Yeah, I realized my phal.s were underlit when I read that the leaves should be more like the color of Granny Smith apples! I had always read that they don't need a lot of light, but guess they need more than what I was giving them. I recently had to repot the sad phal. because it fell off the table and came out of the old pot. Should I leave it or put it in a smaller pot? As for the dendrobium, I was using some spray fertilizer that is made from worm castings in H2O that I bought. It is very weak in nitrogen, will that be OK? Should I use this or a granular fertilizer on the phals.? I have used both up to this point. I will try to post some photos if they ever do bloom again! I was starting to think I just didn't have what it took for growing any kind of orchid in AZ.

Nancy, it's an ugly little bacterium that causes (among other things) crowns to turn into masses of tiny suckers. It's extremely contagious, and just nasty. According to the lab in Oregon that's studying it, it hasn't yet been seen in the Gesneriad family, but it is common among many ornamental plants (90+ and counting). Sucks, but it's not my problem now. Thankfully. Korina 'They can shoot me down, but the moral high ground is *mine*!' ~the Doctor

HI Everyone! Thanks for all the nice comments! I love photography & gardening- I think they go hand in hand. Shawn & Mary: Lasagna gardening is a method of no tilling gardening.. You lay a degradeable weed barrier ( I like to use cardboard, which attracts worms & will break down in the future, so that the plants will grow down thru it) You then assemble large quantities of moist organic materials- manures, leaves, hay, etc, & layer them 6 inches deep on top of each other, til it's about 1 foot high, finishing up with compost. If you have enough of everything, you can complete a bed in 1 day, including planting your transplants right in... I experimented with cow manure vs horse manure combined with sawdust bedding. (both were UN -composted, & did NOT burn my plants!) The cow manure stayed moist under the layers of leaves & pine straw, & I hardly had to water or fertilize at all.. The plants planted in the cow manure lasagna beds were 4x the size as plants in the horse manure lasagna beds. These beds dried out way too fast, & I had to constantly water them til the plants took hold. I will say this- if you plan to lay out a lasagna bed over a lawn, like I did, make sure that you use 2 layers of DRY cardboard over it. I didn't, & I am battling with crab grass, something fierce! It does pull out easily, but I have SO much of it, & so little time.. I'm sure it will do nicely next to a fence line.... It's really important to put an edge around your garden, whether you did a moat (like I do) or lay down a black rubber one, to save you time in keeping weeds & grass out of your gardens.. I am planning to buy the black edging. To really research Lasagna gardening I did a simple google search- there is so much info out there! This is my first year implementing this method in my gardens. I love where we live, out in the country on a small pie shaped acre...... (I have a little slice of the pie!) Yes, these shots were taken about 6:30 am..... The pink flowers on either side of my blue butterfly stepping stone are Maiden Pinks- a clump perennial that doesn't divide at all! I tried, & half of it died! the blue Iris were rescued from the woods, I had no idea what color they would be when I planted them. Neonposey: I will post photos of your brugs when they bloom- they are very happy, in a very rich moist leaf mold soil........ Can't wait! Take care folks! Kathy

muktowngal... Thank you (and others) for your complements. I think I'm around 480 varieties... a few duplicates, but still, under 500 total. The large garden in the panorama has most of the varieties in it... around 400. The neighbor...they moved in a year before us and the previous owners left them a few hosta. That S&S in the pic was a puny 1-eye and was not doing well. It's grown so much in the 5 years since we've been here. Almost all of their others were added around 2008-09. I gave them the Royal Standards in that pic, and a few others that are not in the photo. I plan to thin out a few of my duplicates and will probably give them some more, since they're willing takers! Both my neighbors are good about keeping a nice landscape and I'm thankful for that. My rear neighbor... not so much.