catherinet i have about 65 varieties of waterlilies. i started collecting them last year after growing 3 varieties for many years. all are in large containers or above ground ponds. i also am working with a local youth home and growing them to raise money for the program there. the students are fascinated with them. most containers are 25 gallon pots. i have ordered from texas waterlilies and maryland aquatics with great satisfaction. i just got 2 from pondmegastore that were pathetic looking. the hardy lilies are no problem in the winter. i plan to leave the tropicals out as well, but keep one plant in the greenhouse for insurance. most tropicals i have are rumored to be more tolerant of cold.

I was in Florida for about a week and family back here said it was in the 70's and 80's here. I came back and the trees (some )had leaves and the grass wasa foot and a half tall and thick, I had a hard time in the lower yard it was so thick and green. Well, the other night ( Monday?) ruined the leaves on a bunch of Quercus Rubra and one Q Shumardii The Q Nuttallii came close but are holding back their leaves enough to avoid this crap. The white oak family oaks were conservative and weren't fooled. The 2 chestnut oaks are getting restless and are close to leafing out, though. The Willow oaks I have look really bad. The 2 ft tall one has blackened leaves. It looked good before the cold snap. After seeing them in Florida and how the leaves ( not form) look like live oak, I want at least 2 in my yard. My Quercus fusiformis looks totally great after this winter. My Q Virginiana are bare now, but I think they are okay, this winter was no test for them anyway. Long story short I hope my oaks that had their first set of leaves ruined bounce back, the same for others trees.

Well, it's 39 degrees here this morning. And tonight they predict going down to 37 so it'll definitely be around 30 here at my place - so another freeze. And Monday night is still looking frosty. But...after that - should FINALLY BE WARM enough to plant out annuals, etc. So very tired of wrapping everyone up. I had taken a chance mid-week and planted out my Yvonne's salvia. So last night I had to cover them. And again tonight. And most likely Monday night. In the misty mornings my place looks like some kind of ghostly graveyard what with all the sheets and such. Hope everyone else will make it through this cold snap. Now if someone would just SEND US SOME RAIN. We haven't had any rain for nearly 10 days and we really need some. Everyone around us gets it but it always dissipates when it gets close to Stark county. aaaarg! Kris (who is always complaining about something) ;-D

Hi, Toni. I know what you mean about not having enough space between shelves. Most shelf only can fit the pot not the pot+plant. The distance in between the shelves is not large enough. The shelf I bought comes with 6 shelves, but I only put 3 on to have a larger space about 2' in between each other. Although the top shelve will not get much sun. I can put some trailing plants on it so they hanging down to catch some sun ray, I hope. I am going to put a 4' long floracent light fixture right under each shelves to provid additional light. I will be careful when I work with electric. It is more dangerous than just put a wood stand together. The nails are for the wood light fixture stand. I originally was going to go with the PVC pipe. but it cost more to buy PVC pipes unless you have scraped PVC pipes on hand. To put one stand in each room, I need put together more than just one so it is more economical to buy those leftover wood to build them . Don't you love Menard? I go there almost every week... Check out their fall plants sale... their pots price is great... their cleaning suppliers... small applicance price is great after rebate... They start to carry food items now... I bought watermelon, apple, onion, potaotes there... strange , isn't it? Behind every visible color is the frequency of wave. The full Spectrum light is a light that is designed to provid full range or closer to full range of sun ray wave from warm color at lower end of freqency to whiter color at the end of higher frequency. It also extended into part of invisible wave such as UV which natural sun has. The plants growth, in general, responds to the light frequency they get, or requires certain light frequency to trigger either flower bud, fruiting, or just grow leaves. I am kind of lazy to figure out which plant needs which ( thinking about having to remember at end of the season and lable the light for next year before put in storage boxes... lot of works) so I just bought full spectrum to all the plants. But if you know what you want grow, just want grow foilage, or want grow fruits in the winter... a targeted color range grow light might work better. you can find most of common size and wattage lights at Menards. Again, I love Menards. I wish I could clean my plants before I bring them in. In reality, I just have too many pots to clean them all. I in general just inpsect the plants and outside the pots to make sure no slug hiding somewhere. I have a cat, so I can't put any ant poison out in the yard or inside house. The ant is a big problem for me. I do not mind spiders, especailly the jumping spider that doesn't wave web and it eat insects , It is very good at controling mites in winter time. I want them to come inside with the plants... My neighbor put his garbage can outside, and the rotten chicken smell draw quite few flies near and I saw the jumping spider got one of the flies in my citrus tree, amazing... I got the Fish Emulsion tip from one of your posting, thanks again for sharing this secrat. I spray my plants every week on schedule. squirrels seem dislike the fishy smell. I am going to pay closer attention to moth to see if moth likes the fish smell on my fruit tree leaves or not. Interestingly, I have never had mealybug problem, knock the wood. I have seen scale, aphis, mites, sometimes whitefly in the past but have never seen mealybug on my plants. I think I have parasitic wasps live somewhere nearby that takes care a lot of my bug problems. Yes, soap, garlic, hot pepper... all works or does not completely work ... neem oil also works for mealybug Toni, I must say that you grow your plants in much scientific way, no wonder your plants look so gorgeous, both yours and Mike's. I've never used a hygrometers just for plants. My plants get whatever the humidity I got in the house. I am probably lucky that I don't have a very humidity sensitive plant in my collection YET. Boiling some hot water certain a very good way to increas room humidity. It is a very cost effective and practical way. You are a such creative person. I hope you are willing to share more tips with me in the future. In general, I don't fertilize my plant, but my rule of the thumb is that if the plants are "sleeping", no need for food;If they are awake, actively growing, feed a little, water a little. Some of my plants are in and out now, but I am hoping I don't have to bring them all in for the winter till Oct./Nov. When are you going to move all your plants in? Mike, sounded like you and Toni is having a fun friendly competition. Frankly, you both grow beautifull, productive plants beyond the "zones". I certainly agree the FE is one of big secret for such lushes, healthy, pest free plants besides loving , tender care, fertilizer, and everything else ... I wish I could just toss my plant through the windows... The heavy ones might toss me through windows instead. How did you manage to keep people from steal your plants in your drive way while you are at work? My neighborhood is relative safe... we don't need to lock doors when we are out shipping. So far, I put some large , not attactive plants in my drive way but I am worried if I put nicer, blooming plants there, someone walks by and see the plants in the drive way, and might decide to take few pots with them home. As you mentioned the bug with a lot of legs, Do you know the bug called rolypoly, I thought this is its name, I might spelled it wrong...the gray bug lives under the pots. It curve into a ball when you touch it... is it a good bug, bad bug , or do-no-harm bug?