Hi everyone. I just joined this great forum and have gotten some very good tips from you guys by reading a lot of the posts about certain houseplants that I have. So thanks a lot for the great tips and advice provided! As far as my favorite houseplants, it's really hard to pick one or two since I've got quite a few. But, the ones that mean the most to me are : 1) Aglaonema (Chinese Evergreen) 'Crete' - I picked this one up at a local garden center fairly recently and it's supposedly new cultivar. It may be one of the most beautiful foliage plants I've seen. It's green leaves are bordered in a beautiful bright red and splashed with the red color also. Just exquisite! I keep it by my fireplace in the den and it loves it's shady spot. My Polyscias plants are also among my most favorites. I have a 3 foot tall Parsley Aralia that is amazing. It's in a beautiful oriental-looking pot in my game room/Japanese garden. I also have 2 medium sized Ming Aralias that I love, one of which I found at Home Depot a few weeks ago, the other I got from a really nice houseplant store in a town nearby. The one I found at HD was the last one and a bit scraggly looking but is putting on some nice new growth. It has four main trunks so I'm sure with proper care, next spring it will explode with foliage *fingers crossed*. I also have a small, variegated Balfour that is very beautiful. It may be in my top 3 or 4 plants. Surprisingly, I found that one at a grocery store (again the last one!) Then I have 2 small variegated Parsley Aralias that are very nice and bushy. I absolutely love Aralias, even if they are a little temperamental. 3) Another favorite of mine is a large 7 foot tall Amate Schefflera in my den. It fills one corner with it's huge umbrella leaves and looks awesome. I've always loved Scheffs. I have 2 Amates and about 4 Arboricolas! 4) My last favorite plant (out of 4) would have to be this Jade that I've had for quite some time but it's shape is what I love so much about it. It has one trunk that splits into two that drape down on each side and curve back up. It's very Bonsai-like. I love it. I'll try to include some pics if anyone is interested. Glad to be able to join this forum! Cheers! -Chris

everytime i think I've found a great magazine, after a few issues nothing seems to appeal to me anymore. I've finally decided to give up the magazine subscriptions and go to the public library to read the ones i want-- it has fine gardening, horticulture, organic gardening, garden gate, herb quarterly and one or two others-- so i'm lucky. Usually i pick a rainy saturday or sunday and sit and read everything current. I finally had to do the dame thjing with cooking magazines and no just get cook's illustrated, bon appetit, and food and wine. about 2 years ago we decided to trim down subscriptions (we were at 65 total) have whittled the list to 40. and we oly are allowed to get 2 new subscriptions each year, if we want more we have to drop something off the list. I know the mailman hates coming to us on the first of the month. Anyway I was just suggesting a alternative to gatting a subscription. digger b

Carol, I live a mile and a half above the small village of Canoe (which you could see it weren't dark near the reflected sun in the water in the sunset picture). Canoe is 5 miles outside of the small town of Salmon Arm which is at the top of the Okanagan valley in central British Columbia. South would be Spokane, Washington. Janice, I do love the view too and Kristen says 'meow' right back. Lainey, That's it - more lilies for me. I use to grow quite a few lilies in the east side garden but as it got shadier I switched to hostas. I have a few lilys below the balcony - where I was when I took the sunset picture - on the west facing retaining wall by the pool. That area is mostly roses and lavander but last year 25 hostas joined them. Some of the roses are looking ratty and lilies would be perfect.

Thank you all - you are very kind and generous. Msjam - yes I think I like Lady Emma better than Pat Austin, though to be fair to Pat, it does not get a lot of sun with the new grape arbour right over it and I've only had two blooms, they blew so fast I did not get a chance to enjoy them or see them well - on the other hand, the blooms on Lady Emma last a bit longer. jumbojimmy, I grow both The Prince and Falstaff - they are pretty similar in shape, the colour of Falstaff in my garden is more red, more like the colour of WS2000 while The Prince is more deeper - of course Falstaff gets more afternoon sunlight and The Prince gets afternoon shade. Aprille