Ngraham, I did hesitate over the Commander in Chief. Too many lilies in the bag, too. I would rather buy onesies. If they ARE asiatics I will be up to my ears in that variety in no time anyway. I wonder why they always seem to be sold in multiples? Now if they were begonias, why, then Id need a bag full. (I DID need begonias, and those were one per bag!) I can buy them one at a time at my local lily society, but the price will be at a premium too. I have wondered about my Monte Negro. I have seen others post pictures here and mine does look a bit different. On mine the petals are narrow, too. Thats one thing I really dont like in a lily. Thanks for the encouragement about the daylily choice. I have no idea where Ill put this poor plant. I will probably have to pot it up too: I dont think it will hold out until May for me. About Star's Favorite: its a tall rangy one, floppy stemmed too. (I dont really have any all day sun, that may factor in) I needed my tallest stakes for it. But it produced more flowers than any other I had last year. Individual flowers had beautiful form, too. I like to cut individual flowers and put them singly into ikebana holders. When a flower stands alone perfect form is more important. There are several varieties with names beginning with "Stars" : I tried one that is more solid pink but it did not produce nearly as well. rolacoy: in your zone 8 the dahlias might even over winter in the ground. The lilies might need vernalization. Ive never lived anywhere but Zone 5 so take certain things for granted: like which bulbs will work for me. Maybe there is a targeted forum for your part of the country. I have a cousin who moved from Chicago to Texas (I forget where in Texas). I know she cant grow tulips, but iris and daylilies do phenomenally well. She is the only person I know personally with whom Ive compared notes. Roly, I have not tried most of those. Freesia, Ranunculus, Sprekelia, Amarillys belladona, Agapanthus and Tigridias. I know they had some but I tend to skim over the ones I know nothing about. In my zone Im not sure I could get most of those going. I am always tempted by Anemone de Caen but they are not hardy here, and I dont know how they take to digging up and replanting like the dahlias do. I dont have luck keeping dahlias over but re-buy them every year. Begonias I can keep over: trying callas this year too.

Your first impression is correct, the wicking allows water absorption from below. Here is some basic information on setting up a plant for wick watering. First of all, prepare a pot by placing the WET wick through the hole in the bottom of the pot, and loop it around the insides once. Be sure to have enough wick hanging out the bottom to go all the way to the bottom of the water reservoir. Dumping in a spoon of potting mix will help hold everything in place. Prepare potting mix in a ratio of 1 part peat, 1 part coarse vermiculite, and 2 parts perlite. Remove as much of the existing soil as possible without harming the fine roots. Repot into the prepared pot but do not press down on the soil. You want this to stay as light as possible. You can either pre-dampen the soil, or dampen it after in the pot. If you are using deli dontainers, be sure to cut the hole for the wick to correspond to the position it hangs out the pot; some pots will have holes in the center of the pot, some pots have holes off to the side. After you fill the reservoir, be sure the wick hangs into the hole when you place the pot on top. You can, and should, continuously feed the plant by using water with 1/8 tsp of fertilizer per gallon added. Good luck, and keep asking questions. Barbara

I have a very ugly fence bordering my property. I've decided to cover it with roses. I have Ballerina and loved the way it looked on the fence this spring so I was looking for more big and simply looking roses. Hopefully these do well. I'm going to be very busy next spring!!!!! I have 20 roses to plant as of today.

How could you resist ordering, especially now that the web site has pictures to tempt us. I also went a bit crazy but they were just so beautiful! Good luck, it sure makes your winter exciting as you pamper your seeds and wait for them to sprout.