"The good filters are too expensive, and there is a thought concerning the air particles in the sprays to be too little for hepa filters. " I'm pretty sure HEPA filters out 99.97%.. As far as water filters, i have a aquasona. They are pretty cheap, but the custer service could be better. To really take advantage you have to get the water for life program.. All in all, im happy with it. You could even get a cheap carbon filter At the big box stores, its better than no filter. " Bathtubs in this area get orange, don't know if thats the mill" My shower filter head gets orange/pink deposits.. I wonder what that is.. My water filter should of took it out.. I wonder if it is just bacteria or mold or something... Although, im not going to denounce if there is chemical pollution.. In that case, you need a water test. "There is no information for sure on the spraying's contents, but they go over the sky in grids or stars and the trails persist and spread to block the sun in a haze. I watch them do it, always starting in front of the sun, can make a nice day crap - if it blows away they come back and lay more of the false clouds. There are two normal flight paths and the trails never become clouds, even on days where the grids do. It is often done at night too." Some believe these are "chemtrails", chemicals that the "head hunchos" spew out the plan .. There are ithers that believe it is just the exhaust from the plane, which reaearch shows probably is the case. However, the fuel the plans run on is unhealthy and spew heavy metals out of the exhaust.. But, i still believe nobody can be so sick to intentional poison the population.. Well, the pharmaceuticals already do that, so.. "My plants look fine though I do compost with only organic matter. I know sunflowers help but it said they destry them once they uptake the toxins - I composted them and birds ate seeds. They were actually over twice the size they were supposed t be, along with my corn nearby - it looked weird." I advise you to look up dr. Eilain inghan, the soil scientist for the USDA. While, im sure the plants do update some toxins, the microorganisms in the soil does the majority of the "detoxification". Also, I would still grow your own food. It's still soo much healthier than the grocery store.. Dont let thT stop you from growing your food. The benefits of eating that food outweight the potential toxins.. If your that concerned, again look up dr. Elian inghan compost tea. You basically spray the good bacteria and fungus on the plant and it leaves a protective coating.. Fighting off pathogens, and engulfing toxins.. "Probably the emf is worse here too - mybe its just all of it. Neighbor has a tower in their backyard - its not a big place." What your neighbor has big towers or what? Man, you are really in bad shape huh..

More SPAM...go away!!

Hi Gonz and Lisa, Thanks for the interesting links. Now I know where the name came from. Also another very interesting pice of information from Gonz's article: Why Moss is Desirable for Stuffing: No known insect will attack moss fibre, eat, destroy or live within it. I wonder if the same applies to the living moss, and if so, could it act as a deterrent to insects if it is draped around the top of pots containing broms? For those who don't know of Lantana, it is a real pest in Australia as the description from a recent A.B.C. Gardening Australia fact sheet explains: "Lantana camara might look like a strikingly attractive plant and in some respects the foliage and flowers are quite beautiful. The species is a genus of the verbena family, native to Mexico, the Carribean and Central and South America. But it is now known as a weed of national significance and is regarded as one of Australia's worst weeds. It's invasive, it has potential to spread and it is impacting on the economy and the environment. Lantana was first recorded in Australia in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens in 1841, and a few years later it had spread to gardens up the east coast of the country. By the 1860s it was reported as a weed in both Sydney and in Brisbane. But in spite of its weed status, a few specimens are located in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. Botanica calls lantana the "Jekyll and Hyde of plants" because it's reviled in warmer, wetter parts of world, where it invades pastures and forests and is poisonous to stock, but in cool, temperate parts of the world it forms quite an attractive shrub. Lantana is a problem because it forms a dense thicket. It usually invades disturbed land and river margins, particularly open, sunny areas. Given the right conditions, it spreads quickly. Lantana is a lalopathic, releasing chemicals into the surrounding soil to prevent seed germination, notably of the native flora, so that it eventually takes over native bushland. As with other successful weeds, lantana can spread in different ways. It layers - that is, it produces roots from where the plant touches the ground, and that produces new plants. But more importantly it's propagated by seed. These are ingested by birds and foxes, which spread them through their droppings. This means it can spread over a distance very quickly. But perhaps more importantly, it can produce up to 12,000 seeds from one plant in a year. No wonder it's become a problem weed." I know it's a bit off track but just out of interest for other GW members, I once had an orchid growing mate (about 40 years ago) who had a cousin who owned a farming property in Northern NSW and on his property Spanish Moss didn't grow on the trees, but instead was prolific in amongst the Lantana bushes. Most Australian farmers will quickly eradicate any Lantana on their property but my friend said his cousin preferred to leave it there because he liked the look of the enormous clumps of Spanish Moss hanging from it. It worked for us too, because every time my mate came back from up north, he would bring a large bag full of moss with him which we shared and hung above our orchids, and that is where the Spanish Moss I have in my garden today originally came from. I know it's a useless bit of info., but there it is. All the best, Nev.

Thank you everybody again! I think I will go with a small climbing rose after all. I really need something that everyone (non-gardener as well) would be familiar with and be able to picture and roses are great for that. (And hey - I learnt something too: lots of people grow roses in pots and there are small/miniature climbing roses!!) Thanks, Bart, for that fantastic list! I don't know if I need to give too much detail of the rose cultivar (if you give too many details or dwell too long on the description of something, it alerts the reader too much, unless you can provide an alternative reason for the detail, ie, misdirection) - I think for the general reading public, I can just say "climbing rose" - but it's good to have the information for myself, as "insurance" - so that if any reader does email and question the authenticity (trust me, there's always one!! ;-) ) - then I have the information to back up my choice. So thank you for all the names & info! suncoastflowers - a bougainvillea would have been perfect, except that this is Vienna and I doubt they have bougainvilleas growing successfully there? From my understanding, they're a hot climate plant. I notice that mine go dormant in winter here and it's not even that cold in Perth. But yes - I was thinking a climbing rose trained along the balcony railing would be perfect! :-) Jin - sure, I'll let you know. Thanks for your interest! :-) I'm hoping to finish the manuscript by this weekend and get it to my editor for next week... Thanks again! ~ HY ps. oh - just thought this was interesting to share: I posted this question also on my Facebook Author page as I hoped there might be some fans living in Austria/Germany who could weigh in and a few did. And one thing that came up multiple times was "heather"! So interesting what people grow in different countries, isn't it? I would never have thought of people growing heather as a pot plant in an inner city... to me, it's the kind of plant that grows wild in the Scottish countryside or something! :-)