Hi Tropical lilies range from tiny little things with two inch pads all the way to 8 foot Victorias lol Obviously the size of the lily would dictate what size pot. Do you have some specific varieties in mind?? They are highly adaptable but the larger the pot the larger the pads and flowers. For a medium spread "Blue Goddess" I use a 20 inch square plastic pot. This will last about two years and is about as much weight as you want to pick up. lol Any material will work but obviously plastic are much lighter,cheaper, than Terra Cotta. The pot can't be seen anyway. Almost any media will work but the all around best.IMO is a clay material called "OIl dri" sold as an absorbant, in the automotive dept. of Walmart. It is far superior to regular Cat litter clays. These are inert so you can add ferts such as Fruit tree spikes when good growth starts. Another good choice is "Turface" clay but hard to find. Depending on what type of fish a one inch layer of gravel at the top of the pot.with stones larger than the mouth of your fish will keep them from digging.lol You can grow any type of lily in zone 10 but IMO the tropicals are better . They handle the heat. in full sun. You might check out the site "Victoria adventure " for a look at many varieties. Welcome to the wonderful worl of ponding lol gary

Dora, If these are thrips, they spend most of their time in the blossom because the pollen is the food source. The 'powder' mentioned when thrips are present is the pollen that has spilled out of the sac onto the lower petals. With thrips, if you gently blow on the blossom they will come out to see what is going on (nosy little buggers). It is easier to see them on a darker blossom. They will 'jump' onto leaves and run around too. Thrips aren't fatal. Treatment includes removing all blossoms and spraying three times a week apart. They lay eggs, and that will take care of new hatches. I used Avid. I have also taken plants and put them in a cardboard box. Cut a no-pest strip in half and place in the box for 24 hours, making sure the box is sealed. Do it 3 times, a week apart. I have also heard people putting the plants in a large plastic bag, soaking a paper towel with one of the garden sprays, and placing it in the bag, smae thing, 24 hours, 3 times. I don't remember which spray, but someone else on the forum will for sure. If using a no-pest strip, keep it in a sealed baggie when not in use. Barbara

Bri, if I am understanding you correctly, I wouldn't worry about the bit of slant you are getting with the cluster stitches. They do sort of lean to the left. It might help if the loop you pull through the last bunch of loops to make the cluster come together is a little loose - make it a teensy bit larger than you usually do. When you come back on the next row it will be easier to make your stitch into it. If this is not what your problem is, can you be more specific?

Hi all, it has been a while but thought I'd update you on my progress. I've taken a lot of the comments on board (other than switching the painting as we love this painting), and I'm getting there. But I'm still struggling to pull everything together. I do still need to change the curtains to floor length ones, but I have no idea what colour/pattern to go for, so any suggestions would be very much appreciated! I've tidied up the bookshelves, built up the mantel, and we've finally installed our wooden flooring, I swapped the corner chair for a rocking chair and think everything feels a lot neater now and less chaotic. As you can see, I ditched the red couch cover - the red and blue was too jarring for me. But now I think the green couch along with the blue chair is too much? If so, what should I do? Both are IKEA and can have their covers replaced, I just don't know what colours to go for...maybe a light blue for the couch? I also think I should change the grey walls to a cream? It's an East facing room so I'm limited on what wall colours I can use but I feel the grey is too cold and flat in the evening. I'm thinking it's my colour scheme that's stopping everything from feeling coherent, but it could be other things I'm not picking up on? Please ignore that half the tiles are missing from the fireplace, haven't got round to fixing them yet, also the plant has seen better days and I'm slowly nursing it back to health after it was attacked repeatedly by our kitten. Thanks all.