I know that I've told this story several times in this forum but it's worth posting again, I hope. I was called out to a large commercial site where nearly all of the hundreds of newly planted trees were showing signs of serious problems. Both the landscape architect and the landscape contractor were ordered (not by me, but the owner of the property) to be on this inspection, too. I discovered that all of the trees (which were 3 inch caliper B&B) had been planted with EVERYthing still intact: the full metal basket, burlap, poly rope and even the lifting straps. When I commented on this, the contractor said that the LA told him to do it that way. The LA said that leaving all of that intact made it easier to lift the trees when they died. By the way, the trees were declining for completely different reasons. But had they managed to survive for a few years, the rope and straps could easily have done them in.

The photos are by no means comprehensive, but I was hoping to capture something representative of the scene at Chinese New Year's. And momiji, I was in Bangkok 2 years ago during Songkran. The Chinese New Years traditions of cleaning away the old dirt to make way for the new seem far less enjoyable than the Songkran rituals.

I agree, indoor potted herbs is all dependent on your windows for available sunlight. Extra growing lamps should work, I've never done that though. rosemary jane, for drying out problems, if you haven't done this try getting large 3 gal? (about 12"diameter 12" tall) terra cotta pots or bigger. Even for small plants, I found that these were big enough to kinda retain moisture. I guess the smaller pots just can dry out faster. The terra cotta seems to be better at keeping water in too probably cause they heat up on all sides more than the terracotta ones. Look for a sale cause it can get pricy. The long narrow terra cotta planters also work well. Also use sphagnum peat moss (the pretty looking stuff) as a mulch--though any mulch would probably work--to help keep the water in. I did this in atlanta and had a lot of success with potted patio gardening.

My hunch tends to be it's newer. Or else newly refinished and a new seat done. I love ladderback chairs and have an old one I got at auction. The wood shows wear at the base of each leg and the top of the front two legs. Also the tops of the front legs of mine have very small slits in the wood. Kind of like spokes in a wheel from the center of the leg outward. I couldn't sand that part out if I wanted to, it's small but runs too deep to sand. That part could be from storage in extreme temps or something, but it doesn't bother me, I like the character. Looking past the finish to the wood itself, does yours have any signs of age/wear/use that we can't see in the photo?