Fascinating thread. I'm very interested in color theory and have read some about it, but I seem to have a hard time implementing it in a planned way. It's more of a "I know it when I see it" thing for me. Ink, I'll give my input as a relatively new gardener and mostly lurker here. For me it's about the way my yard looks as I'm going out in the morning and coming home in the evening. I don't have much (or really any) leisure time during the day. I love walking past my garden beds on the way to my car and driving away while looking at the fruits of my labor, then returning to it as the first "welcome home" in the evening. Something to consider for the pros out there who are designing for people who work long hours away from home . . . As far as what pleases me visually, I think I'm with Patty in that I prefer things that are more soft or subtle. Not wimpy, just not too tropical or harsh looking. But I have no problem mixing lots of color - - it pleases me immensely. So I have my Nikko Blue hydrangea next to a pink fern-leaf bleeding heart, lime-green creeping jenny (planted my first year and now regretting it for its invasiveness), and purple spiderwort. The colors all seem to have the same value, so I think it works in a smallish space without being shocking. In areas with more space or where I want to make a bold statement without using too many colors I might mix color values.

Hi Lori, I used to have a couple...but I left it outside during a freeze and its dead now :o( I bought both of mine from Home Depot and Lowe's...I've seen them on occasion at Walmart. They have some online vendors that sell them too. This is what it used to look like when I had one in bloom. They are pretty easy to care for...bright light but not direct sun(at least mine didn't like direct sun). I watered it when it got slightly dry and fertilized lightly during the growing season. There is also a Gesneriad forum just for them here's the link

Both. It's a transparent or semi-transparent, often shiny type of lip thing!

Hi I dont have a recipe for this, maybe someone will help but years ago I made lip gloss useing crisco shorting and kool-aid , dont remenber the amounts, but you melt the crisco and add kool-aid , the young kids loved it, Iam sure that vaseline would work also, try this link http://creativekidsathome.com/activities/activity_40.html