It never fails to amaze me what organic molecules bound up in protein cell walls exhibit in response to stimuli. Most folks tend to believe that plants are inanimate for the most part, except for growth. Yet flowers open, close and follow the sun like little moving radar dishes, leaves fold or curl and some plants recoil to touch. The thing plants lack is the more complex capacity to respond which we find in fauna and call sentience. And they are damn slow about their movements, blushes and other responses. It's often hard to tell why they respond and what they are responding to. The 'nastic' responses aren't always easy to peg, let alone the 'pathologic' or illness responses. I'm not the guy with 4 years of plant science like Huey, but it does seem odd to me that a plant should extend more energy at a time when its metabolic ability to produce energy is taxed, ie. the accelerated growth of larger and in the case of the "Ice Cream" and "Super Dwarf", darker leaves in shade. I questioned for some time his statement about anthocyanins producing the zebra bars on the zebrinas as it seemed odd to me that the zebra bars were being produced on the "Ice Cream" banana only now, precisely as a response to the diminished light of partial shade. If the Zebrina lives naturally in full sun, then why does the "Ice Cream" banana produce the bars when subjected to shade? There seems to be a contradiction here. Do Autumn leaves turn color due to reduced light as the Solar azimuth increases or due to cold or both? Are the zebra bars a similar response? I don't think my banana are in danger of illness. They do get light. It is just not the full on direct UV hard light. Instead they get the diffuse reflected light that comes in the Patio windows. Granted, the intensity of this light is much less than the direct light, especially at the current seasonal low azimuth of the Sun. It must be worse for folks with Banana farther north and their tactics of overwintering their corms in storage may be very necessary. Those folks also get more cloud cover than we get in BKF. Cloud cover is rare here, although as it gets colder, we may see Tule fog that hangs on the ground till late morning or longer. I have developed however, a great appreciation for the harshness of solar radiation. Despite our protective magnetic, atmospheric and ozone planetary shield, the natural summer radiation levels are indeed harmful and destructive to those amazing organic molecules I referred to above. There may be some plants that require the full dosage, but I think some shade, even from cloud cover is often the means for healing or even better health. I grant you, that certain pathogens are better able to survive in shade and those, fungis, molds, viruses etc., may be causal to plant illness and that should rightfully be a concern. But I think the metabolic needs will be met in my overwintering scheme. I think I can get by here in BKF with my current strategy of overwintering inside. The shortest day of the year is less than 30 days away, December 21st. After that we may get colder, but will start seeing longer days again. Grow lights are an option if I think I need them. I am committed to continue as I have started and should things get ugly, well ... I suppose in any case, I'll both learn from the experience and be able to provide folks in this forum a useful example. Fingers are crossed.

Actually, we get a lot of "smokers" over on the Salvia forum looking for info on growing S. divinorum. That's the one Salvia that was used for its hallucinogenic properties in divinatory rituals by the Mazatec Indians. We just tell the curious folks to basically "move along, this forum is for gardening with Salvia, not smoking it." :D I've never tried to grow it, only because it's notorious for being difficult. It's a beautiful plant, though, from the pics I've seen. I just grow Salvias for their ease of growth, beauty, and sometimes, the scent of their leaves, not necessarily in that order. :) Brenda

I thought Alexa was kidding about the strong minded people at the Laundry Forum.....apparently there is such a thing and she sent me the link this morning. When I finally stopped laughing I went to check it out. Who would have thought......there were 5 threads on ASKO washers & dryers alone! (literally ASKO parts 1-5) Parts 4 and 5 had 123 and 142 posts respectively - seriously. I sure parts 1,2, & 3 were up there also. And yes - people have REALLY strong opinions about brands, top loading, front loading, how to clean a dryer vent and how to distress a brightly colored polyester speedo. Okay - so I'm off topic - but this post isn't on the convo side. I'm sure I'll get blasted by someone but I just had to share something that really tickled my funny bone! So if you need a good laugh ............ this site makes the hosta forum members look like a bunch of girlscouts! Here is a link that might be useful: The Laundry Room

I confess I have mixed feelings when I respond so positively to queries about soapstone. On one hand, I'm so pleased I followed my heart and instincts, did some research, and put it in my home that I'm eager to share encouraging info with people who are drawn to it. On the other hand, it's nice to have something that is different from what is in everyone else's house. Already, someone who went to look at our sunroom windows with our contractor came away dazzled and decided on a kitchen redo to include SS. Yeah!.....kinda.... I do like sharing my experience and delight with people on this forum, though. Seems the people who come here are really interested in learning about what will work in their kitchens and are investing their time in creating a special space. It's not so much a case of "I want what she has because she has it." I think SS will continue to grow more in popularity, but I don't think it will ever have the mass appeal that granite has had. I don't think it has the "Va Va Voom" that draws a lot of people to granite or the cachet that marble has. I'm happy that I got my slabs before it peaks,though, while there were still some to be had!