Kimya, 'Plants do for us not because of what we do for them but in spite of what we do for them' (source unknown). There are a few things about growing plants in the office/mall or other commercial location that are different. It is true that plants require light but I have seen a healthy Chamaedorea seifrizii in an office where the only light is from a fluorescent desk lamp. Dark offices, lit by the computer screen(s) only are very much in vogue and they often have plants. Plants in these situations are treated as design features rather than horticultural specimens. The plants are carefully selected for size and shape and after installation they are maintained to the specs. of the interior designer. The technicians who maintain these plants must be some of the best horticulturists anywhere. Back to the plants in your office. Watering is the challenge. If the containers are free draining, be very careful of water spills; Murphy's first and second laws apply. If the containers do not drain, devise some way to determine if water is collecting in the bottom; Murphy's fifth law. Put a yellow sticky insect monitor into each plant to trap any bugs that find their way into the plants. If you are not into popularity contests, the presence of fungus gnats in your plants will guarantee that you are a non starter. Clean the plants regularly; the ubiquity of dust in what-are-supposed-to-be-dust-free environments will one day earn someone a PhD. Grow your plants out to the extent that they complement the rest of your office decor and maintain them to that standard ever after. Because if it does work out others will be encouraged to discard artificial plants in favor of the real thing. Now, that I believe, is a worthwhile endeavor.

Mike, I have been checking in on your winter pond thread. I gotta say, I had mixed emotions when you announced that your were shutting down. All that work, you must have been disappointed, but then when it stops being fun then it's time to rethink. Sandy, I often think about changing careers. I'm a Project Manager and could probably do it for any discipline, just got hooked on the construction industry and stuck with it. The older I get, the more the stress bothers me. I was always able to leave work behind when I went home at night, it's been keeping me awake lately. I enjoy the challenges and there is always something new to learn. But it is starting to become less fun and more work. I would like to have the pond done this summer. But I would like a lot of things. I'm in no rush. To me it's more about experimenting, researching, enjoying the process, even the building. When it's done and I take that first cannonball then it will be about ponding, a different purpose, re-analyzing, the couldve, wouldÂve, and shouldÂve brothers will take over my thought process. I know myself well. I have never had anything come out perfect on the first try and don't think I would be happy if it ever worked out that way. I love to tinker. My Bride always asks, "Why aren't you ever satisfied?" She doesn't get it, I am satisfied, couldn't be happier. I stopped at Wal-Mart again yesterday, they restocked the cat litter. It clearly states that it is 100% clay, but doesn't state what kind of clay. I had assumed that bentonite would be the clumping type of litter, but this stuff is non-clumping. I bought one bag and will experiment with it this weekend. I have a five gallon bucket with holes drilled in the bottom for my clay experiments. We have friends coming for the weekend so I don't know if I'll get my samples dug just yet. I may sneak out the back door early Sunday morning for some test borings :-).

Not ungrateful Banyan just not fully explained. Before I had my greenhouse I used cold frames. Mine were simple structures; just hoops stuck in the ground and covered with plastic stapled on to poles. You understand this was back in the days when they had dinosaurs for computers and I had never heard of UV plastic if there even was such a thing. I used a double layer of heavy guage polycarbonite film like they use for vapour barriers in homes. I just checked Home Hardware on line and it's $12.99 for 10' by 25'. It held up for 3 or 4 summers. Once I used the covering off of a new mattress we bought. It work well for me and my flowers grew well under it. Why not try it or you could go with the UV film on the outside and this as a second skin. The plastic will last longer if the outer layer cuts the UV rays. It doesn't really matter what the air temperature is. Any way you cut it, under plastic or in a greenhouse, it will be cold at night and too hot in the day if the sun is shining. That is the age old problem of growing under glass or plastic

We also have a modified four square style house and we put windows on both walls in our dining room and really like it. We actually chose not to extend the front porch across the whole front of the house (the porch is 16' wide but the front of the house is 40' wide) so that we did not have the dining room windows covered by the porch roof--only part of one window on the front wall of the dining room is under the porch roof so I can't tell you how much difference it makes to have light from both sides. However, I will say that what I love most about our house is that every room has windows on two walls. If you are concerned about a neighbor's house, consider the high up windows like in some of the pictures of the four square remodel in the link below--they were often used in dining rooms so that the buffet could sit along the wall under the window. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: four square interior pictures