Hey there- I thought I would chime in my 2 cents- I recently found HostaDirect - and am so pleased to read that all the little TC babies I bought from them this year are from tested virus free plants! They have quite an astounding selection- and I have been very pleased with how quickly my purchased hosta grown- I have added a link to their Hosta Disease page- It has some good information and images too- I do worry a bit about HVX spreading- as I tend to crowd the beds full of stuff- I did have to murder a Striptease that was HUGE and beautiful and in a prime location next to the house earlier this year. I have suspected HVX for about 3 years now- and I finally made the move to remove it this year as one of it's large neighbors which touched leaves, showed signs of HVX this year too. The unknown (and similarly murdered) neighbor hosta was older and until this year was healthy with no signs of HVX. This showed me it will spread all by itself. I have not done much to these beds except remove branches as they may fall from the oak. I will not plant hosta there till spring- and then it will be a piece of an ancient Golden Tiara (a neighbor calls GT hosta "weeds"...) that I know to be disease free- and watch it for a few years- I guess I just do not know enough about this disease to feel comfortable enough to possibly sacrifice another beauty by some bit of HVX still lurking in the soil... I can not seem to find what I had read earlier this year about HVX research going on at the U of M- but it did sound very much like they were making great strides in understanding it- which is the first step in any "cure".... Julie Here is a link that might be useful: Hosta diseases page from HostaDirect-

dixie I won't stop providing counter arguments as long as there are inflamatory statements made like the ones below - which happen to come from MA in a recent thread. But it wouldn't have mattered who posted them, the response from me would have been the same. I find it disturbing that there is no declaration by MA right up front that he is an architect so that the OP's (especially new posters) know the perspective from which his views are derived. In all of the other forums that I read and post on, this is the norm by true professionals in their respective fields. "I suspect that much of the savings from the use of prepackaged designs and/or incomplete documents is subsequently given to the builder in change orders or noncompetitive cost plus billing. Why are owners so stingy with designers and so generous with builders?" "I think the bottom line is that in addition to a lower hourly fee, a home designer must be providing an abbreviated set of contract documents which inevitably exposes the owner to more risk and therefore more cost. I believe this must account for half or more of the design fee savings." "I can see how these approaches could work for off-the-shelf designs or for spec houses but my practice is for completely custom original designs tailored to the needs of the homeowner's family and the site. A stock plan would be useless even as a starting point and the plans given to me by owners usually just slow down the initial design phase and increase my fee. "

Snidely I always find someone to talk to. I blend well. But I stand out. It's a conundrum. I'm not unhappy, nor am I unfriendly. But I have been told more than once I intimidate. I certainly don't look intimidating nor do I glare at or annoy people. I guess I mostly study them? I'm the one at the wall where I can see the whole room. On the flip side people find me extremely approachable. I smile and make eye contact with people and conversations start up everywhere with me. Standing in line, at events, everywhere. If you and I were in the same room, assuming your description of yourself is accurate, you would most definitely approach me. I don't know why. But I know it would be. I'm not exceptional in any way. Average looking, jeans and tees. Pretty nondescript. Now old. LOL My best friend is always laughing (shaking her head) at me. My DH is the same. He says he just doesn't know but it's real. Here's an example. One of the milder ones I can post here. Years ago my brother and I were dealing with my parents estate and he and I went to lunch at a diner in the city my parents lived to talk things over. When we walked in we were immediately seated, and an iced tea (without me ordering it) was placed before me with a "great to see you again". My brother remarked that I must be a frequent customer. Not at all. I had been there before maybe twice in the past but it was quite some years back. This has happened time and time again my entire life. As a teenager and beyond. People I hardly know also bare their souls to me. My best friend says I must have been a priest in a past life. She sees it and just shakes her head. It is what it is she says.

The case of the test is wrong! Can anyone remember the name of the personality type test (very very long) that involved a portion on what you would take to survive being stranded on an island? It was designed in part to see who had leadership potential ( was not the 2 island test). I think the results were determined partially by being able to sway people to your way of thinking. Any way, funny true story. A million years ago when I was young I started working for a corporation that I loved. The management was exceptional. Over time it went way down hill. Management was fornicating with staff, management was fornicating with corporate inspectors and smoking whacky weed with staff. This became the norm. Horrible. Without doing any checks on what past personality trait tests were given, they gave the above test again and again. Occasionally they would skip a year. One year we were told there was a meeting. I had a lunch date scheduled for after. Imagine my disappointment in finding we had to do that long stupid test again. I would miss my lunch date. So, in all areas of our group discussion part of the test I convinced everyone to agree with everything a true imbecile in our group had to say. I told them if they didn’t we would all be sitting there for hours and hours. The imbecile thought I was singling him out for his greatness. In the end I made my lunch date. A few days later the imbecile was made assistant manager. A more unsuitable person couldn’t have been had if you looked to the end of earth. A short time after that, I left. Right after that, the place was sold. The sale had been in the cards for a while I think.