The two worst plants any beginner can start with are serissa and fukien tea, the problem is that both of these are 'pleasing' to the eye and look nice to start with. Both can be and usually are a royal pain in the butt to work with. When in the states I grew mine in a greenhouse setting (along with a few other tropicals) but never a FT. What you should do is Google care of them, there is a wealth of info on the web. If you go to the website of Jerry Mislick he has a ton of information on care of most tropicals and he grows them indoors way up north. To handle them indoors you will need at least flourecent lighting 5 or 6" above the plants. With just a few one standard double tube fixture should be enough to work. Humidity trays help but with dry central heating it's more of a placebo for you in the winter. You should buy the highest wattage tubes you can find and 'full spectrum' is best. They should have the lights on 12 to 14 hours a day. The plants will get 'leggy' but you just prune that back in the spring. As a point of information: I did a test of serissa vs. soil mixes a number of years ago under controlled conditions. The winning medium was pure medium Perlite...which looks really crappy when used in a Bonsai pot. Bob

I am interested in your plants: yellow flag iris, roses and anything else you can toss in. Please help a newbie. I can send postage for a small flat rate box. Will send you an e-mail.

Oh, you guys are all so kind! Linda (doucanoe) I'll check my email next. Thank you! LindaC, you are so sweet to offer. I have cable internet, is that fast enough? AnnT, I'd be so indebted to you if I could get another copy of your cookbooks. I don't want any of you to tie up your computer or go to a lot of time and trouble. I forgot that I've saved several recipes on that feature "My Clippings" so I'm good for some stuff. I think I have Ann's scone recipe there. I'll have to go look. Thanks again for everyone's kindness! It looks like I'll end up with even more wonderful recipes. Sally

marcia, I am so sorry to hear this! I didn't have a lot of luck with the Morden roses (Morden Blush and Morden Sunrise) before, but the John Davis that I planted last year had NO die back whatsoever and is growing very well already! The Hope for Humanity rose had some die back but is doing fairly well. However, the Morden Belle is something that I am thinking of getting rid of.... over the last 3 years, it had significant die back every year, and also the new branches tend to flop a lot. The roses were not spectacular either. So, in the end, it just survived but not thrived. Since these are all in my yard, I think that it's more to do with the species than me... LOL! Wayne, I am curious to hear about your Double Knockout, as I had a hedge of it in my zone 5 garden before, and it grew as tall as 5 feet and it was an unstoppable blooming machine! Do they really survive in zone 3 then? Marcia, I think that your theory that it was the cold weather after the warm temperature had a lot to do with it. Isn't it such a pain to garden in our FAR NORTH location!? Sigh.....