Some bulbs are planted underground. Daffodils, hyacinths and so forth. They grow to a flowering size over a few years, then produce their flowers. They also develop offsets or daughter bulbs which will usually have flowers just like their parent's. Once the little bulbs have grown 'big enough to leave home' they will easily part from the parent and you can plant them elsewhere - knowing it may take a few years more before they flower. Some bulbs sit on or near the surface. Think Hippeastrum, Amaryllis, Nerine, Scadoxus, Vallota. They have big and meaty roots. They still produce offsets, just like the inground bulbs - and the same 'rules' apply: plant them shallow, treat them kindly, wait for a few years for them to flower. Then there are the sneakier ones: some lilies produce mini-bulbs where the leaf joins the stems (the axils). You can pick these off and plant them up to make more of the lily you like. If a favourite bulb is slow to multiply then there are ways to increase the numbers - but you might need to try on bulbs that don't matter to you so much because you have to cut them up to get them producing little bulbs. And - some bulbs will make more simply from a leaf cutting. Plus seeds - which is a bit of a gamble because they might not look anything like the original. Fun to do - and needs patience. Some orchids also look like bulbs. Pleione seems to like sitting its greeny bulbs on the surface (it's a ground grower anyway). Some, like Bletilla, snuggle underground. Some, such as Cymbidium, can park themselves in/on trees and have their roots bare to the world so long as there is food and moisture going by. Orchids can be highly addictive and lead to vastly overcrowded glasshouses....:-)))

Carol, I think it's wonderful that you're starting a butterfly garden. I think that they need our help. Yes, it does seem that the Latin names are used pretty much on the butterfly forum and I was intimidated too when I first joined, but after awhile I started learning those Latin names too. So now I'm one of those Latin nerds. lol I don't know nearly as many as some people do but do know some. They don't use them to impress people but to different between the plants so there's no misunderstanding what plants should be planted to attract a certain kind of butterfly. For example, there are different kinds of blue vervain and if they'd just say that someone should get blue vervain for a host plant for the Common Buckeye, the person they're telling that to might get Verbena bonariensis (a great nectar plant but not a host plant) instead of getting Verbena hostata, which is a host plant for that kind of butterfly caterpillar. Another example is rue. Rue isn't just rue! lol If you want to have the one that's a host plant for Giant Swallowtails and Black Swallowtails, get the one that is Ruta graveolens. There are many different kinds of rue; e.g. meadow rue, and that's not a host plant. Okay, class dismissed. Haha. At first I didn't understand why they used Latin names on the butterfly forum, but after reading awhile, then I knew why. I bet you'll learn some too after awhile. After you read a lot of posts, they started sinking in my head; I wasn't even consciously trying to learn them. Anyhoo...I hope those names don't chase you away from the forum. I've learned so much there and also here. Yep, Wafer Ash (Ptelea trifoliata), also known as Hoptree, is a tree that is a host plant for the Giant Swallowtail. I can't say that I could identify a wafer ash offhand, but from reading about it, it sounds like a desireable tree since it attracts the butterflies, and I also remember reading that it has fragrant flowers and only gets about 20 feet tall. I just looked up what zones it can grow in and it said 4-9, so you're good. I had bought my seeds from Prairie Moon Nursery. I'm pretty sure those other trees I mentioned would also grow where you are at. You probably won't find pipevine at any of the stores. I got mine from Sunlight Gardens. Just as with the other plants, there are different kinds of pipevine. Mine is Aristolochia macrophylla. A good thing to do if you're interested in attracting butterflies to your place is to go to www.butterfliesandmoths.org and look up your state and county to see which ones were reported being there. The website has their host plants listed and also nectar plants that they like to go to. Like you, we've been removing scrub trees from here and replacing them with nice trees (the ones I mentioned). I could go on and one about what to plant for which kind of butterfly, but I'm probably already sounding like a commercial for the butterflies. Being that this is the wintersowing forum, I'd better shut up now. Ha. Sorry, but I get carried away about them just like I do about plants, and that's why I have close to 100 containers sitting outside that I've wintersown (is it sowed or sown?) Best of luck with things and if you ever have any questions about butterflies, just email me. yomamab2002 at yahoo dot com Cathy

We bought our land 4 years before we built our home. We wanted to build our dream home and were not in a hurry to rush into it and then regret decisions made too quickly. I was the designer on the project and honestly enjoyed all that it entailed. We also had a wonderful builder that made the whole process go seamlessly and stress free. After we chose a house plan and had it updated to include the must-haves on our list, I poured over those plans for hours and hours making sure each room was as ideal as possible. Now is the time to decide if you want an HVAC duct in that place or a light switch or outlet in that spot. Decide if you want floor outlets, special outlets in pantries or cleaning closets. Are the rooms the right size? Could a couple feet make a difference anywhere? I sure wish we had made our laundry room 3 feet wider. Choose as many products as you can before your builder gives you his estimate. If you want granite and he's giving you laminate pricing the cost will be more. Also, painting the interior all one color is less expensive than having several rooms painted differently. Are you going with pre-painted siding or having the exterior custom painted? Are you using brick, cultured stone or natural stone? Huge difference between brick and natural stone. Plumbing fixtures vary in price as do lighting and appliances. Make sure he's taking your choices into account with his bottom line. Think about any upgrades in insulation, soundproofing, radiant heating, etc. The best advice I can give from someone who's been there, done that, is to sit down and really think about how you want the house to look, function and feel....and cost. Are there things you can't do without? For us it was a 3rd garage, his & hers master's closets, a computer space off the kitchen area where we can monitor our son, and a particular type of kitchen layout. Break the house plan down room by room if it's overwhelming but KNOW WHAT YOU WANT. If you're unsure of that then you can be talked into a lot of stuff you will find out later you really didn't need or want. Almost all of us have to stick to a budget so the trick is getting what you want overall at a price you can afford. This website is a treasure trove of information that I'm sure will benefit you in the days to come. Good luck on your build and keep your chin up.

Hi there Carla. When I saw this topic, I couldn't believe how up my alley this question was. For the last five years, I've been working in selling cameras while going to school. Our store stresses superior product knowledge and I pride myself in keeping up to date on the camera market. Basically, I'm familiar with about 90% of the non-professional cameras on the market. Anyways, sorry for tooting my own horn there. The Yashica T4 is an excellent camera (I own one!). Lore hit the nail on the head in that it's all in the Zeiss lens. The T4 Super Date should run you around $200, about half of it's value being in the lens. The only other P/S camera that might come close to it is the Olympus Stylus Epic (make sure it's the one with NO zoom, and an f/2.8 lens). We did a side by side comparison of the two when the Olympus first came out and we couldn't really tell the difference. You may also want to consider upping your price range to get yourself an SLR camera. While spending more money doesn't GUARANTEE you better pictures, SLRs do tend to do a better job than P/S's. Lastly, Consumer Reports is probably one of the worst places to do research on cameras (though they did rate the T4 #1 for like 4 years straight). The problem is that they rate a small sampling of the cameras on the market and definately miss out on many models, both good and bad. Second, they rate cameras every 2-3 years, while in those off years, just reprint an old report with the updated models and just assuming that the new models are EXACTLY like the old ones. Good places to look are in photo magazines, though they don't "rate" as much as they just list them all and describe them. You kinda have to dig to find the actual tests they do. I'll try to dig up some URLs for you. I hope that helped for now... :)