Blooming size, first blooming size and mature plant size are different animals. I have the following. Epi. Pretty Princess 'Yellow Butterfly'. Started blooming at 6 inches tall. Plant size now from base of plant to top of spike is twenty four inches. This hybrid is not registered in the RHS Database. Epi. Gold Valley 'Hildos' . Registered in RHS Database. My plant is 30 inches from base of plant to top of bloom spike. The other (name uncertain) epidendrums growing as garden plants are much taller. Epi or Epicat? Who knows and we will never know for sure unless the plant gets registered by the RHS. Looks like doesn't count for much when you are dealing with hybrids. Quality flower though.

JG, That's one fine look'n plant. I've always had a likeing for it,but it takes up too much room for me in my limited space indoors.Difficult to keep during the winter months too. I've found another photo of it in the 'Blooming Bromeliads'book (pg.226),and I've taken a pic of it to post here,and it shows it in bloom. Also added an old photograph of my Vriesea ospinae var. gruberi,which is another eye pleaser you might like.Got that one at Tropiflora too. The write up on the kupperiana says "the inflorescence is over 1 m. in hight,opens its cream-colored flowers late in the evening.The offshoot grows from the side of the infl.,and eventually takes over the site occupied by the mother plant,so that the latter's withered leaves have to be removed at a later stage.Cultivation : large basket or pot with additional lateral holes;highly permeable potting substrate,light and mesic.Habitat;Near Cartago,Costa Rica to Ecuador,usually on pines." Congrats on acquiring a neat plant,and to heck with the price when it makes you happy.So you skip a few meals eating out,it all evens up. God won't ask you how much money you saved,but will ask what you bought with it.And He Loves plants ! Bob Photo:

OK> So, I'm reading this post due to a recent experience with the plumber my GC is using for our renovation. I got a babysitter to watch my toddler so I could go look at fixtures at their showroom with my baby. So, I get there and they don't have many of the nicer brands on display- they want to show me everything in a catalog!! Well, thank you but I can do that at home. So, fine- I briefly look at the catalog and pick a few things to get prices. They gave me some pricing and I left. So- wouldn't you want to see products in person if you plan to invest nearly $2000 on them?? I dragged my two small children to another local plumbing outfit to see the higher end stuff I got quoted for at the previous place. The prices were more than $500 different!!! I mean to do I have stupid written on my head b/c I have a newborn? Do they just think I don't have time to research and will just take their price?? This mother has an MBA thank you very much. Fine. So I talked to my contractor and he said to approach them on the issue. I did. They claim their product is better quality and that you can get the same things from other dealers but they aren't as heavy... blah blah blah. That may be true for some Kohler fixtures, but not Rohl!!! And I don't even believe them at that. For the amount of money saved I can buy a whole new fixture in a few years if I decide to change it or it goes bad!! Can someone please tell me if these people are just jerking around with me?? I thought about how they may try to pad the rest of the bill if they adjust the fixture prices, so I'm not really sure what to do with this mess. This is why I do NOT trust vendors like this- b/c of dishonest people who try to make excuses for their ridiculous prices.

fwiw...some cheapie hints... Home Depot online can be accessed through EBates, which gives a little rebate for the referral. Go to Ebates first (have to register), then go to HD. Some of the other online kitchen stuff companies are also available through the Ebates internal referral service. I got a $35 refund check from them one month. I wish I had known about Ebates before I spent big bucks on two cast iron sinks and two faucets through HDepot online. Look for online codes and/or holiday discounts from the various vendors. You'd be surprised what are considered "holidays" by the online companies. Mayday might be a 10% off day, that kind of thing. I know that "Black Friday" after Thanksgiving was a good discount day (actually the entire weekend and the Monday afterward) and even April Fool's Day had a discount for some vendors. Often the home web page for a company has today's discount code listed on it. I've sometimes emailed the company on the "contact us" and asked point-blank, "Is there a discount today or in the next week which I need to type in when I buy online?" Often they give me the info. Or they tell me to register for their email newsletter so I can snag the upcoming code for the next "sale." At least that tells me that there is a sale coming up.