Mike, First I want to say, the plants I received, beginning Jan 1, 2010, were in 3-4" containers, bulbs and cuttings. Only a handful were larger, meaning 8" to 1' tall. Total: 58. :) :( Marguest, your Banana Tree is beautiful. The colors amazing. There's even a pup. Did you find it on Ebay? Mike, to answer a few questions. I MUST stay away from Ebay..It's one addicting site. Not only do they have great deals on plants, but plant supplies. There's also a few online nurseries I browse every other wk or so. The internet makes it too easy to shop for such an exciting hobby. A few clicked keys, next thing, a package is at your front door? One word of Warning for those who really want to stop buying plants.. Well, an attempt. Do NOT sign up for nursery News Letters. It's convenient, swaying us to their site, displaying their wares. Hear the clicking keys to Paypal? lol. As for local nurseries, fortunately, there are two that sell very very nice and rare specimens..luckily, opposite directions, both a long distance drive. An hour on non-congested days, 1.5-2 hours during 9-5, Rush Hour traffic. Although, traffic has gotten so heavy the past five years, the only time to go anywhere with time to spare is between midnight and 5am. Problem is, the stores are closed. lol. Our grocery store, Jewel's, always has plants for sale. Mostly, basic plants like Spaths, certain Dracaenas, etc. My problem arises when they have dollar sales. 3-4" potted plants for 1.00. Every so often, they'll have a rarer specimen. Buy 3, pot them up, and you have a lovely plant for 3.00. Four years ago, they had, mixed in with other dollar plants, Schefflera 'brassaia/actinophylla, a plant I hadn't seen in years...last one) I grabbed it up fast. lol. That's about it. Not too bad for 9 months. lol. Toni

I keep a list of the seed varieties I'm planning to WS and then estimate the # of containers/jugs of each seed type I think I'll WS. For example, I know after seeing the hummingbird more often this year I want to go heavy on Lobelia cardinalis/cardinal flower. I traded for seed to supplement what I harvested from my WS plants and have enough to WS 6-10 milk jugs. I've still got plenty of room to plant out lots more LC in a few beds so I'll go heavy with those. Last year I WS ten jugs of blackberry lily so I don't need to do those this year. I'll only do 1-2 jugs of Verbascum/mullein because the ones I WS last year will bloom in 2012. I've gotten very low germination from columbine the past two WS seasons and will sow those extra heavy this year. Apple & pear germinated 100% as did dogwood. I have more seeds and will WS them this year since I lost two mature dogwood trees to the October snowstorm. I'll WS as many jugs as I have turtlehead seeds. They were a hit with the bumblebees. I keep WS until I look at my pot ghetto and decide, "That's enough."

Looks like I'm having this conversation with myself now! Anyway, last night I got to interact with "Henry" again. I put a generous serving of food on a paper plate and put it out in the bushes where his area usually is. I went back inside for about 5 minutes... just long enough to plate myself a slice of cheesecake. Then went out with the flashlight to find not only Henry but another baby grey tabby chowing down fiercly! The new arrival is feral... it ran as soon as I shone the light on the feast. Henry gave me a HISS as I approached. I sat down right beside him and started petting him on the head and back. Even scratched his ears. He didn't even acknowledge my presence... just continued munching. He must have been STARVING. As soon as he finsished the food (3 minutes flat 2 cups of dry food was GONE) he gave a final hiss and darted off into the woods. I guess I've got a routine going now and I will just supply food until I can gain the trust of the poor thing! I didn't hear a single purr so I am assusming survival is more important than interaction at this point. Since there is a white collar (no ID tags!) and the cat ate in front of me I'm assuming he's owned a human before... just wonder if he ran away or was dumped!

Not a Santa pic, but a 'waiting to see Santa' pic. I have three rescues, and keep my sofas and chairs covered with Sure-Fit covers and a sheet over them, as my dogs only use the floor to get from one seat to another. On Christmas eve, I saw the little bit of Riley sticking out from UNDER the covers in this chair, which was near the Christmas tree. I think he was hiding, hoping to get a glimpse of Santa Claws, later...