I've had a slightly different experience than Jae's. I have one in full sun until noon, and one in full sun all day long. The one that is shaded after noon if much, much happier. The one that is in full sun all day long has anemic-looking blooms, many turning brown, and has suffered several infestations. That said, I've never fertilized or watered either one, or treated the one that got infested. They are truly unkillable. One infestation took every leaf, and it came back strong, just without pretty long flowers. I've realized, I like its leaves enough, I'm happy with it where it is (I planted it to screen the pool equipment, which it did quickly) but if you're planting it for the flowers, like most people do, you might want to consider an area that doesn't get full sun all day. Just my experience. susannah

Marie--You eat CG? Oh how funny that I picked that plant for you. Beth-- the nursery is in Crawfordsville, IN. here is their web page davidsongreenhouse.com I had one of there catalogs fron 2002 that I had been hanging onto... Thinking sometime I would get there. Thanks all for the good wishes. I DO feel better. If anyone is working on the decision I just had to make about a hysterectomy, let me say "except for the first few days it's been a piece of cake." Of course if they had made a big fat incission it would be a different story, I'm sure. Now I just have to be so careful not to do anything I'm not suppost to do, like digging, pulling, picking things up. The wind blew my banana tree over on Monday morning. After the storm blew over it turned out to be a beautiful day. It drove me crazy all day to not upright the pot and get the top out of the pond. DH took care of it as soon as he got home from work. This has been so much fun and I have so much time on my hands, I would like to do it again. I will make a new post, if anyone wants to do this again sign up there and I will match people up and send out the emails. Come on and sign up on the post JOYS OF HOUSEPLANTS. Happy Gardening to all, Joy

So what explains the popups and the different speeds different users get? Simply time of day? We have different computers (PCs and Macs), different ISPs, different software, etc.; some of us get the popups, some of us don't. It's fast for some of us, slow for others. And not just for dial-ups, either. Goofy! In my case, if it's time-of-day, I can hardly wait until tomorrow morning to see if installing AdBlock really worked (I did it this morning) or if it's a placebo effect that will go away! I was so happy thinking I'd stopped the popups! I guess I'm too old to learn new tricks. It hurts my brain to think about this.

Fascinating discussion. My mom used to decorate by consensus and then was never happy with what she did. When posters here ask what color of granite to get, what paint color, etc., and then people respond by basically voting on the choice, I rarely participate because my response will always be for them to get what they want, not what most want. Sure, come here with questions and ask for ideas. Someone is sure to pop in what a fantastic idea you never thought of. But that's not the same as decorating by consensus. And consensus is usually safe, neutral and bland, from what I've seen. There's a current discussion in the Kitchen forum about yellow kitchens. The OP is being advised to get a cream with slight yellow tinge to it rather than getting yellow as yellow is too bright, screams too loud, yada yada. Gosh, I loved my yellow kitchen in my first house and am planning on introducing some yellow into my current kitchen which I have decided to paint cream and turquoise. Yeah, turquoise. Yellow goes well with turquoise. And both will play well with the bright orange loveseats in the connecting sitting room. I'm sure I would be advised to go different if I asked so I'm not gonna ask. I love these colors together. Thanks for sharing that great Jack Larsen fabric, palimpest. It looks like a great fabric for pillows in my kitchen/sitting room combo to help tie things together. Like Sweat-Tea, I tend to lose interest once something becomes a trend. The problem is that it's so hard to find what you like if it's not the current trend. It means that if a color you like comes back into style, better grab it while you can because Pantone will deem it out of style next year and it will be impossible find again. This happens in both clothes and home decor. At least you can usually find fun paint colors no matter the trend. Oh, AnnieDeighnaugh, I totally get what you're saying and I've actually used the term "homogenization of America" a lot to describe it. It makes me sad to go on roadtrips and enter town after town that look the same. Usually there is an older part of town that retains it's original charm but you have to seek it out to find it. Sorry I don't have anything profound to add. I am just so weary of neutrals. Heck, in the winter when everybody else is in brown, tans, greys or blacks, I'm using wearing my bright yellow trenchcoat or my bright orange raincoat. It's already gray and dreary in my local winter climate. I don't understand why people want to add to the dreariness. Anyway, my aversion to what are, to me, gloomy, bland color palettes just made me want to jump into the discussion. I agree with Marcolo that we're gonna die someday anyway so we might as well live while we're here and, for me, that means bright cheery colors, whether in vogue or not. And if someone doesn't like my decor, I hope they're coming to my home to see me and not to judge my decorating style.