Hi Kate..Clivia forum is basically new..It's only been around a few months. Yes, it's true Clivia's are fairly easy to grow, as long as they're not overwatered..Number 1 killer of plants. I started my first Clivia from seeds in 1982. Ordered the seeds from Park's Seed..at the time they were fairly inexpensive..I got 7 seed for 5.99. Not knowing what the heck I was doing, I placed seeds in a plastic cup w/o drainage and set under light. These seeds weren't even growing near a window..it took 8 months before I spotted green..I then repotted to a 4" pot, then set in an east window..at the time, we lived in an appt, so space and sun were limited. My clivia is the second oldest plant I have..the first a spider plant from 1973/4. I love my Clivia..it blooms every spring into summer, goes outside for a summer vacation..In winter it's kept in a cool room in east windows. This past summer was the first time it hadn't bloomed, but I'm thinking the reason was because the yr before it needed repotting, so into a larger container it went. Its flowers are orange and yellow..It lives in a 10" plastic container. Besides that, I have a small variegaetd Clivia which was given to me as a pup 2 summers ago, and another that will eventually grow yellow flowers. What color are your flower? Sounds like you do quite a bit of digging..Toni

Wow I love all of them, I like the color contrast in the first photo. Moses fire is a wonderful plant isn't it. It makes huge fans and scapes, I love mine. Im not real big on orange, but something about the way a double looks with ruffled petal edges is attractive to me. Fantasy montage is beautiful. -Jessica

Two rooms in our house are carpeted (wall-to-wall), the rest are either hardwood, or tile. We got our Miele right after we got our new Berber carpeting. We'd originally decided on the Alize, with it's multi-floor tool, because we had been told we should avoid beater bars/brush rolls with the Berber carpet. The vacuum store owner had us try out the suction-only vac heads, but suggested that we consider the power head we ended up getting (after all). He'd had two returns (?) of the newest suction-only head, the one supplied with the Alize-- difficult to push across the carpet, I'm not sure how well it actually functioned (picked stuff up). He showed us the SEB 217-3, Electro Comfort electrobrush (the one we eventually got). He had us feel the bristles/brush roll as it rotated--very gentle, but we were afraid to go "against" the carpet store recs. So, we placed an order for the Alize. In the meantime, the vac store owner sent us home with a loaner vac (not a Miele, but one with a similar suction-only head?). DH vacuumed the carpeting with it and realized that a vacuum with a suction-only head just wasn't going to cut it. Grains of cat litter (tracked from another room), lint, etc., remained undisturbed on/in the carpet after numerous passes with the vacuum. We decided to take a chance on a vac equipped with the soft-bristled brush roll power-head after all, and we changed our order to the Marin (for this, and the other reasons enumerated in my first post). At the very least, the brush roll, while not having any height adjustments, is equipped with an on/off switch. So, if we experienced any issues with it, we could always shut off the brush roll if need be. While vacuuming, I will sometimes switch between having the brush roll switched on or off, but I mostly leave it on (we use the Parquet Twister head on our hardwood and tile floors). Stuff usually remains on the carpet without the brush roll brushing up or loosening it from the carpet's surface (or further down into it). The brush roll on our power-head really does appear to be gentle on the carpet. We haven't noticed any damage or wear whatsoever during or after vacuuming. The loops in the higher traffic area (near the doorway) do seem to be a little more flattened out as compared to the rest of the room, but that has nothing to do with the vacuum. It's just a naturally-occurring wear pattern, esp with Berbers. I've been using the round brush attachment to clean the tops of our baseboard molding and baseboard heat covers, the cat beds (in between washings!), and the throw pillows on our couches. The upholstery attachment does a great job on our two felted wool wall hangings--they haven't been this clean since the day they were installed! And, it's been helpful in removing loose cat hair from our comforter, too! Another difference between models (esp between the smaller vs full-sized series); attachment/accessory storage. Depending on the model/series, attachments are either stored externally, or "inside" the canister. So, wand handle, electric vs non-electric wand (and therefore power-head vs suction-only head), external vs internal attachment storage, are all factors that might or might not influence your decision. Cord length has been mentioned--even the longest cord length, which my Marin does have, could be even longer still, as others have pointed out. So that is something you might want to consider when choosing (the smaller models have shorter cords I believe).

We used Chesapeake Stoneworks because my cabinet rep said he felt they did really good finishing work. I really can't see the seam and our walls are not plum. They used all types of dots and lazors to get the granite measured and cut just right. I have to say it came out perfect. I just looked them up online and it says Elkay bought them from the family owners in 2008. They are based out of Richmond VA but they also bought a company in Maryland called The Stone Specialists. I just discovered all of these connections today. I never knew that my Medallion cabinets were also an Elkay company. No wonder my tile rep liked Chesapeake Stoneworks.....but they were good. They might not do business in your area but maybe The Stone Specialists out of Maryland does. Good luck.