Yes, Roberta, it was reg upon reg, for better or worse, that eventually forced my parents out of their farming livelihood. At middle age, with no formal education they were forced to find city jobs (or move and rebuild the barn etc. etc. etc.). Unfortunately, their story is not unique. I'd love to see a documentary of the saga during this era - but the window is closing. I do have one question related to your comment though, before this thread folds completely. Our pullets aren't laying yet - though one of them jumps into the raised nest box and stirs it up good daily, so it shouldn't be too far off. Our ducks ARE laying however - but their nest box isn't so clean. I'm wondering if the tidy habits chickens keep goes for ducks also...If so, perhaps one of the drakes or the pullets are messing in it. It's ground level and doesn't belong to the pullets (paybacks?). Anyway, I have to tidy it up for them each morning. -lf

Ladylotus, while inside, these palms get about an hour of direct sun in the morning. Outside, I put this pot against the inside wall of the porch so only the first and last few rays of the day hit it. Otherwise it gets burned in more sun. Probably could handle a lot more sun in ND, and I might be able to ease it into more sun here but wouldn't know where to put it if I did. MF, you may have male and female individuals. If you google images, you should get an idea of how they make slightly different flowers. I can understand wanting a "full pot" look. It would be hard to say w/o seeing the roots how much smaller of a pot you could use. No plants like to be potbound but it can seem like it if the alternative is soggy peat. As long as the soil is porous and not retentive of excess water, a large pot is fine unless you just don't like the appearance. The new pics, pretty sure the top one is a Dieffenbachia. The next may be a Kalanchoe.

Looks like Ratibida Pinnata, gray-headed coneflower, to me. It should be blooming by now if its in its second season unless it got a late start last year. I've got several of these in my native plantings that are in their second year. They are on the downhill side of their bloom for me. A nice plant and I had darn near 100% germination for these that I dormant seeded.

I think it looks most like L. socialis. It also seems to want more light. Where I live, we grow them outdoors. One group even gets full sun about a third of the day, and all winter. But it is a fairly adaptable plant.