The blue end of the spectrum (cool whites) favors development of foliage, usually the most important consideration in maintaining tree health over winter. The red end favors development of flowers and fruit (warm white). You can decide which is more important, but you will definitely be able to retain better o/a vitality by choosing cool white. Temperature and accompanying danger of fire is what limits wattage ratings for light fixtures. Since temperature is of little consideration with fluorescent lighting, you can feel comfortable exceeding wattage limitations for incandescent bulbs (note that you're only exceeding an imaginary number as wattage ratings are only a tool for comparison. Actual wattage usage is much lower than the comparative incandescent rating) I don't know if the guideline you asked about exists, as "worthwhile" is a pretty subjective term. Any supplemental indoor lighting is going to be helpful to varying degrees. Incandescent is prolly least helpful as it would need to be very close to plants for them to benefit - impossible because of the heat associated with their use. The effectiveness of the fluorescents, of course, varies with light source proximity to plant photosynthesizing surfaces. Al

We keep a few in large pots... terra cotta style, cheap Mexican stuff. Most years we lose 0-25% of the hostas and about 10% of the pots. This year we lost 0, but a long cold spring resulted in some showing frost damage and poor form. Our technique - pick cheap nice looking hostas... plop them into a pot with drainage. Enjoy them in summer. Forget about them in fall. After the ground freezes, tip them on their sides to avoid collecting too much moisture and rotting the crowns when the soil partially thaws and refreezes in the spring. If possible toss a bag of leaves or loose leaves over them and try to remember to remove it in spring and set them back upright after last hard freeze. We also have raised beds full of minis... also toss bags of leaves or loose leaves over them... very good luck so far. I tried burying plants for my spring sale in their gallon pots in the ground for over wintering... had much less success than lining them out in the "farm" area of the garden and digging them in spring.

Look into Stone Tech's or Miracle's products. Both companies make a good ph neutral cleaner specifically for sealed stone. Below are the urls: http://www.miraclesealants.com/c_mira_clean.html http://www2.dupont.com/Stone_Tech_Professional/en_US/products/clean/stone_tile_cleaner.html

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