I wasn't able to view your photos from when you first posted, but was curious as to how your PL is doing now. I have gotten a lot of very helpful advice on this forum.I have a huge PL from grammas funneral two years ago, it seemed to be happy for a long time but lately I noticed it looking a little sick so I did some asking on here and now I ma happy to report it is coming back and looks really good. I water it with water that I let sit for a few days before using it, I keep it in front of a west facing window filtered by sheer curtains, I mist it or set in the bathroom and let shower run for 15 mins on hot then turn off the water and let it sit in there all day with the door closed, I check the soil regualrily so I can water when needed rather than when I think it should be watered, I repotted it in a size bigger pot, I diluted the fertilizer to 1/2 strength, all from advice I recieved here. All or some of the advice worked cuz the leaves all perked up, (they were very droopy, even the new ones)it has a lot of new growth, I don't see any more brown tips and it even has 3 flowers forming. I have a smaller one too that gets all of the same treatment as the big one, hopefully it will be a big one some day. Hope yours is doing well too.

Hi: My Vesey order has arrived and they have all been planted in pots. Lily, Turk's Cap Lily Collection 7 Bulbs (only 1 bulb, the purple, actually looks like a martagon bulb. I am assuming the other, larger bulbs have turk cap like flowers but are not martagons. Somewhat of a misrepresentation) Lily, Asiatic Jacqueline ....... 3 Bulbs Lily, Asiatic Landini ....... 3 Bulbs Lily, Asiatic Tango Collection 15 Bulbs (rather small bulbs, about 1 inch across) Lily, Orietal Golden Stargazer 3 Bulbs (decent sized bulbs) Lily, OT hybrid Scheherazade 3 bulbs (good, large sized bulbs) Lily, Lilium nepalense 3 bulbs (did not send, they say back ordered) Lily, Double Tiger 'Flora Pleno' 3 bulbs Lycoris radiata(Red Spider Lily) 3 Bulbs (already sprouted when they arrived, not sure how this will affect them long term) Eremurus (Foxtail Lily) 9 Roots (These looked pretty good to me, all seemed to have living 'eyes' at their centers. One bag had an extra root, I have big hopes for these ones ;-) I will try an remember to do a followup new year on the Vesey order. Cheers, MG Here is a link that might be useful: Our website

Well I bought 3 Black Beauty (orienpet hybrid) and they are already sprouting. I planted them in my best bed that has loose soil and perfect drainage. I even worked in some extra sand and ground pine bark and planted them about 4 inches deep. This bed gets morning sun and then shifting, filtered light with alternating periods of sun and shade and the sun moves across the different trees in the front yard. Hopefully I will have success with them. I have read differening opinions, but have found some anecdotal evidence that they perform in the South if planted in the right conditions.

I wholeheartedly agree with everyone's assessment of using plants that are well adapted to the climate and soils in your area. That's being said from the perspective of someone who knows better... When I first arrived down here I was a sucker for anything that looked cool and sounded even remotely zone hardy. I put part of the blame for planting out of place plants on certain nurseries, especially the big boxes that carry plants that are technically zone hardy, but don't grow well in the local soils. Go to any HD or Lowes around here right now and you'll find Camellias a-plenty. In the summer they have all kinds of azaleas, gardenias and hydrangeas too. You get the picture... All that said, I agree w. Shebear that unless a plant's obviously completely dead, giving it at least 3 years is reasonable. In fact, we moved some of our plants that were floundering in their previous locations and they seem to be doing better now. We moved our Fatsias and Wheeler Dwarfs to shady locations and they look much happier. We replaced the Wheeler's Dwarfs with Nana Pomegranates in the full sun location and so far so good. Several of the issues pointed out by Pricklypear were unknown to me at the time of purchase. That said, we'll see what happens. The Little Gem, Camellia, Photinia and Golden Euynomous look healthy as can be, their growth has just been disappointing. All 5 of our Camellias do have flower buds set though! The Queens, well, the darn folks at the HD just tempted me too much. If they ever grow and don't freeze out they'll look great by the pool though. :^) I don't get the whole Firebush (Hamelia Patens?) deal either. I see several people around the neighborhood that have large ones, so it must've just been me... Oh well, I guess trial and error is part of the joy of gardening. As long as the successes outweight the failures!