Mike, First I want to say, the plants I received, beginning Jan 1, 2010, were in 3-4" containers, bulbs and cuttings. Only a handful were larger, meaning 8" to 1' tall. Total: 58. :) :( Marguest, your Banana Tree is beautiful. The colors amazing. There's even a pup. Did you find it on Ebay? Mike, to answer a few questions. I MUST stay away from Ebay..It's one addicting site. Not only do they have great deals on plants, but plant supplies. There's also a few online nurseries I browse every other wk or so. The internet makes it too easy to shop for such an exciting hobby. A few clicked keys, next thing, a package is at your front door? One word of Warning for those who really want to stop buying plants.. Well, an attempt. Do NOT sign up for nursery News Letters. It's convenient, swaying us to their site, displaying their wares. Hear the clicking keys to Paypal? lol. As for local nurseries, fortunately, there are two that sell very very nice and rare specimens..luckily, opposite directions, both a long distance drive. An hour on non-congested days, 1.5-2 hours during 9-5, Rush Hour traffic. Although, traffic has gotten so heavy the past five years, the only time to go anywhere with time to spare is between midnight and 5am. Problem is, the stores are closed. lol. Our grocery store, Jewel's, always has plants for sale. Mostly, basic plants like Spaths, certain Dracaenas, etc. My problem arises when they have dollar sales. 3-4" potted plants for 1.00. Every so often, they'll have a rarer specimen. Buy 3, pot them up, and you have a lovely plant for 3.00. Four years ago, they had, mixed in with other dollar plants, Schefflera 'brassaia/actinophylla, a plant I hadn't seen in years...last one) I grabbed it up fast. lol. That's about it. Not too bad for 9 months. lol. Toni

It does sound like you have a lot of them! I haven't seen all that many on my plants this year - I guess they're all hanging out in your yard :-) is that normal for a balcony container? Yes and no. I've been growing all my plants in containers for 18 years, and I have seen it like you describe several times, but it does not happen every year. When it does happen, it's because I also have an out of control aphid problem, and the ladybugs show up and start munching away. Sometimes I don't notice the aphids initially, because they're hidden or they're the same colour as the plant. But when I see tons of ladybug larvae or pupae, I always find signs the aphids were/are there as well. Could you describe the colour and shape of the eggs you are seeing? Yellow and oval, or brown and round? BP

The June bugs are all here in Texas. The problems come with their Larva which are grum worms which will destroy the roots of grass and other plants. I'll ship some your way if you would like along with any size of grasshopper you choose. My daughter and her family just moved to Mount Juliet, TN and she was telling me about how green everything there is. We have a very severe drought here. Can you please send us some rain.

Many times people complain that the items shown in a Show house are all to-the-trade and not affordable to the masses. It seems this house has gone in the opposite direction and lowered the price point to the Cost Plus World Market level. I would take a guess that they were the major sponsor for the project! The mid level design market that falls between low cost Chinese made goods and custom to-the-trade-only goods, seems to have disappeared completely. At least that has been my experience while remodeling and decorating my house the past 4 years. That was a strange show house project!