Thank you everyone who responded!!! I decided that I would just go out and pull them up since they were big enough...and, while I had something left to stir fry. lol Hidden in amongst the plants were tons and tons of slugs....gross little buggers! I have tons of them since my yard has turned into a bog with all the rain we have had recently. I guess i'm going to be eating a large number of eggs to crush up shells and place around my plants! lol It's been so rainy...I think the salt or sand would just wash away right now. Thank you for your help though!!

Sorta comes down to how long of a "beginning" one is considering, for me. My very first 2 orchids are long gone. One was a NOID den that eventually died, and the other was a NOID phal that I sold or gave away at some point. I do still have 2 divisions of a NOID miniden (which is planted in wet peat in a bog terr) I bought at Lowes yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaars back when the BBS carried them frequently. That purchase was a year or two after that of the phal and den mentioned previously. All predated the first time I attended an OS meeting or even knew of events like orchid shows. :) W/ the exception of the aforementioned miniden, my oldest plants [if I stretch "beginning" to include my first orchid show] would be a Pot Hoku Gem 'Superspots' and Blc Blazing Treat. Both of which I've had for probably ten or more years now.

I like the dance - a sort of mini-prom, kinda cute, lets the kids get dressed up for something special with their parents. father/daughter, mother/son, just the whole family. It's very spring. Another idea.. At DS's old school they did a cultural arts fair in the spring. It was organized by the music teacher, she really put a lot into it. It was no small project, but it was sort of her brainchild and pet. She had an open talent show for all the kids to enter if they chose. A lot of kids were able to demonstrate a dance or song from their family culture. No prizes, just for demonstration. She also had performance groups from other schools (elem, middle and high or local dance/arts schools). So there was a percussion group from an elem, the dance class from the school of the arts, the jazz band, on and on. Groups did performances highlighting a culture/nationality. So the percussion did an African thing, the dance group did a Spanish thing. Then she invited teacher to have their individual class do a performance -some did, some didn't. Those that did chose a culture and learned about it and did a performance - storytelling, costumes, etc. Some classes set up tables of activities, cultural games or crafts. The art teacher had the kids do some very special projects leading into this, then the library was made into the art studio where the projects were put on display and sold (part of the procededs went to art dept. and kids actually kept a buck or two). There was food - egg rolls, pizza, tacos, (see the cultural theme) whatever could be purchased cheap in bulk to sell. And she ask all the families if they had items from their homes - traditional cultural heirlooms, souvenirs from travels. She put those on display. She has some sort of waiver for permission to use them, a tag system to reclaim items, and put them on hands-off kind of displaying. If someone had an instrument in this collection she asked them to play it. Or clothing to model it. It was fun, involved a lot of families, and was education. It was, however, labor intensive as far as planning/organizing. I don't know if they still do it, I hope so, it was very impressive. It lasted hours and you still couldn't see everything there. She had a program so full (because so many people wanted to participate) that there wasn't a lot of time to stop and eat or look at her exhibits. So, it was almost too good! It was awesome, worth the effort, I think. But the dance would be easier!

Oh my gosh! I love all the ideas! I had not thought of an arbor. But, since the back gets the hot afternoon sun, I must say I love suero's photoshopped picture. I think that is exactly what I would want. Punamytsike, I understand what you are explaining about needing to float the left side over the sunroom roof somewhat so that the rain water has a valley (gutter?) to transfer the rain down. I would stop the patio roof even with the sunroom roof, or just shy of it, whichever the builder thinks is best. I also plan to take down the short brick wall, so I can add two posts/colums on either side, with wider space in the center. Between the posts, I would put a little picket railing. Suero, I hate to even ask, but if you could, I would love for you to photoshop for me what I have tried to explain. The patio is approx. 25' x 10'. Thank you all for your ideas. I knew this form would come up with something that I could visualize!! Carolyn