But Your Honor!! I didn't mean to kill this rotten, little thing. It just had some sort of perverted death wish. I swear!! Arthur - I agree. Usually I learn from my mistakes, but I'm still temped by things I know I shouldn't mess around with. My other big nemesis right now are all those wonderful cool - cold growers. One would think - Minnesota - oh, those should be easy there. Sure, most of the year is just fine until we reach the summer months. With that said, I guess it's still kind of interesting how some handle the heat just fine and others suffer horribly. That's what probably keeps me experimenting with them. WC - I know that feeling when a plant is just too icky to put up for trade or sell, but you don't want to kill it outright. If they would just have the dignity to die all by themselves life would be so much easier. It's a good thing Carolyn is getting rid of some things. My order is in. Almost forgot to mention this: A while ago, someone sent me a very, very sick Cischweinfia dasyandra. It came with one tiny PB and one tiny new growth. I thought for sure it would be dead shortly. Not so. Slowly, ever so slowly it's coming back. K

How long is too hard to answer. If your azalea friendly spot is in an azalea friendly part of the country, it may just slowly settle in and be fine. If you're in a mild summer area and keep it watered, it may look like it's going to survive and then not make it through next winter if your winter is harsh :) Just wait and see, if it drops all it's leaves and the stems turn brittle, you'll know. You could either let them grow out on their own, or selectively prune a few of those sheared stems to release them earlier from the ball shape.

I use a 150w HPS grow light over my citrus and other indoor plants. I got it online from HTGsupply for $66 plus shipping. I have to say that HPS is the superior grow light compared to fluorescents (which I also tried for citrus). As far as supplemental lighting goes, I have also tried incandescent "plant" bulbs, CFLs and fluorescents. All these were little to no help to keep my lemon tree alive and thriving. I would highly recommend an HPS light if you can spare the $66 to buy it and roughly $5-10 extra on the electricity bill. Honestly the electricity bill didn't noticeably change considering I use two 100w lights for my iguana, plus our PC is 400w and Xbox is 400w. All things to consider. I hope you get another citrus! They are very rewarding when you achieve success. Keep us updated :-)

Darn, Tricia, I was encouraged by your topic heading since I was hoping that my one of the two Ilex Crenata chesapeake I put in last year wasn't really dead from this odd winter. One looks pretty bad but shows good signs of life throughout, the other seems darn close to dead, except for a few green leaves on the bottom. I still hope. Odd about the ajuga...I lost huge patches of it. I have mixed feelings about it; wondering what to put in its place, but maybe it will come back up...I'll have to look more closely at it. Patty