized people are just too lazy to look for things!"