Kevin, I think you're absolutely correct. Most of the books I read when I was coming along were for people with greenhouses. Even the Rebecca Northen "Home Orchid Growing" assumed that the home grower was using a greenhouse! And sadly, many of the newer books have just translated practices that were valid for greenhouse growing without saying much about the whys and wherefores. The worst reason (in my own orchid society) for using a fan I ever heard was because that's what they get in nature. What tiarella said about breaking up air and providing slight movement is very valid - no one contests that orchids dislike stagnant air. But there's a huge difference in fanning your growing area so the little leaves wiggle the way they tell you to do it in books, and providing a little gentle air movement in the entire room. This is why Jack Kramer suggested that natural currents would probably be sufficient. He seemed to understood our tendency to overdo. So truth be told I put a small circulating fan on unless humidity is really awful, but only to provide the slightest movement of air in the overall room. The higher the humidity the more air movement I provide. And in my space it almost never amounts to fans blowing directly onto plants or enough even to move the thinner leaves of an oncidium. What I do is suspend a length of thin twine over the edge of my light fixture, hanging down to the level of the plants. If that moves a little, that's enough air movement for moderate humidity. To see leaves move, you want humidity at least 60-65% I'd say. John

It doesn't matter to the bamboo. You can remove the dead culms, no problem. Since they are dead, they don't have leaves, and can't be blocking any sun. The culms on the interior of the grove will not have branches and leaves down low since litte/no sun shines there. On the edge of the grove the bamboo, probably a Phyllostachys, the sun will have stimulated branching and leaves all the way to the ground. You can even thin living culms to lessen the density, and make room for your meditation temple. With a litle inspection, you can usually identify the alive culms that are older. Prune them rather than the newer culms. At the edge of the grove, you can prune off the lower branches/leaves to expose the interior and not have a solid, opaque face of foliage. I prune the lower branches to about 6 feet on a bamboo next to a path to keep them out of my face.

When I first planted my garden I found it fell into "overgrown" very quickly. I came to believe that having some structure in the garden, even the most informal cottage garden, is the key to avoiding this. Edgings, thoughtful use of color range, and avoiding too many different kinds of ornaments can all help. It can be as simple as having all the pots the same color, or using the same material for climbing structures over and over, or bordering all the beds with the same kind of low plant. Then the chaos beyond resolves itself into abundance rather than disorder. Generous use of mulch lends an air of tidiness, too, as does occasional deadheading. Mulch is my favorite weapon in this battle, since it reduces weeding and watering at the same time. Rosefolly

I do give away the common whites/yellows or the varieties that have been given to me, but I have other varieties (Gulf Stream, Hilo Beauty, Moragne #23, Vera Cruz Rose, Cancun Pink, Pu'u Kahea, Brea (not well known, from Jack Morgan), Kamiyama Rainbow, Plastic Pink, Nebel's Rainbow and on and on and on....) that I paid for as cuttings from mostly reputable and a few shady places. I run up quite the bill every spring with new plants and all the fertilizers that the plants need...DH hasn't said anything yet, but if our roles were reversed I would put the kibosh to the plumeria habit if I saw the bills coming in and stuff going out for free! Fortunately I sold a few bigger trees and that gave me the go ahead to bring in some more cuttings. :-) chuy,email me and let me know what you're looking for, I'm in North OC.