We are surrounded by bacteria and virus, our skin, digestive track, and who knows what all else is covered/filled with bacteria and viruses, most harmless, although there are some real doozies in the mix as well. You could do a swab/culture on just about anything and find something nasty. Yet somehow, we survive. By far and away, 'serious' (Carol brings up a very important point, probably the dirtiest place in the house is the kitchen sink, and unless you want to pour bleach down the drain, the plumbing 'trap' is a regular breeding ground. The kitchen counters, cutting boards, sponges, rags, and all that can get absolutely chock full of nasty stuff, rapidly as well. Whats a person to do?!? Man-kind has dealt, rather successfully, with this over the millennia by certain rules - cook your food, peel your veggies/fruit if you're going to eat them raw. Added now with washing carefully salads and other raw veggies. Re 24 hour flu, thats a misnomer for viral gastrointestinal viruses spread by hand/mouth/door knob sort of stuff. We've one making the rounds here, it hit DD a few weeks ago, and dozens of other people we know over the last month. 24-36 hours of misery, and then it just goes away.

For stable streakers that just seem to stay streaked... I've grown Kisuji for at least 15 years with no stabilization and no solid sports. Ditto Korean Snow... shiny, streakier in spring, less striking later in season, but great shiny leaves and late yingeri-flowers. I've had Swirls for several years and divided it several times, still no stabilization or solids. Kaleidechrome - two plants since 2009 with no stabilization and really good streaking. Starship - ditto. I keep watching for stabilization, but no sign so far. Ice Age Trail is one of my problem plants - have to take off solid eyes every year. Galaxy - ditto. Same with Savannah Supreme - solids and the stabilized white margin form, Savannah. Sea Prize - lots of solids. (worth the trouble - very fertile, lots of neat streaked seedlings) Blizzard - a few solids but mostly apple green with yellow/cream margins - meaning Winter Snow. I'm going to caution about the use of the word reversion. I never use it (except maybe to curse a little bit that the oldtimers continue to pollute newer hosta people with its imprecision.) First of all, it could only be used if the belief is that part of the crown of a sport is going back to the exact same plant as the parent... June sported from Halcyon, so some believe the blue sport that appears on June is a "reversion" to Halcyon. I would argue that only a dna test would demonstrate that. For all we know, it is a new sport and will be bigger or smaller than Halcyon, or have more wax, or or or... I think there is a lot of variation in the market in what people are calling "Halcyon" because so many of the plants are tc culls from June - and I don't believe they are all identical to June's parent. This has gotten even crazier. Paul's Glory was a variegated sport from Perry's True Blue. I'm sure over the years people have removed solid blue sports from PG and relabeled them as PTB. But the tc process of PG resulted in lots of solid blue plants... but Zilis decided to call those a "sport" and registered it as Wheaton Blue. So why are those a sport, while the blue ones from June are a "reversion"? I should have asked Mark that at the convention. I just might email him about that! Reversion was a term that made a lot more sense in the "old days" when a variegated plant was usually propagated by dividing it off its solid parent - easy enough to see how some crown tissue from the parent could go along with the division... its a lot harder to explain how Halcyon genes make it through a tissue culture process of a June meristem, I think. Galaxy was a cross between a seedling of another streaker, Beatrice, and Frances Williams. It frequently stabilizes to an all green plant. What would it be "reverting" to? It never came from a green plant. But the biggest reason I hate the term is the way it gets used for plants that can't possible be "reverting" to anything. A seedling, for example - can't revert as it never came from another plant. Gunther's Prize is a streaked Sum & Substance... it might stabilize to a margined hosta or a centered hosta or a solid - but unless the solid the the chartreuse yellow of S&S, there is no way to call it a reversion - and, of course, even if it did end up gold, would I know for sure it is just another S&S? I don't think so. So - some streakers are more stable than others, and a home gardener not interested in growing streaked seeds would do well to purchase one of the more stable ones I mentioned at the top... but lets stick to asking about "stabilization" - not "reversions." Thanks!

Congrats, Midnight. Growing a clivia to blooming size from seed is a great accomplishment. I hope you'll start a separate thread with pics once the blooms are open. Great plants! Socks, Disneyland and I have a lot in common, heh heh, and no, not because I'm "goofy"! I like a lot of the plants they use, and how they create such cheerful/jarring combinations. I just planted a bare root 'Disneyland' rose, which, while not jarring, is certainly perky like the many they have planted there. I've been gardening since I was five years old and have reached the point where I just plant what I enjoy and what makes me smile, so "tastemakers" be damned, lol. The brighter, taller, and stinkier, the more I like my orange marigolds. I actually struggle to find non-dumpy dwarf types. Usually I get them from Select Seeds or Seeds of Change...what about you? Take care, Grant

I'm so happy to find this thread! Last weekend my DH was cleaning off his workbench, and I just started casually going through some of the bins of clothes I have saved down in the basement. I was saving them for many reasons: they might fit me again someday; I spent a lot of money on them; my two daughters (10 & 7) might want them someday.....etc. I had about 12 large Rubbermaid-type bins down there--20 years of clothes. I just kept moving and by the end I got them down to 2 bins-mostly vintage and dressy clothes that my two girls might really want. I also got rid of all the 80's shoes that I was saving, and a bunch of my DH's pants that will never fit again. All together, I brought 14 large garbage bags of stuff to the Salvation Army!!! It felt good to clean up the basement, but I have to admit, I almost threw my body across those bags as the man unloaded them! It's so hard! Some of it was really fine quality stuff and much of it was very trendy 80's and 90's stuff. It was hard for me because when I was in high school I shopped thrift stores for vintage clothes, and often when I'd bring home a find, my mom would say "I had one like that! I threw it away!" (40's and 50's stuff). I found it so frustrating! So I was hanging on to my stuff for my two girls. But ya'know what? I can't hang on to that much stuff for the next 5-10 years on the off chance that my kids will think some of it is cool when they are in high school. So I let it go. And it really does feel good. In that formerly crowded area, We are now putting our treadmill, some weights, and a TV! And we are now both inspired to continue cleaning up that basement and pitching stuff we don't need or use. I told DH if he is willing to part with all his darkroom equipment, then I can certainly go through my stuff and see what else can go. It's hard, but it's freeing too.