Hi folks, I'm glad I found this thread. It has a lot of great info on it. I have a mask plant I got a few years ago. I keep it in a bright window behind a curtain. It's currently potted in soil less mix and stays moist. It's grown a LOT and sent out a flower this year. However, the tips of all the leaves are browning and curling. This just started in the last week. I don't want to repot for a few weeks until I can take it outside to do it and I plan on using some of the suggestions here for potting medium. But in the meantime, can anyone tell me what might be happening? It looks like burning, but hasn't been in the sun, and has been consistently moist. Also, what fertilizer should I use? Could I use the same one for my orchids? Oh yes, it has about 8 large stalks now and they look raggedy where the old leaves have come off, plus some new babies coming up. What would be the best way to repot this? Divide, larger pot, etc?

Just got back from Orlando (not Disney)and I'm a hankering for a Chinese Flame tree. Dummy me, we drove a golf cart right past one with low branches to get the pods and I should have insisted hubby stop for me to scavenge. Also saw a tree that looked very much like mimosa but a bit fuller and the blossoms (or seed pods) were dark purple. Couldn't get to that one. Anyhoo..I don't like putting mulch over bulbs or anything else. It's like erecting a mulch hotel for voles with all they can eat nearby. I just take the poly foam plant pots and invert them over the stub. Keeps the excess rain off the bulb top. That's worked for 2 years we've been here and the EE's are fine. The poly foam seems to be adequate insulation.

Nice sandy, is Muncie in southern Indiana? Are you sure you're not zone 6? I always hear about mulching even in zone 6 Pa here, or they will not come back. I guess you know your zone. I think I'll add some sand to my raised bed soil, just a bit. I'll be trying Cannas in the same bed, I just bought a bag with 3 roots in it, and the foliage is starting to come up. You know those bags of dried up plant roots/corms you can get at Wal-mart or anywhere in early spring, well, I just grabbed up a bag today, and as said the plants are starting to grow in the dark bag of dried (likely) peat, so I know their good. I will be putting soil in my raised bed tomorrow if the weather permits, you know, no rain. The temps here are warm as hell, 86 today, what happened to spring, it feels like summer. I have the bed, but need to put it together, then put the soil in it. I will put more sandy soil in 1 half of it, (it's got a divider in the middle) for my Cannas and a Eucomis or Pineapple lilly. They like drier soil. I have 3 Yuccas in a biggish pot. They are Yucca Gloriosa Varagieta, yucca Rostrata and yucca Recurvifolia. I'll just put the pot on the soil in the bed, they will need more sun than the site will have in the future. With the plants Musa included wanting dry soil, I should make a cover for the bed for winter. And put it on only after everything has dried out a bit in fall, just to keep rain out of the bed. Not to enclose it all on the sides too, that would encourage rot, just to keep rain out. Later.

My Banana's (Musa Basjoo) were fine outside this year and came back beautifully. I would say try to keep them above freezing. I did have 2 pups I put in my greenhouse, and they grew slowly all winter. The one outside died back and came back in the spring. My Dwarf Cavendish, I overwintered in the house, will put on my deck over the summer in a pot. I lost a Ice Cream Banana to cold, and none of my EE's made it. So I'm having to change up the EE plan this year. But as long as you don't drop below freezing, you should be fine. We had an unusually cold winter here this year, quite a few nights in the teens and even single digits.