Becca: I'm not familiar with the houseplant "Orange Star" so I googled it. Came up with a couple of possibilities. Maybe you could do the same and look at the images that come up to help in the ID of your plant. Meanwhile, if the instructions say "bright light" then full sun, and definitely southwest sun, is too much. Move it out of direct sun. Also, since it's "drooping", you may have overwatered to try to perk it up. We humans need water but we drown if we don't get air. The same goes for your plant. "Moist" soil doesn't mean soppy. You may need to let it dry out a bit. When you repotted, I'm hoping you chose containers with drainage holes that allow excess water to escape. You're a good mom to help at the preschool. I think you're trying to be too good to the plant and providing too much sun and H2O. June

We are getting ourselves confused again over the common name 'sweet pea'. The last two posts appear to be discussions Pisum sativum the edible vegetable pea. The OP may be asking about Lathyrus odoratus, grown solely for their flowers and not only not eaten but actually toxic. Or possibly the OP him/herself is mixing up the two. The words 'just wanted them for the blooms' would be redundant if referring to Lathyrus since that is their only purpose in a garden. Sweet Peas(Lathyrus) grow well in the UK climate because of the slow and gradual increase in temperatures and the low maximum temps. I sow mine in January indoors. You could try starting yours even earlier indoors. That way you might have them advanced enough to bloom before the summer heat gets them.

Thanks circuspeanut! I never thought of painting the siding light and the trim dark, but I like it! LOL on the orange cat too, so he can match. What is funny is that we plan on staining the deck just that color! In my photo, the addition directly in front is in the shade. The far corner, behind the car, is in direct sunlight in that photo and probably the true color. The Sparrow may be too much gray since there is so much orange in the brick, but I'll go take another photo as soon as the heat lets up a little and see what those colors look like in both full sun and shade. tuesday 2008, yes there is a golden tan in the brick. That is the body color of the brick in fact. Annie, when we bought the house, the siding was an orangy yellow and the trim and shutters were a deep rust. I didn't like it at the time, but then I didn't like much about the house when we bought it. lol karin l, I think an eggplant would probably look good with it. Unfortunately, houses around here are pretty plain. I drove around the other day on my way to town and ALL the newer houses with colors close to mine were all light beige, and one color at that. I'd never noticed that everyone seems to have the same color paint. I do want to be a little different, but I also want to sell the house quickly if it comes to that. fori, sage green looks good with the brick. That's what we painted the trim, shutters and door 15 years ago. I could go back with it, but I'm also a little tired of that color. I'll play with it though and see how it looks now that the brick is different. GreenDesigns, I think that Adobe Dust might be a winner. I really like it on the screen. I'll have to see if I can find it on my program and try it out. The Alligator Green reads gray on my screen. Jodokus, you could be right, and I'll go see what Durango Dust looks like. The front of the house has a gable that could look top heavy if the color is too dark, but I'm open to anything right now. Dh bought the base paint while it was on sale. I guess I need to see if it's a light or dark base before I get too carried away. lascatx, I'll look at gray. I really hadn't considered it before seeing the photoshop circuspeanut did, and I like the gray there. I know the sage looks good, and I bet a darker green would look good too.

Your conditions are similar to mine, angelml. I place my camellias a little higher than the surrounding soil and where they will be protected from wind, where they get morning sun until 11am or so and I provide them with 3-4" of mulch year 'round. Even slow winds in my hot summers will be a problem so some protection helps. On year 1, I also try to water them manually (3.8 liters per watering) as drip and other irrigation methods will not get the newly planted shrubs' roots moist as well as I can do watering by hand. I strongly suggest you also water by hand until their roots grow more (in about a year) and then you can let a sprinkler or drip system take over. In the summer, I increase watering amounts by 50%. In the fall, when temperatures come down below 29.4 degrees, I water less. During the winter, when the plant is semi-dormant, I water once a week or once every two weeks (depends on whether it rains and how much). It would be ideal to provide about 2.5cm (1" per week) of rain during the growing season. If Mother Nature does that for you then do not water that week. You can also use the finger method to tell when to water. Every day, early in the morning, insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 10.15cm (4 inches) and see if it feel dry, moist or wet. If it feels dry or almost dry, then water the plant and make a note in a wall calendar indicating that you watered on that day. After 2-3 weeks, review the information on the wall calendar to determine about how often you were having to water the plant (every 3/4/5/etc days). You can then water the plant 10.15cm on that same frequency (every 3/4/5 days). On year 1, try to water by hand from the base outwards. On other years or if you have to go on vacation, use the sprinkler/drip irrigation.