Oh, well. At least you know how to kill them. :) Callas do well. I have them on a western exposure about a foot from the house in almost full sun and tucked in behind some liriope and in front of Indian Hawthorne. (Before I had them in a more exposed area and they froze back to the ground and only got six inches tall). They are twelve to eighteen inches high and stay evergreen except for as few months in the summer. (They are evergreen from September through June and bloom in April.) Cannas do well also, but there are the dreaded canna leaf roller caterpillars than I keep fighting. Hostas do much better in pots than in the ground because they get colder in the winter and the drainage is better. I have Patriot hostas and some of their offspring.) You might want to check out the daylily festival in Abbeville. It should be coming up soon. You can grow evergreen daylily varieties. As far as the amaryllis, I have several. You can pick them up at Wal-Mart and Lowes around Christmas for a few dollars a piece. They are evergreen and bloom right now. Also, there are a lot of cool gingers you can grow. Check out gingerwood nursery online. It is located right outside Baton Rouge. Tim Chapman is the owner and he is on the ginger forum and is real good about answering questions. The white butterfly ginger (Hedychium) is really nice and spreads rapidly and is junglesque. I also like crinum and eucomis. They do well. A rapidly spreading plant is mexican petuia (ruellia). I have purple and pink ones that get three feet high and are covered with flowers all summer. I could send you some seeds later in the summer if you remind me. The evergreen dwarf agapanthus are really nice too. Home Depot has them right now. As far as reading, you might want to check out Louisiana Gardener (it is the only magazine I get) and Southern Livings Garden Guide (an encyclopedia of 5,000 plants) and Louisiana Gardener's Guide by Dall Gill and Garden Perennial for the Coastal South by Barbara Sullivan (Beautiful pictures and some different plants)

Here's the maple. First pic I am facing north, second I'm facing east. I included a picture of the London Plane because I like it so much. My question, again, concerns the timing of the manganese. I'd like to do it now rather than in the fall, for convenience sake. The arborist's treatment has been effective in de-yellowing most of the leaves. I'm wondering if it is necessary to wait until spring becuase, for convenience sake, I would like to do it this fall.

Ok, I've answered some of these points above already but once again to clarify: 1. There wasn't enough room at the table, so we did fix a plate but it wasn't just a matter of taking our seats. There were no seats to take. Going to the kitchen was a last resort - I didn't know what else to do. 2. The hostess had not yet eaten by the time we arrived. So she couldn't remain sitting at the table and eat without getting up. She wasn't already sitting at the table. She was standing, fixing herself a plate. 3. I didn't realize how late we were till we got there - there was no set starting time and she lives an hour away, we sat in the Friday-Afternoon-Heading-Out-Of-Town traffic which I don't know if you can imagine unless you live in a place like Houston where it's unpredictable at best and can be horrific. 4. My children, ages 17 and 20 WERE includded - it's a holiday. (for those who aren't Jewish, maybe that's not meaning anything to you, but would you go to a friend's house for say, Easter Lunch, and leave your kids at home, no matter what age? This would be comparable to that. In any case the invitation which was sent via email said, You and your family. There's NO question, the kids were included. 5. She made no attempt to sit near us. She put her plate down as if she meant to sit near us but came back before ever sitting anywhere, picked up her plate, and went to the other table. I don't mind if she sat with us or not, it's just the way she acted as if she was going to, then apparently changed her mind. Even THAT wouldn't have mattered had it been a table with others in addition to just our family. It was just weird, the four of us, sitting alone in the kitchen, no other guests sitting or eating with us, the rest of the entire party in another room, and no attempt to integrate us into the party. Yeah, we're guilty of being late. But as hostess, it's her duty to make us comfortable and welcome, late or not. That's what I think you'd learn in an etiquette class. 6. And again - we were about 20 minutes late. Is that really late enough to turn around after being in the car one hour and not show up at all? If someone were 20 minutes late to my house and let that convince them to blow off my party, I'd be horrified. 7. I HAVE gotten over this, WAY over this. I wasn't going to answer lizzynola's post for that reason and because most of her questions/comments had already been covered in my previous posts. But since the discussion continues, I'm answering. I am glad I was able to vent here. I'm no longer mad or hurt. I'm still good friends with her. She had no ill intentions. I thank you all for your comments. May

I'm also one that doesn't enjoy the hair salon. I just find it a waste of time. I started using clippers on my husband a couple of years ago and got pretty good at it. This summer during the high heat periods the natural curls began to feel like a behive and I took the clippers to myself. I love it. Sometimes the back is a bit tricky but I get through it. But I have many friends that have weekly visits on a specified date and time and they wouldn't have it any other way. It's just not for everyone.