Hmmm, I also have been having slow progress with my Thyme seeds this year. Last year I didn't plant thyme until the middle of summer, and it did very well, so maybe it's a temperature thing. But perhaps I'm also covering them with too much soil, like someone mentioned above. I think I will try again, with just pressing them into the soil like Mandolls described. I have given up too early on some seeds. Usually, I plant several different types at once, and when the others have sprouted and I still have a few lifeless pots, that's when I "recycle", I plant in new seeds, or empty the pots and put in fresh soil. I have a habit of reusing my soil too (which I've learned is not a good idea, as the soil might not be sterile and could destroy my plants) -- and this has led to some surprise seedlings from the seeds I "gave up" on. One example: this past winter I planted some quince seeds that I saved from fruit, but they never grew and I assumed I did something wrong; so I forgot about them, and casually left the pot on the sill. But one day there was a sprout! It was kind of like that thing with water, it won't boil if you watch it. I've learned to be a little more patient, and also to have faith that, even when I mess up in gardening, nature will find it's own way. :)

In the Chicago area, you can find 4-lb paper bags (bold yellow and red) of "Hi Yield Soil Sulphur" (in flake form) at garden centers like Sid's, The Growing Place, Planter's Palette, and others for $3-5/bag. It is difficult to know what process was used to produce the elemental sulfur you buy at garden centers. As +om said, there are naturally-occuring deposits of elemental sulfur. In the U.S., significant, fairly pure deposits exist in Louisiana and a couple other states. However, there's a huge amount of elemental sulfur on the market that's produced by treating the hydrogen sulfide gas (chemically "reducing" sulfide to sulfur) that is (1) found in natural gas and crude oil deposits and (2) produced as a waste stream during desulfurization of crude oil in refineries. Hydrogen sulfide is a very toxic gas, and the large quantities produced in natural gas and petroleum operations must be dealt with--it cannot simply be vented to the atmosphere, and the EPA regulates this. There are enormous piles of yellow sulfur (made from hydrogen sulfide) sitting at some of the big natural gas fields in Canada. (Elemental sulfur is often shipped in bulk in the molten form in rail tankers. You can usually tell which tanker cars carry sulfur by the yellow crust around the hatch.) Much, but not all, of the elemental sulfur produced at refineries goes on to nearby processing plants to be turned into sulfuric acid, and then into (water-soluble) mineral sulfates that can be broadcast on fields as agricultural fertilizers. In reading Espoma literture, I have gathered that when they use the term "all natural" with respect to inorganic ingredients (like elemental sulfur, or calcium sulfate), they mean it has been extracted/mined in that form from some place on the earth. But I've never called them to confirm that. The "Hi Yield Soil Sulphur" is marketed by a reseller that I suspect gets sulfur from the cheapest source (which currently is probably one of the hydrogen sulfide sources). As a chemist, and as a citizen who uses both natural gas and refined petroleum products, I consider soil sulfur produced from the treatment of toxic hydrogen sulfide waste streams (generated by the demand for these fossil fuels) to be worthy of use. +om, some "formulations" of elemental sulfur sold in bulk for agricultural use are coated with a surfactant to make the surface of the sulfur pellet/powder/etc. hydrophilic (wettable). For field use, most of the interest in elemental sulfur is as a cheaper source of soluble sulfate fertilizer, rather than as a soil acidifier. Elemental sulfur has a relatively low solubility in water, and in solid form it is hydrophobic. If the sulfur's surface can be made hydrophilic, then that improves the rate at which soil organisms (fungi and certain bacteria) can convert the sulfur to sulfate over the course of a growing season. Does the pelletized form that you buy have surfactants? Can you find out? If it does, all the better as a somewhat faster-acting, slow-release soil acidifier. (The down-side of some surfactants out in the environment is if significant quantities wash into aquatic habitats, where some can be toxic to aquatic animals. This should not be an issue for home gardeners using relatively small amounts of surfactant-coated sulfur for soil acidification. I'd keep it away from beds around ponds, though, to be safe.)

In my experiences with runners and clumpers, a bamboo transplant will frantically put up floppy culms and whipshoots and populate them with leaves that provide the energy to the plant. It seems there is a good spurt of growth as the plant tries to obtain some traction and achieve viability, at least as soon as the weather permits. If you've got 2 Phyllostachys that have not shown any new growth in SC by 1 June, I share your concern. nothing you can do but wait. Sept is late. Better to have some months of warm weather following the transplant. That said, I translanted a Ph. aurea in Dec 04. Leaves stayed on, and I had a few new shoots in spring 05, and a lot more in the past few weeks. Still not running, just clumping. I hope to see some remote culms next spring after the rhizome running of this year.

If you brought it in for cold weather, it will probably come back. Those twisted ones and probably the shrub one are tropical. You must always protect in winter, probably when it goes below 45 degrees or so. I used to live below N.O. and it always took a while for hibiscus to come back. They root easily and you can take cuttings during the year, and grow in smaller pots if you have room, and they will take off when it's warm. Of course you can't do that with the twisted one. Remmeber, these are TROPICAL, think Miami or Hawaii, and they like warm and humid weather. I predict they will come back.