Sounds impressive-looking! Burying the stems will simply cause them to rot. You can either stake the tall stems (put a stake in the pot and use twist ties/plant ties or string to gently tie the stem to the stake, making the stem upright) or cut off that tall foliage and allow the corms/tubers to sprout new growth. Hope your friend doesn't 'hurt you' too badly if you cut the foliage! (Ã)

Mountainsong, You mentioned that most of the land you can find is owned by somebody. That doesn't necessarily mean there's no hope of using it. Sunshine Community Garden in Austin, TX is on land leased from the state (specifically from the State School for the Blind), and it's been there for many years. Try looking for land around state, county or municipal offices, schools, even churches. Lots of times they're holding that land to build on "someday" and they'll lease it out for very little money to a community organization in the meantime. You do then have the anxiety that you could lose it at any time, but you might also still have the spot 25 years from now. Oddly enough, some of the big huge apartment mega-developments and new "planned communities" are now starting to offer garden space, too. If you live in an area that's undergoing lots of development, consider talking to the developers. You might be pleasantly surprised; it doesn't cost them all that much to set aside one lot, and it's good community relations for them. For like-minded people, have you been in touch with your county's Cooperative Extension Agency? You can get lots of help there. Good luck! It'll be a lot of work, but it's amazing what a handful of people can create.

I have noticed the same thing about this forum being "slow" to put it politely. Part of the reason of course, is because it's the dead of winter--that didn't stop me from fertilzing and liming the lawn a couple of weeks ago. If you think this one is slow, you should see the Metro NYC one! Ironic thing is that this IS the Garden State and even in NYC , many, many home owners take great pride in their often small, but beautiful yards, roof-top gardens, balconies or secret garden patios. I blame the busy, hectic pace of life in the area--we must work longer and harder than anywhere else in the country if not on the planet. I also think we probably live in one of the best areas of the US for gardening. We usually have tons of precip and plants from both more northerly and more southerly zones can coexist. So, we can grow northern conifers and southern palms and the potential gardening choices are enormous! People here though seem overwhelmed by life and don't know how to enjoy it. P.S.:Nice palms, Steve, I have a large collection of palms myself--both hardy and tropicals .

Yeah, well, we have LOTS of opinions about EVERYTHING here, LOL. And if we don't know, we LOVE looking stuff up. I found this on a page about fireplace screens: "If you are seeking a 3, four, or five screen panel you will require a screen that is wide enough to allow for a fold in the screen so that it can't fall down. Simply add ten to twelve inches to the the measurement of the fireplace opening and that is the measurement (or layflat dimension) of the fireplace screen that you should should have. If the opening of your fireplace is 36 inches, your functional fireplace covering should be at least 46". To furnish proper spark protection, your fireplace screen should measure to the top of your fireplace opening or overlap it." Below is the source page for this quote: Here is a link that might be useful: fireplace screen