Hi Lisa, Sorry, the above text should read "the first time I've flower these two Nid's", (not the Guzmania) The Guzmania I bought at the markets because I liked the colour. It was one of a load of "nonames" that the seller got from one of the growers up north and was probably treated with florel to force the flowers. That's probably why it's flowering out of season and the same time as yours. All the best, Nev.

I agree with Dave on the pricing. My locals are definately going to go up this fall. Their reasoning....Gas Prices ! It's not the growers that are going up on prices. I believe it's true many of those guys are pretty hungry. But freight is going through the roof right now. Truckers are already seeing $5 plus per gallon for deisel. So getting a truck to come from the Northwest down to our neck of the woods is going to get tougher and tougher unless a retailer can fill a truck....and then the gas is still going to push the freight costs up considerably from what they have been. Used to be you could get a truck to bring trees down here for between $50-$100 a foot. Come this fall it's going to be a whole new ballgame. Then the retailers will have to take their normal markup on those increased costs pushing things up pretty fast. On small plants you can pack deep the incremental costs are small. But you start talking big stock items like trees and you can kill a lot of feet in a truck in a hurry. Here's a perfect example...... A couple of weeks ago I wanted a tree really bad from an in-state grower. It was $80. He's about 3 1/2 hours from me. He wanted $125 to ship it to me. I said " Pay $125 to ship an $80 tree...forget it. I'll come pick it up. " So I did. I took a day off and burned a day's vacation, drove round trip ( tank and a half of gas ) for $110 in gas, and stopped and ate a nice lunch to break up the trip a little. At the end of the day I had to laugh at myself when I thought about what I had actually spent to go get that tree versus simply having him ship it. Anyway, costs are going up! mark

Don't know about "original" common name Then you need to be educated. Pineresin did just that, but you refused to read and be educated. Since they are not REAL plant names, none is any more correct than another. Then according to you it is correct to name a cat a dog, a whale a fish and so on. even by those in the know as horticulturists. [...] by nursery professionals, horticulturists and Joe Public alike. Even more people in need of education... Nurseries are only too happy to sell the same tree under different names. It happens more than once. See also below. btw, the term "cedar" is in the common name of a whole lot of conifers that have no relationship with the genus Cedrus. Which is ludicrous as they all have their own unambiguous common names: arborvitae, thuja or juniper. I think we can all agree that really only true correct name is the currently registered botanical binomial and all common names have - or should have - equal validity based on locational preferences and conventions. It is your choice to prefer confusion and misunderstanding like this very thread is the evidence. And what is "the currently registered botanical binomial" for Nootka Cypress as the "really only true correct name"? There are 4 binomial names. Cupressus nootkatensis, Chamaecyparis nootkatensis, Callitropsis nootkatensis and Xanthocyparis nootkatensis. All "registered". You make fun of yourself by writing "we can all agree". And guess what? The scientific wrong name by phylogenetic considerations is the one most often used in the nursery business and which gets the more hits (about 10x more) than the others on internet. Now I feel sorry that you need so much education. And you are free to ask the first inhabitants of this coast what is their name for that tree.

You already have many dollars and plenty cents invested in this house so don't let a small wrinkle automatically make you back out. Sure, you may be able to insist on possession at closing or no deal but uness you are actively searching for a way out of the contract, consider the idea. Ask your realtor for more details and see if you can figure out why the seller is asking for additional time. If they have a delay in getting possession of their next residence or trouble scheduling a mover, it is a reasonable request. However, if they have not yet made arrangements, be more cautious.  If you have to pay additional money to cover your expenses for the delay, perhaps ask for one and a half times your expected expenses in credit to closing costs. Then negotiate a security deposit and also a higher fee for going past the week. Or, request that funds be held in escrow so seller can't collect all their money until you get possession in satisfactory condition. In any case, make sure the seller has an appropriate incentive to move out within that week so this doesn't drag out. In my state, you must be resident at the new address on January 1 to claim homeowners property tax exemption fore year, or delay closing until owner moves out.