Lovely collection, Mike! Your photos are inspiring! Josh is correct... I'd like to concur... house interiors tend to be very dry, especially during fall and winter. Take into consideration your heating and cooling sources, your climate, the season, and the location of your windows and how much sun enters. My own indoor environment tends to be very dry all year... the air conditioning sucks the moisture right out of the air, and our heating unit does the same. The main area for my plants is an east facing window with lots of bright, morning sun. I've tried hard to grow various orchid varieties, but the air is just too dry. Without spending money on a humidifier, which I can't afford, I'm relegated to growing what my environment will support. Orchids are not out of the question... I just have to stick with the types that don't mind a little dry air. Phals and Dens do well. Other types that require more humidity do not. Cacti, succulents, and other plants that can tolerate drier air are what I stick with. Spider mites love dry environments with dry air, so they're always something to keep your eyes open for. Usually, by the time you notice them, you have a fair infestation going on. When I'm watering, I take the opportunity to look for the fine webbing associated with these pests. Even though my environment is rather dry, I'd never go back to the days of compacted, peaty soils. The gritty mixes are so much healthier for the roots of my plants, and healthy roots promote happy plants. I like having total control over the moisture amount and the fertilizing. It does take a bit of getting used to at first... but once you find a watering and feeding schedule... and I use that word loosely... it all comes together beautifully.

There are very long lists of products that can enhance a plant's growth, but nothing that can enhance its potential. Potential is a genetic thing - a constant. Growth is related to how well a plant is able to handle the conditions under which it is growing. Whenever you start adding 'things' to soils or your treatment regimen to "enhance" growth, it's good to know that if it can enhance growth, it can also limit growth if it's added but not needed. Instead of looking for that magic ingredient or elixir that promises to raise your plants to superstar status, look to the basics first. You're hundreds of times more likely to improve growth and vitality by getting the basics right than by dosing/treating with or adding questionable 'stuff'. It's by eliminating or minimizing, to the greatest degree possible, those things that are limiting your plants' growth that you develop that green thumb. I promise there's no green thumb in a bottle of Superthrive, or at the bottom of a bag of promises, or in any of the list of products Frank mentioned above. The question to ask yourself before you invest time/effort/money is, 'What is the limiting factor 'this' is going to remedy and how is it going to, individually or in combination with other factors, going to do it?' If you can't answer, you're almost always going to be better served to fall back on concentrating on the basics. Most people think I have a green thumb because everything I grow is always in perfect or near perfect health, yet I don't use any magic ingredients. I use good soils and watering habits, a fertilizer regimen that's simple to replicate, pay attention to light & temperature, and fix bug/disease problems if ever they arise, though they seldom do because the plants are so healthy. Why then, if I can do it, can't everyone? They can. By focusing on the basics and learning to recognize and reduce the effects of limiting factors, while at the same time avoiding self-limiting habits. Al

Personally, I would stay with the C&S mix. If you buy regular soil, you'll have to mix much more perlite in it to achieve the fast draining mix that C&S like. If you do a search on here for potting mediums or potting mixes, you'll get a lot of information and see that most of us are using an almost, if not entirely, soil-less mix. My own consists of pine bark (sold as soil pep), perlite and crushed granite (sold as chicken grit). The reason you were told to mix perlite in with the peat moss is this: if you were to use the C&S mix straight, eventually the peat would dry to a hard clump around the root ball and become hydrophobic, meaning that it would never reabsorb water and allow water to the roots. The perlite will mix in with the peat and create enough spaces around the root ball and throughout the mix that some water will be able to reach the roots. How much water depends on how much perlite you mix in. Nancy

I think stonecrop sedums might be a good alternative as well, a lot of them are ground covers that are hardy and have pretty flowers that bloom through late fall. There seem to be several types; I have one that I think is called Coastal Gem which I got from my friend's mom up in Mendocino, CA, but these links talk about a bunch of other types that might work too. http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/sedum-growing-guide http://www.finegardening.com/plantguide/genus/sedum.aspx Good luck!