WOW! I am so glad that I am not the only one! LOL! I bought some tulip bulbs last fall, and I was going to plant them in containers. However, I never got round to doing that. I left the bulbs in the unheated (but insulated) garage, which was in the mid 30's to low 40's during winter. About a month ago, I planted the bulbs in some containers, and now they are sprouting very well in the garage! My questions are: 1. When will it be safe to take the containers outside? It can still go to low 30's here at night. 2. How likely are they going to bloom this year, given that the bulbs were chilled in the garage? I am quite surprised by how well they are sprouting! Thanks!

Thanks for sharing my excitement. It's amazing how gardeners go gaga over a good deal. Yes, they are stained a light green, a nice "blending" color. Dani, I love your post on the different colors every year. I had already thought that maybe I will paint them each different colors (like my ladders) but wonder if that will be too crazy looking. I probably will after the first two years when they need a refresher. Iris9 - yup, the same one from Lowe's. I like your idea of clematis, and at least one will have a clematis winding through it. I'm thinking half will be flowers, half veggies - scarlet runner beans, sweet peas, cucumbers, etc. The fun is that I get to change it every year. The Black-eyed susans are doing great this year and are HUGE! It's all the rain that they love. And yes I will post photos :-) Been too busy this summer to post much, but winter's coming, when I have more time to garden daydream.

I saw gorgeous Nematanthus Ubatuba in a back yard in Tampa area - this is a large leaf and generally large plant. Most of Nematanthus do have orange or pale orange flowers. There are some exotic red, white and greenish with dots blooming species - but they are harder to grow and not available in a general nursery sale. Nematanthus comes from South America - I bet it is not dry in Brazil ;-)), but my understanding - it is an understory plant - it grows under the trees and on the trees as epiphyte - so dappled light would be good. Aeschynanthus (lipstick plant) takes the same niche - but in tropical Asia - so requirements are similar. Aeschynathus flowers of the available in nurseries varieties are mostly red, one really easy and quite wide spread species A. longicaulis (marmoratus) has interesting green flowers and gorgeous marble backed leaves. Some time ago a Florida member of this forum posted a pic of a large and well grown specimen of this plant - and it was growing in a back yard. Very desirable A.hybrid is called "Black Pagoda". Regarding conventions - the local gesneriad and AV clubs usually run their shows once a year mostly in the same place. The larger conventions are done in different towns every year - because most of the work is done by the hosting club - and they take turns. You check gesneriadsociety.org and avsa.org on "events" - so you will know who runs what in your vicinity. I would say you are in luck if you have a club nearby you can join - this is usually a source of knowledge, cuttings and nice people to associate with. (Just do not use the words "lipstick" and "goldfish" - if you are dealing with gesneriad crowd - they like to use botanical names - even sometimes not very many people know how to pronounce it right - for me - the biggest issue is Kohleria warszewiczii - I grow this beautiful plant - but i cannot "voice" it.) Cheers Irina Here is a link that might be useful: hybrids and species of Nematanthus

I stuff some of mine in pots with my roses(after chilling). When they are done blooming, or when I cut them for vases, I just cut the foliage off to the ground. Since they are just annuals here I don't feel bad about it. You have a lot of them though:) Lisa