Jerry sorry about the delayed response hee hee been way to busy to remember where I post, lol. Some things that need a warm cool warm season like helebores I started those in september but I wonder if I was to late for those. Most of my containers I have started on december 21st to february. I have several things I need to get going but sometimes life just gets in the way, hopefully I will have time this weekend to get in the dirt. As for information the winter sowing forum has a ton of info under the faq's and then Trudi has a website also it is called wintersown.org. There are a ton of people willing to help with any question you may have in regards to winter sowing for the first time, though pretty much you have the concept down. I use water bottles but most use milk jugs. I use whatever I have, whether it be cottage cheese containers or grated cheese containers to water bottles or juice bottles. I think I have in the picture one of those rotisserie chicken containers that is in use also even an ice cream bucket. I use my containers as I would a starting seed tray, just make sure there is plenty of drainage and of course ventilation. For the water bottles we just toss the lid for the cottage cheese or rotisserie chicken containers we just cut some holes in the top. I have even used a lasagna pan inside a comforter bag. I have drainage holes in the bottom and I cut ventilation holes in the top. This is the most recent picture I have of the lasagna pan, I think it was taken a few weeks back. As for the pictures I know there is a link somewhere how to add pictures. Though a simple way to tell you is upload your pictures to a third party photo client. I have been using photobucket some use flikr. They will provide you with an html code and just simply copy and paste the code into the message box. inside the brackets > insert height="500" width="600" for the size of pictures here in this message. I sure hope that helps. People on the wintersowing forum are extremely eager to help and extremely friendly, they love questions don't be afraid of them. They will welcome you with open arms!! Oh and there are several from canada that winter sow!!

In your area, Venus Flytraps grow naturally, so will not need much protection. Since they are in pots, I would just leave them outside with the pots croded together and some mulching surrounding the pots. The larger the pot, the better in that regard. Plants rooted in the bogs of NC would have a large area of ground and other plants to keep their roots from freezng completely. In pots, they simply are not quite as protected. Water them about half as much as you would in the growing season. Keep a tray with about half as much water in it as normal and let the tray dry between watering. The soil should always be just barely moist in winter. If you have any odd freezes below 32 degrees for over a day at a time you might cover them with a plastic bag temporarily. They will not need drastic measures since they are native there, just a little protection from extreme winter cold and dry winds as carnivorousplants indicated. They will not really conduct much photosynthesis since they will live off their starches in their rhizome overwinter, but light period per day will still tell them what season it is. When people take them out of the fridge, they start them at 8 hours and ramp up by 1 hour per week more till they get 12 or more hours photoperiod. Warming them over 50-60 degrees also helps tell them when winter is ending and they resume growth with enough light.

Thanks for the comments so far. There does not appear to be a consensus, but several folks have recommended Solatubes. I guess I could put in two 14" Solatubes in the Family room by putting them in the centers of two coffers at one-third and two-thirds of the way along the length of the room. But would these point sources of skylight be too bright, like really bright light fixtures that make you want to wear a baseball cap to shield your eyes from the glare? I guess we could build the house as-is, and add the Solatubes later if we decide we want more light. Have also thought about long linear skylights at the boundaries of the kitchen/family rooms, dining/family rooms, and entry/family rooms. In response to a few questions, the porch roof will be about 15' high. I like the suggestion about making the patio and underside of porch roof light colors. That may help some. Per requests, I have also attached sketch for second floor, which contains a guest bedroom, study, exercise room, and two baths. Any more opinions welcome. Thanks.

What great ideas! There are geniuses on the forum! Fluorescent lights laid on their backs! (Sounds of me smacking my head) Wow! I would love the ambient lighting that would create! And since I plan on having some art objects on the top, that would silhouette them as well. That reminds me: I have a roll of white rope lighting in the basement for a project that fell through. I wonder if that creates heat? I will have to find it and see how much light it puts out. The wall-mounted swing out lamps too. We have one in the room now: maybe IÂll get another. I will look into the piano lights too. We actually do have plenty of outlets in the roomÂexcept that once the bookcases are in and loaded we wonÂt have easy access to any but one. ThatÂs why I have to plan this out in advance. We will have to put extension cords in each outlet and drape them over the top of the cases and make sure they donÂt fall back! bronwynsmom, your library is very beautiful, and much like I would have liked to do in my room. But building soffits and installing hardwired lighting is not in our future. Your library has many wonderful features, maybe I can use something. I love the lighting inside the bookcases at the top and the overall feeling of the room. IÂll save it for an inspiration. My original plan was much more ambitious. With 2 kids in college/med school next year, I have to do this project as inexpensively as possible. The bookcases alone were over $600. But after months of poring over CL and trolling resale shops and not finding enough (or in good enough condition), we had to buy new bookcases. Things like the chairs and tables will be coming from elsewhere is the house. I was originally going to customize the bookcases, but my husband nixed that idea. He wants to see a room actually finished within a reasonable time frame (what a strange conceptÂ) ! So I need to get the feeling of what I wanted in a simpler, less labor-intensive way. Thanks for all the ideas!