That's got to be an interesting challenge Fruitnut. Between the plants you decide to grow and their individual requirements for supplemental irradiation there are lots of variables. I say supplemental irradiation because that allows me to point out photoperiod, quality and intensity. When I was in school we measured PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) when doing crop research as opposed to light levels. PAR is what matters to a plant. As I'm sure you know, different lamps can put out much different qualities (wavelengths) of light and radiation, that quality can and does illicit specific plant responses. Generally speaking, wavelengths towards the red illicit a flowering response, those towards the blue end of the visual spectrum a vegetative growth response. Man I hope I didn't just get that backwards (been a long time;) Lots of variables to say the least, I wish you the best with your endeavor and suggest you keep records of exactly what you did in every respect, if something works you'll no doubt want to be able to repeat it.

I had one of these years ago... it was my favorite cactus... the spines never came out in my hand! But from what I have found, while searching for Selenicereus testudo, are images of what I think is the Mature form of this plant. I think the one most people have in pots is an immature or juvenile form. Maybe potsize has something to do with preventing it from maturing? So, if it's just a juvenile form, there won't be any flowers produced. So, has someone started marketing this plant again, I haven't seen it on the market for quite some time. ks-girl, where did you buy it? Feel like trading a few pieces? I can send you a few pieces of Cleistocactus winteri, which looks similar to but thicker than Aporacactus flagelliformis.

The beard colour is significantly different, even allowing for photographic differences. The falls on CA have a midline stripe rather than a wider wash of darker colour. This could be attributed to age of bloom and light factors while photographing. The CA in the linked photo has no obvious haft marking. I would think that would be the most conclusive difference, as yours is clearly marked. You are correct to think it is likely to be an iris readily available locally. You also should consider the time of bloom and height of the bloom stalk. These should be fairly consistant for the particular cultivar, in your area. It might also be worth watching out for it in other peoples gardens for comparrison. These are 2 pretty little SDB's that you are growing. Why not simply enjoy them without their names? Spend some time looking at SDB's in catalogues and online and you will soon discover the extraordinary similarity between many named irises. Photography can also be very misleading, making the same bloom look quite different from a different angle, and 2 vastly different blooms look quite the same.

blondelle's plan has a lot of interesting ideas. Using it as the base plan, I'd suggest the following changes to it: Laundry/powder/office area-- Powder rm--fill in the wall where she has the door. Then stretch out the powder room so it's 7 to 7-1/2' long adjacent to her kitchen wall and 42" wide, with a pocket door on the right wall. Laundry--this will be outside the powder room, with the small window in it. There would be a door into the family room right next to where the powder room/family room wall ends. Opposite this door and wall would be an identical door and wall, with the office on the other side. Both laundry doors would be pocket doors. The laundry would measure about 7 to 7-1/2' x ~10 to 10-1/2'. Office--to the right of the door from the garage you could have a 4-6' wide coat closet with a 2+' wide cleaning closet next to it. Opposite it (on the back of the 42" powder room wall) you could have a bench with hooks/cubbies above it. The remainder of the room would be the office (about 9'x 10' with a chunk out of the corner due to the closets). Now for the kitchen: Keep the door from the original hall to the family room for easy access to the revised kitchen. Shorten the cabinets on her range wall from both ends from about 11' to about 8' in length. Put the range in the middle of the wall where the fridge was so it's out of the path of the kids. Facing blondelle's range wall, put the fridge on the right, the microwave to the left of it, and a bar sink to the left of it. May have to reverse the fridge and bar sink locations depending on the width of the kitchen. I'm not sure if the kitchen as reconfigured is wide enough for even a 2' wide island. On the back side of the end of the foyer closet and blondelle's fridge wall, put a hutch for dishes or floor to ceiling 12-15" deep cabinets to be used as a pantry. If there is room for the island, extend it so the end comes out as far as the hutch/pantry cabinets. Foyer: since this looks to be over 9'x9', and since the living room is so long, you might consider giving it a little bit of definition by putting an 18" square half wall coming out from each of the closet walls, with open shelves above. I remember some very pretty ones in Sarah Susanka's book The Not So Big House, I think on p. 100. (I liked that room so much that I memorized the page!) Family room: It might be a good idea to keep the wall between it and the dining room. With young kids it's sort of nice to be able to close the doors on the mess if they have their toys in there. Also, as they get older the wall will buffer some of the noise from them and their friends, and the TV if something is on and you don't want to watch it. With the bedrooms on the same floor, it also would keep things quieter when some people are still sleeping, especially when the TV is on. Many people find it very nice to have one of the "public" rooms on the first floor that can be closed off when needed. Also, if the wall remains, you could get a comfortable sofa bed for guests to sleep on. Sorry I can't draw this up for you, but maybe blondelle or someone else will be able to if there's merit to any of these suggestions. It would be very helpful to have the EXACT measurements of the kitchen and narrow hall combined. Can you measure it from the left kitchen wall through the doorway to the right hall wall? I can estimate it by using the scale, but it seems to be only 12-1/2' wide. That would be a little too tight for a built in island, with appliances in the cabinets on the walls opposite the island. However, a narrower long free-standing work table would work. Anne