Probably normal. Did your room suddenly get warmer? I've noticed Phals will suddenly finish blooming and remaining flowers will wilt as the temps rise suddenly at this time of the year. Another possibility can be fertilizer. I never fertilize plants in bloom for that reason. The most probable reason would be the plant is finished booming. It looks healthy. Jane

I get the blues when the days are short, and it's too cold to be in the garden. I don't let myself get too excited about gardening, but this year, I'm gardening by going through my pics from different times of the past season, looking for pics of specific flowers for my blog. Usually, I have dreams about gardening a couple times a month, but have only had one so far. Maybe it's because of the blogging. We have melting snow today, as it's currently a warm 50 degrees. I am always excited when the days start getting longer instead of shorter. I feel that I can survive the winter, and hope for the soil to be dry enough the end of February to plant my first lettuce, spinach, radishes, and kale. I figure that I want to get out while I can, and if it rains or snows later, it's OK, because those seeds are in there, ready to grow when the conditions are right. I have had seedlings get snowed on, and still survive. Besides, I am already planting more when I see they are up. I have a plan to put a tomato plant or two in my new flower bed, and try to keep the leaves from touching the dirt, because mine always get diseased and die, and I don't have room in the veggie garden to rotate them well. I have some holes to fill in different beds, including the area by our repaired shed. I plan to put in some not too tall growing goldenrods, coneflowers, asters, and some kind of summer blooming annuals. Sue

Yes, that seems to be the standard way to trouble-shoot that kind of problem as opposed to a sudden failure. 1)replace starter if there is one (rare these days) 2)if starter replacement does not work, replace lamp 3))if lamp and starter replacement does not work, replace ballast The trouble with this is that some of the older systems have lamps that have become very expensive. I have a bunch of ancient preheat luminaires under the cabinets in my kitchen. A bad ballast or starter can take out a lamp in short order and the lamps are about $7. I've stopped working on them and I plan to replace them when I get the time. In the OP's case, I think that the older two-pin CFL ballasts and bulbs are rapidly becoming obsolete. It might be better to upgrade the luminaire to a 4-pin socket, ballast and lamp if the lamp is good quality and loved providing the owner is handy and has the time.

Are you on the Virginia side? If so, I might be able to help with referrals to reasonably price contractors and handypeople. PM me if you don't want to publicly post info about the specific town you live in. Also, you might consider a tact my NoVA-dwelling sister recently took to fix up a lot of stuff in her house for sale prep. She posted specific projects on CL, from replacing grout around a tub to removing a tree to a bunch of drywall repair to painting her entire house. She also had a slew of handyman jobs. She posted a photo of what needed to be done, specifics on timing (needed to be done in the evenings when she was home), and asked for bids. She got lots of emails, ranging from hacks saying "I can fix this for you, text me" (which she ignored) to bona fide contractors looking for fill-in work. She picked a couple with the best responses, talked to them further on the phone, and then hired one. All did excellent work. I'd consider starting with your plumbing stuff, and let them cut holes in the walls to access the pipes. Once you're done, get a drywaller to come in and patch everything. Paint it yourselves. Find a concrete person to redo your walk and stairs. Get a handyman to replace your light fixtures, doors and repair your deck. Find a window company to replace your windows (if that's what needed). Piecing out this stuff will be less costly (and faster) than finding a GC to organize it all. You may not be handy enough to save on labor by DIY-ing the work, but you can DIY the hiring of specialists and save on the middleman. In the meantime, work on your plans for kitchen and bath remodels by using the respective forums here. We can help you design spaces that are functional, beautiful, and budget-friendly. Nice kitchens can be had for way less than $60K. Start watching CL in the "materials" section and snag stuff that you can use in your work. People sometimes post entire kitchens, you can find brand new vanities or tops, and you might luck into some ceiling fans. Ebay often has good deals on faucets and other bathroom fixtures, so troll the listings there.