Thank you so much for that information - especially setting me straight about the "lucky bamboo"! The reason I am interested in having few leaves near the bottom is that I have a very silly cat who chews on ANY houseplant and even though i am careful to choose nontoxic-to-cats plants, he swallows bit of leaves and then throws them up. So I am trying to satisfy my desire for green in the house without harming our cat or at the very least having kitty puke everywhere... and I have a husband who finds many indoor plants "creepy" - anything fleshy-leaved like an American rubber plant, which would probably at least be safe from my cat and if nontoxic, cleans the air etc, my husband does not like. From what you describe it sounds like bamboo would be difficult for a novice like me to maintain indoors, though we have tons of light in the loft which has 2 story windows. We have been living in a small cottage which didn't have enough light to support most indoor plants and we had a backyard where I could garden, not I only have a balcony but all this light and space indoors! Maybe I'll just have to get some dried bamboo stalks and put them in nice floor vases to fill in that vertical space, then get some smaller house plants - if I can find ones that satisfy all the household residents (sigh).

Sorry to hear about the induction light, but I'm not surprised that it sold that quick , that was a great price. Here is a great website that explains LED lights: http://ledgrowlightsreview.org/ From what I've seen and read, unless you buy a good LED unit which has quality leds with lenses and good heat sinks, as described in the the guide there, is good quality over all, the LEDs are useless. It's still fairly new technology and unless you're gonna get the top brands that implement those lenses you're just wasting your money. A good unit costs around $1000 from what I've seen. Those units that you found on craigs list are a waste of money imo. My overall suggestion is go with what's known to work. There is a reason why most indoor growers either use Fluorescent, Metal Helide and High Pressure Sodium lamps.... because they work :) Sure you'll see and hear great things about those UFOs from people on youtube but unless you personally know the person keep in mind that those people most likely are either trying to sell this stuff or are just full of it. Just ask yourself this, this person who is selling them only after a month! He praises them :) but still selling them :) If they were so freakin great why wouldn't he keep them???? My advise, once again is to invest in Florescent T5HO setup. It's compact, runs cool and energy efficient, easy to disassemble when you'll move again, you can grow different varieties of plants and it works. If you want higher yields/grow tall plants and have lots of room for these lights than go with MH and HPS combination. If you're set on the LEDs than go with quality brands and spend the money. I'm gladly sharing what I know with you so no need to say sorry. That's what these forums are for.

I thought of you. Finally got time to read the garden section of today's Dallas Morning News. They have two. Both are said to be avilable at HD and Lowes. I have not heard of either. They are new. You can find the article online. Title "New Arrivals..." sometimes they change the title from the actual paper. Emeral Snow Loropetalum. Green leaves(yes green!) with white flowers. Big bloom in spring. Sporadic bloom through summer and fall. 3 ft tall 4 ft wide. For sun or shade Jubilation gardenia. Compact reblooming, same blooming habit as above. Garden Glow dogwood. A deciduous shrub. 2-3 ft tall. White flower clusters followed by pale blue berries in summer. Bright red twigs in winter. (looks nothing like a dogwood!)

Is it possible to grow roses indoors? I'd say yes, with some major caveats. It won't be cheap and it won't be easy. I grow orchids, and I start rose cuttings with my orchids in orchidarium, which is indoors. I've grown those cuttings on, to some degree. The first hurdle is to provide enough light. When I mean enough light, I mean more light than even high-light cattleya orchids require. Keeping in mind that direct sunlight is 10,000 ft-candles, to grow a rose, you'd need to produce (my guess) at least 5-6,000 ft candles of light. This would be about 2 feet away from a 1,000 watt halogen bulb, which is about the size of a street lamp halogen. The new LED lights may be able to provide it at a lower energy cost. I tried one a few years ago, and it was a bunch of hype that didn’t work to grow even my low light orchids, but technology has improved since then. Okay, so this is roughly equivalent to shaded outdoor area, which as we know is enough to grow a rose (sort-of), but not enough to for it to bloom well. So you’d need to double that. I’ll let you figure out how much in your area that would be for electricity, because you’d want to run the lights at least 10 hours a day. Another thing to keep in mind is that the grow lights are of specific spectrum, so if you want normal colors you’d have to choose full spectrum lights. (Aside: this would include UV, which we know is part of tanning and promotes skin cancer and can damage the eyes, so you’d want to wear sunglasses and sunscreen, just as if you were gardening outdoors.) Then there is the issue of heat. The lights would generate heat, and the fans that are in many units help with that, which also would raise the temperature of the room. You might need some air conditioning in the room in the summer, or leave a window open in the winter, although you’d have to be careful not to let it get too cold at night. Having the days bright and warmer, and cooler and dark at night is good for orchids, I’m not sure if that is needed for roses. My roses seem to do best at temperatures lower, especially at night, than I typically keep my house and warmer during the day, like 50-60 F at night and 80F in the day. If you didn't want to induce dormancy, then you'd be best growing roses like Tea roses, which can grow in tropical areas. Something I’ve learned from growing cuttings indoors is that roses, like orchids, need air movement. Without it, too much light will burn the leaves, but perhaps most importantly they will be very prone to fungal diseases like mildew. So you’d want another fan to keep the air moving over the leaves. For a full size rose, you’d also need the space, and enough light units to cover the area of growth. Basically, you are trying to duplicate the conditions that the roses like, i.e. recreating the outdoors, but indoors. This would mean an appropriately sized room with full sun conditions, and air movement, enough root room (i.e. at least a 20 gallon container), certain humidity, watering and fertilizer. It’s doable, as you can see from greenhouse grown florist roses. You’d just have to have the space, energy and finances to create such a place.