A number of years ago I was hired by the owners of a large estate to be the Estate/Property Manager. They took a big risk in hiring me because the estate included various formal and informal gardens and not only were they a total overgrown mess, but I didn't really know a lot about gardening. I soon found tons of information from various sources, including the internet, local cooperative extension office, nursery people, magazines (big Garden Gate fan here), books, etc. I gobbled up as much information as I could as quickly as I could and pretty soon my staff and I had that place looking pretty darn swell. ***** CATALOGS ***** One of my favorite ways to learn about gardening has been studying catalogs from reputable online/mail order companies. I find it to be a lot of fun. I started off by ordering catalogs and now I simply study the online catalogs for reputable companies including those that are rated in "The Watchdog 30" by www.GardenWatchDog.com and others that I read about on this forum. It's amazing how informative catalogs can be, especially when they're written by people who truly enjoy sharing their passion for gardening and their knowledge of plants in an honest and friendly way. And that's why I also enjoy this forum so much. So, I highly recommend throwing forums and catalogs into your mix of learning opportunities. Best of luck in your gardening endeavors!

My plumaria expert says that blossom booster or anything with such a high middle number is useless. In fact some of the threads by Al will agree. I use "Dynamite" 13 13 13...Even numbers right across the board. In fact most plants don't like such a high middle number, because your throwing the abilty off for the whole plant to be healthy, even the colors of the leaves by forcing flowers on your plants when you don't have to. How come plumies flower from the ground outdoors withou someone throwing so much middle number on them? In the ground, they are getting an even amount of nutriets to sustain over look, vigour, and health. I will send you an excert of why the middle number is useless. The "dynamite" has worked wonders for me. It is slow release along with micro nutrients and a well balanced fert. Just some excerts... "Whatever nutrients are available in excess, will be absorbed by the plant to a certain degree, and in some cases, this may lead to toxicity or even symptoms of shortages of other nutrients as toxicity levels block a plant's ability to take up other nutrients. Too much nitrogen will lead to excessive foliage production and less flowering. Too much potassium or phosphorus will not lead to ill effect, but will show up as a deficiency of other nutrients as it blocks uptake". "What about the "Bloom Booster" fertilizers you might ask? To induce more prolific flowering, a reduced N supply will have more and better effect than the high P bloom formulas. When N is reduced, it slows vegetative growth without reducing photosynthesis. Since vegetative growth is limited by a lack of N, and the photosynthetic machinery continues to turn out food, it leaves an expendable surplus for the plant to spend on flowers and fruit". "The fact that different species of plants grow in different types of soil where they are naturally found, does not mean that one needs more of a certain nutrient than the other. It just means that the plants have developed strategies to adapt to certain conditions, like excesses and deficiencies of particular nutrients.." "Most greenhouse operations will follow pretty closely to a 2-1-2 ratio of the primary macro-nutrients on most greenhouse crops with minor deviations based on tissue analysis and the effect of the growing medium. Most post-greenhouse fertilization will follow fairly closely to a 3-1-2 ratio, with some deviation. Again, this very closely mimics the range of the primary macros found in plant tissues". Read the thread......type in search.... "Fertilizer Program - Containerized Plants (Long Post) very imformative article". I never use blosson booster, and all my plants flower Profusely.... Hope this helps and greens up the leaves along with giving you nice flowers next time around..:-) Mike

I've been in touch with the Colorado Aussie Rescue and MaxFund, so am considering their resources to help find her a home.

http://donrisi.blogspot.com/2009/09/portraits-reflections-in-your-subjects.html explains the theory You need bright, even illumination, that means NO FLASH aimed at the mirrors ... use sheets of white paper and halogen lights and bounce the light off the paper onto the mirror. Or bounce it off off the ceiling. Or make a "diffuser" by shining the lights through frosted glass, translucent plastic or white paper (just don't get the diffuser too close or you have fires). Don't try to get the whole wall in one shot. Take a small section at a time, either focusing on one inscription or one or two tiles ... pixels are cheap. This also means you don't care if the photographer is reflected in part of the mirror, because you are aiming a bit to one side of the photographer's reflection. Use a GOOD digital camera - one with a big lens that lets you choose shutter speed and aperture, and try various things until you find one that works. Use a heavy tripod - you can find them for CHEAP in thrift stores. Take some "location shots", just big overviews of the wall without worrying about the reflections, and print them out (B&W laser printer will do). Mark off each section as you get a good shot of it to make sure you get everything in closeups.