Tammy: You're smart and nice. :oD Thanks for the sedums! I started them in a pot I have basil in so they get a little bigger before I set them in where the pansies need to come out. I looked up what the cleome plants my sister gave me look like, and I wanted some of those, so I'm very happy. Called my sister to thank her and discovered she couldn't find her original plants. Somebody had given her her original plants last year, and she didn't realize they were annuals, so now she's upset she gave away all the seedlings she found. But I'll just share seeds back with her, now that we know, LOL. Hey - how are those lizards settling in to their new yards? Agrowingpassion: Thursday afternoon or evening would be ideal for me, although I could do other evenings as well.

We use a combination of Nickel Plus and K-Phite. It's working great. We spray with both, using a sticker-spreader we got at Tractor Supply. We also add their blue dye now, because it helps us see where we have missed a spot. It isn't very easy to see through goggles, with sweat pouring down in your eyes. Just avoid spraying any blossoms, unless you are really desperate for a blue daylily. We were advised to spray once a week for 3 weeks, then wait 3 weeks before spraying again. I've only sprayed once this fall, since it has been raining off and on ever since. Occasionally, I will have a plant that shows sign of rust, but nothing like it was before I started using the nickel. I wouldn't use anything else. Well, let me take that back. I am going to try some Actinovate on just a few isolated and unimportant plants to see how it works. The only thing I don't like is having to don all that protective gear, but I wouldn't have it otherwise. I'm very cautious. We use goggles, a special pesticide mask we bought at Lowes, chemical gloves (also at Lowe's), rubber boots and a yellow rain slicker. My hubby and our yardman refuse to put on a garbage bag drawstring skirt, but if I'm doing the spraying, I wear that, too. I'll have to get my hubby to take a picture of me in that fancy outfit so everyone can get a good laugh. When the weather is warm, we get very sweaty in all that garb! We start very early in the morning while it is still cool. We have a big tank sprayer on wheels we pull behind our riding lawn mower. It runs on the lawn mower battery. We got an extra length of hose so we can cover more territory. One of us drives the lawn mower while the other sprays. I could do it by myself, but it takes longer to have to keep stopping to move the mower ahead. We wash the tank out thoroughly after spraying and run clear water through the wand when we have finished. Aren't you cold climate people lucky??? Nancy

wow, this is an old thread! So much has changed in the last couple years.....some good, mostly bad. There are now several different strains of KHV, meaning the virus is mutating. It is just as deadly as ever. Heat cycling a fish to force the virus to show it's self has been found to be of little benefit. Putting a niave fish from your own collection while the new fish is in QT is also of little benefit (at least for the purpose of KHV detection). The only way to know for sure is to have new fish blood tested, which is usually done by the dealer since drawing blood is outside the ability of most hobbiests. A KHV survivor can live with the virus for a long time and not show any ill effects for a long time. How long? Unknown at this time. But like the chicken pox virus in humans comes back as shingles in adults, the KHV virus can live in a koi or goldfish for a long time and then the fish can start to shed the virus again, killing other pond inhabitants. So my advise? 1. Only buy fish from trusted sources. 2. Only buy from dealers who test the fish for the active virus, and also the antibodies. 3. destroy ALL fish that have been exposed to KHV or assume the risk that these fish can infect others later down the road. Pretty scary stuff. Be careful.

What I was saying, is that people assume that all southern cooking is like Cracker Barrel or Paula Dean - i.e., very unhealthy. It was for decades as it was a VERY poor area, and people ate what they had and made the best of it. But today, very few still cook that way on a regular basis. In fact, I think we have pretty much lost our regional cuisines as most people are eating carryout/prepared foods that are sold in all grocery stores all over the country. And none of that is healthy, either. Yes, in the South, for special holidays etc, all the old standards come out - the cakes, the pies, the green beans cooked all day on the stove (my grandmother's were the best on earth!). But not day to day, anymore than all the West Coast foodies are cooking everything fresh and healthy like the French Laundry. The reality is that there is very little cooking going on in most homes these days, due to lack of time, knowledge and interest. The best shrimp & grits ever are served in Louisville at Jack Fry's and include Red Eye gravy. OMG but that stuff is good!! I need to pay a visit there soon - been thinking about these. As for who makes the best grits, that's easy; it's Weisenberger's <http://www.weisenberger.com> They are fabulous!