RITA: Thank you for that very nice comment,it means a lot to me, since all your photos and your gardens are so beautiful. Photos are much better, but,I keep trying,and they have improved this year. AVEDON:Thank you for the very nice comments.I love taking the pictures, but get upset with photobucket when it wont work right.. Jean

I really like MARILYN LEE BOCK even better than MALAYSIAN MARKETPLACE. I've had trouble getting decent photos of LARRY'S OBSESSION due to splotchiness, but once our pest control man got rid of the pharoah and acrobat ants, that took care of the problem. So this photo is the first one I've been able to take of this flower. Today's bloom is also perfect. If I remember correctly, I had that same problem last year, too and the blooms got better toward the end of the season. Nancy

Hi Chicka! Long time no see! How are the new Ecuagenera purchases faring? The Draculas and the Masdevallia, as well as the anthurium reflexinervium and the other South American orchids and plants that you sent to me from their last show in OH are doing very very well! I never thought the Draculas would adapt to the warmth here quite so easily but they seem to really be enjoying their spot in the understory of a big Alpinia purpurata "Ginoza". It keeps the sun off of them completely. The Masdie is on its second blooming! The spiny job up there to the right is a Dyckia bromeliad, like the Cherry Coke and Red Devil I sent you. But this is a much smaller growing hybrid that those. Cherry Coke will eat your house if you let it so beware! Dyckias are succulent bromeliads, that particular one is "Brittle Star" (the one to the left is "Snaggletooth") The little variegated clover is a mystery plant. It blew in from a friend's greenhouse on some stuff she gave to me, and at first I thought is was a "diseased" form of the normal one of those (the name escapes me...you know they are those little pinky/purple wildflowers....we have them all over the yard) so I emailed her and she said, "no, its a true variegated form!" So I let it go and once it got bigger I could see it was really kinda neat. The space I am doing this current project in is the "wide end" of a very large planted bed shaped sorta like a teardrop. If I use a totem for something large growing, like the Variegated Vanilla Orchid plus Hoyas idea, I will go over to Waldo (the little berg 10 miles away) to Tom's Cypress and purchase a large piece of suitably arching driftwood that can be angled over the spot between the Anthurium and the little Darian Palm in that space. While it doesn't look like much now, that little Darian will eventually have whole (undivided) leaves that will measure between 12-20 feet in length, coming up directly off the ground like a cup (Darian palms are virtually trunkless) so I have to plan for that event and not do anything that will impede the Darian in the future. I have plenty of time to figure out which Hoyas to use, but was hoping to hear from some like Aroideana who I recall posted something about training some different cuttings over logs in Oz. I'd be interested in knowing which varieties worked best for that purpose. I'd really like to do one of the larger showier species if it would work. If my Imbricata was bigger, I'd do it, but I am afraid it might get too much light down there and its still just a leaf, but doing great. I can tell its going to be slower than what I am after for this project though, at least initially. This is the list of plants I have to choose from. Some of these are large grown out specimen plants, others are just small plants, or recently rooted cuttings from trades. Smaller leaves: bella brevialata camphorifolia (might be more "medium leaved" actually) cummingiana curtsii (I know this one does well mounted) HSI-037 (medium?) kenejiana "Nugget" variegated kentiana (already have this mounted, probably won't use it again) speckled lacunosa nummularioides obscura "Optimistic" "Ruthie" siariae shepherdii (looks too much like kenitiana, probably won't use) tsangii (already have growing epiphytically) medium-large leaved: Imperialis Kerrii Kerrii Reverse Variegated Kerrii variegated (I am really thinking about this one) macgillvaryii variegated Macrophylla (the yellow and pink tones would complement the other plants in the scheme) megalaster multiflora (probably too shrubby but I might plop one of the 4 I have does somewhere in that space) silver pink/Splash (but I already have this running helter skelter over about 16 sq ft of space in the front of the GH so I probably won't use here) I was looking at my linnearis too...it has a LOT of aeriel roots coming out between each leaf, and that really delicate appearance might be really cool on a big totem if I could get it to grow up the arch. The rain seems to have stopped so I am going out for a quick 6 mile run, then going to get started on this. Brrrr.... the rain is ushering in a cold front for us...it was 92 yesterday when we were at the crawfish boil, today's high will only be about 75 but its supposed to drop to 40-44 tonight! Glad I bought ONE LAST TANKFUL of propane for the greenhouse heater! Just when you thought winter was over...but, its only for a night or 2 so I won't complain.

I made one also, my first try at a Mystery. I'd have had better color choices if I'd known the pattern but I just used fabrics I had in my stash just in case it became hopeless. Somehow I came out a few inches short of fabric C & D and had cut strips left over. I'm not sure yet what to use instead but will post when it's at least pieced. I saved each lesson in case I got called away in the middle and that worked out fine. Don't know if I'll do it again but at least I'll understand the process better the next time. Thanks for bringing it to our attention, Grace. Linda