To ideasshare, You are showing great imagination in your landscape design charettes and your computer illustrations skills are quite admirable. I wish you the very best of luck when you travel from China to New York to further your studies in garden design. If you have a chance to travel to the San Francisco Bay area in Northern California I think you will find a wealth of information and education on garden design. There is a wonderfully large Asian population in this area with extensive arts and cultural activities that occur on a daily basis. I currently have a project being built in a predominately Chinese section of the city and have been enjoying and exploring new Asian art galleries, book stores, restaurants, museums and some old favorite gardens and Asian garden supply stores after I finish my my job site tasks. http://deviantdeziner.blogspot.com/2008/12/san-francisco-japanese-tea-garden.html http://www.sanfranciscochinatown.com/ http://www.asianart.org/ http://www.c-c-c.org/

The UCD Arboretum had their spring plant sale on May 20th, but Three Palms Nursery, which is also along Putah Creek's old north channel to the west, has several sales throughout the season. I'm almost afraid to mention them, because the crowds are always small when my mom and I go browsing and buying. LOL They've already had their winter bareroot sale on weekends in Feb, as well as their spring sale on May 6-7 & 13-14. But they have their summer sale coming up this weekend on June 24 & 25; summer blowout on Aug. 5 & 6; and fall sale on Oct. 7-8 & 14-15. Three Palms Nursery 26990 Rd. 95-A Davis, CA 95616 (Russell Blvd. & Rd. 95-A, 2.8 mi. west of Rd. 98) 530-756-8355 I only mention the sales, because of this topic, but Phil always has great prices, a huge selection, and his plants are always healthy. You can tell that he grows most of them outdoors, where they remain when you buy them. If you're worried about bees or any other outdoorsy critters (not snakes, yet, though!), then I recommend you don't visit Three Palms, because we always run into a few when we go. :) Brenda

Hi Sanda, Yes, we have 2 tours planned for next year - late spring and late summer. I like to give the hosts plenty of time to recover from winter and let whether warm up a bit. The actual homes/locations are still undetermined but there are quite a few we are considering. We still have a couple of fun events planned for this year. Sometime in late September we are planning to have a tropical arrt show at the nursery. Artisans of various mediums will be showing their works of art including scultures, oils on canvass, waterpaintings, etc. We are still open to more artists so feel free to pass the word along. The dates/details for all the events will be sent out to everyone on our mail list (sign up at www.tropicalvibe.com). I will try to post the events and details here but if I get to busy with our landscape design work and nursery operations I might forget. Once the email is sent out please feel free to post the information - "the more the merrier!" torpicalvibe

Hello you all, Oh my........... how jealous can one get??? Would like to emigrate when I see all these splendid plumies. I wonder; are there many plumie freeks in USA?? Is it a popular plant or are there just a few of you (as hopeless as I am)?? Can you buy a plant anywhere or do you have to search for one? I'm asking cause I live in Holland (where you can count plumeria-lovers on one hand I'm afaid) but I have an aunt living in Florida, Palm Beach. Could she find some cuttings for me?? Any advice is welcome!! Many thanx, Martina