Mike, First I want to say, the plants I received, beginning Jan 1, 2010, were in 3-4" containers, bulbs and cuttings. Only a handful were larger, meaning 8" to 1' tall. Total: 58. :) :( Marguest, your Banana Tree is beautiful. The colors amazing. There's even a pup. Did you find it on Ebay? Mike, to answer a few questions. I MUST stay away from Ebay..It's one addicting site. Not only do they have great deals on plants, but plant supplies. There's also a few online nurseries I browse every other wk or so. The internet makes it too easy to shop for such an exciting hobby. A few clicked keys, next thing, a package is at your front door? One word of Warning for those who really want to stop buying plants.. Well, an attempt. Do NOT sign up for nursery News Letters. It's convenient, swaying us to their site, displaying their wares. Hear the clicking keys to Paypal? lol. As for local nurseries, fortunately, there are two that sell very very nice and rare specimens..luckily, opposite directions, both a long distance drive. An hour on non-congested days, 1.5-2 hours during 9-5, Rush Hour traffic. Although, traffic has gotten so heavy the past five years, the only time to go anywhere with time to spare is between midnight and 5am. Problem is, the stores are closed. lol. Our grocery store, Jewel's, always has plants for sale. Mostly, basic plants like Spaths, certain Dracaenas, etc. My problem arises when they have dollar sales. 3-4" potted plants for 1.00. Every so often, they'll have a rarer specimen. Buy 3, pot them up, and you have a lovely plant for 3.00. Four years ago, they had, mixed in with other dollar plants, Schefflera 'brassaia/actinophylla, a plant I hadn't seen in years...last one) I grabbed it up fast. lol. That's about it. Not too bad for 9 months. lol. Toni

last year I did around 500 tomato plants and around 450 pepper plants. This was for 2 farmers markets and a farm store. I will do around the same this year as I am dropping one farmers market and replacing it with a CSA. I am also counting on the peppers doing a lot better this year. Last year 95% of the plants did not get ripe fruit on them before the first frosts. they were about 5 weeks late in setting fruit and I have no idea why. The 100 peppers in the hoop house produced early as they were supposed to but over 75% got sunscald and than bacterial rot. I grow mainly sweet peppers with a mix of hybrid green to red bells (by far the best seller) along with green to orange, green to yellow and purple to red bells. i also do some funky heirlooms for those who like an adventure in food because the taste is generally better than the hybrids. I also do a small amount (less than 25 total) of hot peppers, mainly jalapenos and cayennes as those sell the best for me. Last year I did 27 different types of tomatoes, mainly heirlooms. Red maters are the mainstay but I also do purple, black, white, green, yellow, orange, etc.. I also do around 50 cherry tomato plants (do not go hog wild on cherries as they take a lot longer to harvest than the big maters)

I think it's sad (she says with a grin) when you have to buy a few more to hit "the next big number". I bought (or received in trade) 54 plant this year. And of course I only purchase the must haves off my Lust List! Then I went to First Look (American Hosta Society's event where hybridizers show off potential new introductions). Took in a few tours and garden centers and then there were 19 more to join my "potted" garden. However, they were all too good to pass up (and some were won in a raffle): Parhelion Americana Little Wonder Olive Branch Patriots Fire Ice Age Trail Lakeside Symphony Teaspoon Island Charm Kismet Blue Lightning Hippodrome First Choice One Man's Treasure Gay Feather Ghost Tiara Morning Light Sugar and Spice Cats Eyes Now at 174 I think to myself...can I reach 200 this year?

Let's see....I gave 6 to my mom, 4 to my sister, 4 to my sons girlfriend, and 1 to my next door neighbor....then around 10 to the guy my hubby works with. So that is- 25ish. Then I found a big patch of volunteers and gave another 8 to my mom, so that is 33. Now I just need to find homes for a clump of about 40 volunteers and 8 or 9 more starts. This makes it a stellar season for me so far, as every single plant in my garden is from seeds I started myself :) ok , thats a lie, my sons GF had a class that started some seeds and she gifted me with 2 cukes and 2 marigolds. But since she is such a sweetie I count them as my own. Donna :) Hoping that the rest of the season is as good!