Although many experts say that late winter is the proper pruning time, I have heard of a few experts who prune back in the fall with no problems. I would suggest pruning back after a killer frost when the plant goes into dormancy. Suzy

Saw everyone's comments on the other forum, glad you enjoyed seeing them. I really enjoy painting--don't know why my projects are so few and far between! Just procrastinate too much I think. Have a couple other Christmas things I want to get done and ready for next year, but I've also been going through my patterns for some Valentine's ideas. I need a couple of signs for outside, I hardly have any Valentines decos. Usually I like to put a little sign on my lamppost in the yard, on my side gate, and on the side door to the garage off my front patio for the holidays. Mostly have things for Halloween and Christmas so need to get busy and make some for these other holidays too. Anyone making any kind of crafts for Valentine's or St. Pat's? Did all of you see Oddie's baggie wreath with the red ribbon and little red hearts on it? And she posted a pic of bunny boxes that are so cute too. You can see them all on the crafts forum. Luvs

The first three pictures are of La Cornue. You can see the range with a french top and griddle. This range is shown as part of a $100,000 wall of LaCornue. The next four pictures are of the duel fuel CC. The reason I took so many pictures of the oven was to show their new concept. The electric oven has a water reservoir in the oven to generate moist heat. The goal is to mimic a gas oven for cooking meats. Since the moist heat is not good for baking you only add the water when you want the moist heat. However, this is not a steam oven - I asked. The range will not be out for awhile - only a prototype was there. The knobs are at an odd level. Most disappointing in my mind is that the burners are the precision line burners. The oven is large. Trevor was not at the CC booth - he was at modern aire. I did speak to him and he assured me that later they would come out with the open burners. The next seven pictures are of a kitchen from Valcucine. I fell in love with this kitchen. If you like contemporary and have a high end budget - you should look at this kitchen!!! The drawer and cabinet fronts are glass. Draw bottoms are glass - so you can clearly see what is inside. Each drawer has custom divider options to suit your needs. The cabinets open European style - that is the top and bottom separate - that is the strange second picture in the series. I am showing the cabinet in a closed position. The next three pictures show a concept I really thought was both cool and practical. A wooden cutting board slides over the counter top and sink. It can be retracted to utilize the regular counter top. It also slides off the counter to enlarge the counter top if you need more space. In the next to last picture, you can really see how this works. What I loved about this kitchen was the ability to close everything off. I like how the dishes can drain in the sink - behind closed doors - not a new concept, but well executed. The last picture shows some of the gadgetry - wine holes, magnetic bar etc. Then I posted a series of beautiful artistic objects from the show. All high end. A few comments on products which I think are new: 1. Subzero is offering a 36 inch french door. 2. Wolf is introducing stainless steel knobs for the dual fuel ranges and sealed range tops. 3. Sub zero reconfigured two of its largest models to provide chilled water and ice inside the refrigerator. 4. Miele has made a counter top version ($1700) of its wall mounted coffee maker. This is an incredible machine. Maintains personal preferences for coffee settings for 10 people. It makes lattes, cappuchino, expresso. Everything can be programmed to your liking. So if you drink a starbucks a day, this machine could pay for itself in a year. 5. Jenn Air has an i phone app that lets you select JennAir appliances and instantly see them in your kitchen. Its called design vision iphone app. 6. Blanco showed a quick release magnetic spray faucet.

I'm going through issues with one of my Huernias. It got some meallybugs last fall. Got rid of the meallies, but the plant looks sad. I'm telling you this to let you know you're not alone in the problematic Huernia area:). I think your first and main problem is your soil has to many organic materials. How big is the sand particles? Sand drains, but holds onto moisture for way too long. Plus gets really compacted. Which is never a good thing. The humus I would not use for this plant. If you could get your hands on perlite I think that would help out a lot. Pumice is better IMO, but I know people have a hard time finding it. Is there a way you could get some grit? If you can't get these materials I think perlite is your best bet. It had its problems, but it does what you need and that's to DRAIN water:). Like I stated above I've had to pretty much turn a rooted Huernia into one big cutting. I did not use fungicide or rooting hormone. I'm not saying anything is wrong with these things I just haven't needed them. I cut till I see healthy flesh and let callus over in a cool dry area for a couple days. This step is important so your plant doesn't get rot or fungus. Then I put into peatless C&S soil combined with pumice. I don't water till my plant has roots.