I'm sorry, Rebecca, but IMO there's a lot of unsupportable information and conjecture in the advice you've received on this thread so far. Allowing the plant to dry down is going to cause leaf tip and marginal leaf necrosis (dead tips & leaf edges). The plant needs almost NO fertilizer indoors, so it's dangerous to the plant to fertilize one week with fertilizer 'A' and the next week (even the next month - especially "all through the seasons") with 'B'. With this plant, that type of fertilizing virtually guarantees greater leaf burn unless you are growing in an extremely fast soil. IF you were to adopt that regimen, you could only use a tiny amount of fertilizer in each gallon of water - a drop or two, or you should expect burn. This plant actually tolerates low humidity (to about 15%) IF the plant is fertilized properly and not over-fertilized. It's NOT the lack of humidity that causes leaf tip & marginal necrosis (though when the plant is over-fertilized, it IS a contributor), it's a high level of soluble salts in the soil that makes it difficult for the plant to absorb water that is almost always to blame. Over-fertilizing, as suggested, will simply exacerbate the problem. Alternating fertilizers with a bloom-boosting blend would also be very counter-productive. The plant uses about 6 times as much N as it does P, so there is no way to justify adding fertilizers with unnecessarily high levels of P to the soil that cannot be used by the plant. The added P simply causes more burning. Allowing this plant to go 2-4 weeks w/o water will force it into an 'environmental dormancy' as a drought response. This kills the top growth (leaves) which are making the food for the blooms in the next bloom cycle. I don't think that's what you need to promote blooming. IMO, Superthrive, used as a tonic is useless. (I'll provide a link to some experiments I performed if you're interested). Misting the plant, IMO, is also counter-productive and more apt to cause problems than solve them. It's generally accepted that the presence of 'real soil' in container soils is best avoided. It compacts, slows drainage, and greatly reduces the most important characteristic of container soils - aeration. I'm wondering why, if someone "... learned this trick several years ago. Alternate fertilizers. For instance, fert with an All Purpose one month or week, however often you fertilize, then use a flowering type fertilzer [sic] the next feeding. Continue doing this throughout the seasons." there would be this offering just a little up-thread: "... I rarely fertilizer PL's, though I'm not suggesting others do the same. Last year (2008) mine got one spring feeding, before that, they went two, possibly three years without. Other than once a month Superthrive and fresh soil, (true soil, not soil-less) they were on their own. Yet they bloomed, several times, in the last 3 years." That seems like a complete contradiction to me. May I suggest: A south window behind window treatments that diffuse a good part of the light or an east window. Keep the plant at 65-90* - no lower than 65*, very low doses of any 3:1:2 ratio fertilizer whenever the plant is growing robustly, whenever you water - water thoroughly and flush the soil of salts each time - then allow the plant to dry just to the point you notice the slightest bit of wilting and water again. Watering with deionized (distilled) water when you're not watering with fertilizer solution will go a long way toward curing the burn problem and you wouldn't need to flush the soil at every watering, either. Take care - wishing you well with your plant. Al

They like average moisture with good drainage, mine just had way too much with that drain keeping the soil too wet but I'd planted it there because it was a moist spot and I'd read they like that. They also do well in partial sun. I sowed mine --warm temps in cups with plastic bags on top to keep moist-- in winter in a sunny window but you can sow in spring, they come up in about 10 days or so. Now that you brought it up, I decided sow some more to plant in some spots that get sun for only a few hours and see how they do. mxk3, first year with no blooms is fairly typical for perennials. By the end of the first year you should have a nice sized plants with good root systems though. I imagine keeping them a bit on the dry side in winter further north would be good so make sure it has good drainage. We had thick ice one year and I lost one to rot on the north side of the house.

For me, changing it up every year is what is the most fun. I love trying different vibrant color combos, and try to use plants that attract hummingbirds to the planters on the patio. I like browsing www.provenwinners.com in their container combos section, you can search for combos for all seasons and color palettes. I also like to take inspiration from the White Flower Farm catalog's annuals combination photos - drool worthy! One last fun place to check out online is http://www.kinsmangarden.com/category/URL_970 They have very inspiring ideas there and such lush plantings. I just bought my annuals last weekend, and when they recover from transplanting and start blooming, I will post pics to show the combos. This year I have the following planters: 1) In a blue ceramic planter: Persian shield, lavender geranium, white bacopa, 2 purple nemesias, 1 lavender trailing verbena. 2) In a butter yellow ceramic planter: Elfin Pink penstemon, yellow/pink lantana, yellow African daisy, sweet potato vine in bright green, 1 yellow million bells petunia and 1 medium pink spreading mini petunia. 3)Semi-shade black urn: Coleus (orange-reddish freckles on bright green background), green sweet potato vine, and a orangey-pink begonia. 4)Hayrack basket on gate: hot pink million bells petunia flanked by 2 deep purple trailing petunias, and blue horizon ageratum along back of basket. 5) Smaller terracotta planter: Taller dark purple petunias, bright blue nemesia with white eye, and white salvia. 6) Hanging baskets: 1 Fuchsia for the hummingbirds and 1 mixed hanging basket with yellow and purple mini petunias, white bacopa, and lavender trailing verbena. 7) Front door planters: Bought 2 lush hanging baskets of bright deep magenta wave petunias and cut the "hanging" part off, then plopped the "basket" part into the planters. Less expensive than buying individual plants and gives instant impact! Amy

I am referred to as "the tick magnet" in my household. It is not uncommon for me to walk across the lawn, spend 10 minutes in the veggie garden, and come in with a tick. I've gotten so I can spot a wood tick sitting on the top of a plant, waving its little legs and waiting to grab hold. I'm going to repeat what I said in the post from last fall that Claire linked. I live on an old farm with a mix of field, brushy growing-up field, and woods. I use bug dope with DEET, though I put it only on my clothing and I don't always use it. I own several pairs of the pyrethrin impregnated socks and I tuck my pant legs into them. (Along with my bug net during black fly season I usually look pretty dorky when I am out in the garden.) I don't really worry about ticks because during the height of the season I might find 6 or 8 on me over the course of a day, but I do take them seriously. Instead of worrying, I do a complete visual and touch check whenever I come into the house in the spring and fall. Clothes get stripped off and examined along with my body. I again do a complete visual and fingertip check at bedtime every night (until it gets too cold for the ticks to be active) standing nekkid in front of a mirror so that I can see places like under my arms and the middle of my back, etc. in case I missed any the first time around. I also comb my hair with a comb having close-set teeth and do a careful touch examination of my entire scalp. Clothing I take off doesn't go into the bedroom. I view that nightly 15 minutes as the dues I pay for being able to get out beyond the lawn areas at my house. When we first moved here I used to freak out about getting a tick, but there are so many (mostly wood ticks, though there are some deer ticks) that I just don't have the energy to get worked up about them. I'd rather put the energy in to doing careful checks afterwards since it takes a day or more for a tick to get seated and spread disease. I do this check religiously, every single night, even if I have not worked in the garden. It's part of my bedtime routine, like brushing my teeth. It is my understanding (and fits in with my observations here) that rodents are a large part of the cause of the "deer" (more accurately referred to as "black-legged") tick problem, so the tick tubes, which target the application of permethrin specifically to rodents, make good sense. I haven't used them, however, and studies vary in their evaluation of effectiveness. Last season was the first we had appreciable numbers of black-legged ticks, so we are just starting serious consideration of management for them. I haven't previously seen reference to nematodes as good for controlling ticks, so I did some reading. It seems like around here they aren't too effective since nematodes live in the soil, and when are ticks are in or on the ground, it's too cold for the nematodes to be effective. They are also more effective on adults that the nymphs that often spread disease. However, I did come across a fungus that it supposed to be better in this part of the country, Metarhizium anisopliae, that has met with EPA approval for tick control. Unfortunately, it appears to still be in the product development stages. As others have mentioned, keeping areas with brush or long grass mowed will help reduce shelter areas for ticks, and reducing areas like stone walls where rodents hide will help as well.