hairmetal - do you mind sharing the name of the nursery in Purcellville? BTW - went to Susanna Farms for the first time in donkey's years. OMG they are expensive. But being in MoCo like that, I can't really blame them. Charge what the market will bare. Oddly they had some wierd bargains that almost felt like they'd forgotten to add a 0 to a price. Unfortunately they were too big to fit in my car, like a nice Juniperus rigida pendula, that I think was only $79. It was huge. I really wanted to get something but just couldn't hold my nose tightly enough. I can understand pricing something like a showy Japanese maple high. But they had some little Trochodendrons that were no more than 20" high. Sure they are slow growing when small...but $120? Who's going to buy that? At that size they are about the most anonymous, bland, broad leaved evergreens imaginable. They look like scrounged up bunches of English Ivy. I maybe could have gone up to $65 out of the kindness of my heart, but, $120? Nope. But if they get rich suckers from Potomac to pay those prices, good for them. They do have a nice selection of what I'd call the standard upscale plants...which is getting harder and harder to find. For example also took a quick walk 'round Merrifield's Merrifield location (haha), was disappointed with their selection of similar stuff. If it's showy and marketable, like the Encore Azaleas, they make room for it. Otherwise, overall a more utilitarian, albeit slightly less expensive, selection. And still heavily pushing Leyland Cypresses which is a questionable business practice IMHO. This post was edited by davidrt28 on Wed, Oct 16, 13 at 23:46

Yes to both questions. I prune the foliage regularly, and I prune the roots when re-potting. CC's will often make many new branches from a single cut. Judicious pruning will get your CC bushy in one season. Low but consistent doses of fertilizer really helps, too. I would ditch the self-watering container. These plants appreciate a fast-draining mix of bark, with a bit of Perlite and a pinch of AV soil or Orchid Mix as an afterthought. Here's a Thread I put together when I re-potted my Christmas Cactus this Autumn: Christmas Cactus re-potted Josh This post was edited by greenman28 on Sun, Jan 6, 13 at 20:04

Just whack it back to the size that will fit in the house. They recover quickly. And if you do get the sap in your eye, jump in the shower for 15 minutes, BY THE CLOCK, aim the shower head to hit you between the eyes, blink if you can, do NOT use any eye drops of any kind. One hour after irrigation, if you have swelling, pain, tearing, blurry vision or any other symptom except redness go to the ER right then. Corneal burns are pretty common with this sap. Stay warm! We're supposed to have the coldest temps in a decade by the weekend, 15 degrees colder tomorrow morning. I hate winter. Tally HO!

Admittedly I have limited experience with Dahlias, but given that you can supposedly grow almost any kind of tomato or many other vegetables in a five gallon pot, I don't see a reason it shouldn't work for a dahlia. I have my three cactus dahlias (listed as 48" tall) in five gallon pots, but they are only about 6" tall at the moment. :) Aaron