Morning, Purple & Marquest. Okay, a third plant to consider.. ") Btw, I've never heard of Zephyranthes. Heck, can't even pronounce it. lol. Okay, just Googled, and by gosh, I think you're right. Purp, yes, the plant has thin, strap-like leaves. Gotta check Zeph's care now, and change the name on my photo pages. Thank you gals... Marquest, your Amy is definately an original..before culivars came about??? You can tell its old by the flower. Different than any around today. Same applies to ancient Christmas Cactus..Ever seen the flowers? Grimes..Many here on GW use PB. My pics are on Flickr, so I can't help, but I'm certain someone will explain how to download so you can post pics....especially since you started this thread. lol. SJ...WOW, now thats some tree AND green house!!! Wish mine was as large as yours. My dinky 8x12 looks like a closet compared to yours. lol. Filled w/mealy..How terrible!!! I'm against chemical insecticides, but if you want to rid those awful pests, perhaps you should use systemic Bayer. Many swear it kills mealy and other insects. Your Ficus is too beautiful to have mealy. When did you notice mealybug? Are you not worried your other plants, 'which are gorgeous,' will catch mealy? I've tossed a good number of plans when I couldn't rid mealy..I didn't use Bayer or any other chemicals... Sprayed and wiped with Rubbing Alcohol, but it didn't work. Love your palms..WOW! Impressive. Toni

If you can jump over to Birmingham,AL they have a great Japanese garden with several mature maples at there Botanical Gardens. Its free and even has a Bonsai collection. The area is near a nice outdoor shopping area which the wife and mother in-law like. The japanese garden has a real tea house shipped over from Japan. Great dry sand bed with hugh boulders (not sure what they are called). A dry creek and gorgeous small lake. All of them are lined with gorgeous maples. They will be dormant by then, but i imagine even then the branch structure of the mature specimens will be nice. Atlanta has a nice Botanical garden with a japanese garden. But not nearly impressive as Birminghams. It does have a great tropical garden with many simulated enviroments from south america. Beautiful orchids. Mike

I was just at Universal Studios for spring break! Just got back home a minute before midnight on Easter! I enjoyed the landscaping just as much as the rides and shows! It's like a botanical garden in a way but most of the plants are not labeled. I was amazed by the size of the sengal date palms! It has so many large trunks. Does anyone have any guess to how old they are? There was also an odd looking smaller tree near (next too) the pond with the tropical lily pads in Jurassic park that I thought was neat. It had no or very few leafs and a few exotic flowers that were white with very stringy petals. I wish I knew the name of that one. The star (confederate) jasmine plants planted at the edges of the parking garages smelled amazing (to me anyway) when on the moving walk way. I also noticed a few sago palms with ripe nuts in the planting near all the flags by the animal show and E.T. ride. The sagos looked very strange. The nuts had brown fuzz all over them. I thought that was intriguing. I wonder what the purpose of the fuzz is. T.J.

I love the Keys, I have been going down there since we worked as bartender hoppers one spring back in 76', well at least 20 years ago I did. I hadn't been down through there for about 15 years and took a road trip from our place in Charlotte Harbor about 5 years and was very disappointed. Back in the early 90's as soon as you went below Key Largo it was like getting off the airplane on the islands. No chain restaurants, really not commercialized at all. It was actually hard to believe we were in North America. Since then McDonald's and everything that goes with it. Sad to see. I wish everyone that visits for the first time could have experienced the Conch Republic how it was meant to be enjoyed. The place Jimmy sang about doesn't resemble the place you are going to visit. Don't get me wrong it is still beautiful just different now. If you don't enjoy seafood save yourselves the trip. You must get off the beaten path. Key West is the tourist trap. Be prepared to pay for it as well. Look at prices online. A small room for $300.00 a night downtown is normal. We stay in Little Deer Key for an efficiency and one bed, pool, for $275.00 a night 5 years ago, it is actually a fishing camp, a 5 minute walk to a canal and one can catch fish all day or cast from the boat dock. But you must beware of gators and poisonous snakes, this is there home, we are visitors. As for fishing you don't just get in a boat and go fishing, this is serious water for serious boaters, there are seadoo and small boat rentals but I would recommend small boating on the Gulf side vs. The Atlantic unless on a small bay. Licenses are required for fishing and regulations are strictly enforced. You must know what is in season as well as the sizes you may keep or not. Equipment and bait is available on charters which is your best bet and can be had for half day outings. You don't just throw off your shoes and socks and wade into the water to fish like we do up north here. Stepping on a Stingray can have serious and sometimes fatal results. The best deep sea fishing is in Islamorada, it is the best in the entire world including Cabo in Mexico. Some of the best beaches are in KW. You must go to the KW aquarium where you can pick up a baby nurse shark, if you would enjoy that type of thing. I was going to recommend a oyster place that has been there for 80 years but I read no oysters. They have 2 things on the menu oysters and cold beer. This is the place that Hemingway would have spent more time in than the house they say was his. Everyone says their hotel is where he ate, slept, drank, wrote so they can charge you for it. On the way down don't be afraid to get off to the small keys. I have been to so many over the years that you can't see them all in one month, so I'll keep it to one can't miss place. Little Deer Key and Deer key. There is a restaurant hole in the wall kind of place we love. It was a stop over spot for fishing boats to load up on ice at the turn of the century. A favorite place of Dwight D. Eisenhower I believe. Ask for the place with the dollar bill wallpaper. The best burger I have had in the states. On Little Key there is a State Park that has walkways into the mangroves where you can observe big gators in the wild, keep a close eye on them if they are anywhere near an egret. And have your camera ready, the teens will think it's a blast. The best beach is Bahia Honda State park. As for Key West being a destination for gays, yes it is. That shouldn't deter any mature person. I love Provincetown as well, very educational when your 18 years old to say the least. As for going down to the Keys in the summer, you had better enjoy wet heat. Yes forget makeup and bring a hat. I have been to Cuba for work in July, and Finland in December. I wouldn't go to either place during those extreme climates unless paid to do so, and paid well I must add. My goodness I just wrote a travel blog, time to give it a rest. Enjoy, I just wish everyone could have enjoyed the way it was meant to be without the Walgreens and Wallmart, and in January. This post was edited by SouthernCanuck on Sat, May 4, 13 at 4:08