thanks so much ya'll....i'm glad you like it! you could use old coffee cans, or any can with a lid, and metal pie plates or cake plates. recycling the coffee can is great, and you can find cake and pie tins at thrift stores and even garbage :D check freecycle! and you'll also be able to paint the can any color you want... i had a few bags of old tins that were headed to a yard sale. then someone posted asking about what to do with old tins, and after i replied....i thought "i can't get rid of these tins!!" so back in the laundry room they went! i got them free, or thrifted and they charge anywhere from 19 cents to 59 cents...i don't have a clue how they decide the prices, some tins the same sizes have vastly different prices on them. go make some! kudzu

Nathan Thank you for comment on 'then & now' thread. I know that many are able to grow succulents much better & faster. That's why I read every post, and post some of mine-to compare & learn. I kept them in cold room for 'practical' reason - have a new place, but didn't move in yet, just 90% of my plants. So in order not to have to pay astronomical $$$ to heat 2 houses, I had to keep temps down. I did have the supplemental lighting set up for few hrs/day. I am sure it could have been more, but again-had to watch $$$ too. Temps were set @49F, and plants did very well. Besides succulents, I have there f. Benjamina, 4 pots of figs (kept those in bsmt. in order to keep dormant - now they are leafing out), boston ferns, 6 olives, 7 angels trumpets (Brugmansia) and few other. I do have some casualties: 3 of my euphorbias are gone, and Meyer lemon. I think (not sure) that they were just too cold, or maybe should been watered even less in col temps. I know that soil is good, very well draining. But I noticed that many plants actually look great, some better than when I had them in warmer house - definitely less water (I tend to water too much) was great for them. I watered approx. every second 'visit' & that would be approx. 3weeks. Few grew very leggy, but that's to be expected if not enough sun. So those will get their 'heads chopped off' as soon as it get warm. Yay, more plants. BTW, I have at least 20 pots of jades, all of them grown from cuttings or fallen leaves. Few of them are very unruly and there is going to be lots more cuttings. Even if there were occasional shrivelled leaves (just few), I am sure it was still better than rotted roots. Photo of few in Nov. 2013 (have to update!) Rina ...sheesh, that's long read....sorry! This post was edited by rina_ on Wed, Mar 19, 14 at 13:35

Sorry, it's Angel Face. This rose drives me nuts. It was one I inherited from my mom so it has sentimental value but the dang thing is the worst black spot magnet in the bed. I don't know how it survives every winter because it spends half the season defoliated. But with all the loses I took this year this ones doing great. It's leafed out all over. I'd shovel prune it but mom loved it and I'm afraid she haunt me if I do lol. The blooms are lovely and the scent is fabulous, of course, so I guess I'll hang on to it.

Beautiful, it would make a lovely desktop wallpaper.