those jiffy peat pots are notorious for containing active cobweb mold spores just waiting to get wet to start colonizing the pellet. Take some H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide) and mix it with water at a ratio of about 3 parts H20 to 1 part H2O2 and give the mold a couple direct shots. You'll want to mix this up fresh every time because H2O2 breaks down into water when exposed to light - now you know why the bottles are always brown... ;-p As a fungus, cobweb mold is a very fast colonizer and will "lock-up" a substrate (your peat moss) in no time flat and your plants are literally drowning inside the moldy peat moss because the gas exchange has come to a standstill inside your little pots. --- If you're plants down bounce back after that you'll have to either chaulk them up as a lost cause or - if you're really dedicated - you break them out of hte pots, remove as much "dirt" as you can from their roots and dip their roots directly in full-strength H2O2 and then planting them in a new medium. But unless you're dealing with some really exotic plant that's a real pain to germinate from seed (i.e. gerbera daisies) I wouldn't go through the hassle. Considering seeds are only a couple dollars each, you have to weight the effort .vs. the opportunity cost of just starting over. <shrug> I should go back to school for mycology, heh.

George - Your web site's grown a lot since I last looked at it. I hadn't seen your paintings before & they make me wish I had your talent (I have none whatsoever). Until I clicked on the one of Mt. Fuji I thought it was a Japanese woodblock. Looking at your Kilchurn Castle Loch Awe painting, makes me think you'd enjoy turning your hand to painting your versions of various Japanese woodblocks. (There are hundreds of these to be seen on e-Bay - and I think many of the ones of landscapes might appeal to you.) The link that you have to William Corey's pictures of Japanese gardens is fascinating - including his description of his enormous camera & what it led him to. And it was great to see all the (to me) new pictures of your own garden. Herb

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patty_cakes, that sounds really pretty. Thanks for the idea! newhomebuilder, I'll see if I can find SL magazine and look at that picture. I like your flat round basket on the ottoman (and the doggie). I used to have a really large basket on my large square ottoman in my previous decor. Maybe I should consider something similar here. demifloyd, I have been having trouble finding larger trays. They don't seem so easy to find, aktillery, beautiful room! Yes, that ottoman and basket looks similar to what I used to have, although my basket wasn't quite as deep and was larger. Maybe I should see how it looks on my current ottoman, although I don't think it will work very well. I'll have to take a picture.