Thank you. Looking at the photos gives me peace. I hardly feel responsible for them. I am just a witness. My husband takes photos of clouds and sunsets and he never feels responsible for them. The buds remind me of upside down flamingoes. Kinda like the ones's that Alice in Wonderland used to play that weird croquet game in the Queen of Hearts's garden. That's it!!! god that took a lot of years to place. They swing too in the wind. It was a slightly windy night last night and that messed with the photo shoot. So did the moths.

first a complaint .... i open it.. it fills the screen completely ... even the bar that i dont know what it is called... so every note i type here.. will involve closing the program.. and reopenning it ... i guess i would like if it ran like a screen saver.. so i could do other things.. and be surprised what pops up when i minimize windows ... now.. hopefully i can remember ... first pic of jean's memorial garden.. looks like green arrow on left ... and there is a big green picea???? on the right.. that looks like it has white growth or cones.. any chance at an ID .... i will reopen the slide show and check properties.. to see if i can get a pic name ... brb.. lol .. couldnt do it ... other thoughts. ... i like on the third version down.. if i hit pause.. i then control the page turning for the duration ... i can skip those that are zone improper.. and linger on those i like... love the purple and pink cone pix... what kind of camera are you using.. with what attachments... i always presumed saybrook gold came out of saybrook OH.. girards or al fournash .... surprised to see your mass planting ... i know you guys have a lot of PPending plants... is it correct that all are NOT patented .. in other words.. you propagate salable plants .. rather than just your own?? i have a plant .. one of my first .. so i wasnt a nomenclature freak back then .. that i thought was Picea abies WB .... i presumed it was just a witches broom off P.a. ... but i see you have P.a. 'witches BROOD' ... now i am wondering if mine isnt that ... and its under a foot of ice and snow... wonder if i have a pic on the hard drive.. presuming your show didnt wipe me out.. lol ... never mind .. my database says: Picea glauca 'Witches Broom Seedling' .. pic below regardless .... which has absolutely nothing to do with your P. a. .. but i apparently digress ... and note my ton thumb behind it.. why are your pix so much better than mine???? it has to be the camera .. maybe the operator... finally .. many of your specimens look a bit sickly .. if you send me one of each ... i will nurse them along for you .. to insure your future success ..... rotflmbo .... ken

Thank you for the photos. If indeed I move to Ontario (as planned) I fully intend to enjoy places like Rock City. As a Floridian transplaced to northern GA for the last six months and already feeling chilly, I know NY will be a huge adjustment for me. But now that I've viewed your photos I kinda anticipate seeing the landscape up close.

Rose,About the epi, I only sporadically fertilized mine with a watered down fish or sea weed.. Now I fertilize it in the spring and then once after each bloom cycle. The first two years I cut it back in the fall (or early spring, I forget) and it would branch out with many branches from its base. I did not know what I was doing, it just seemed right at the time. Blooms form on the one year stalk starting on the 3rd year. I think cutting it back early forced into a a mutl branched structure earlier. I would not chop it back so harshly now because that would cause the plant to miss a year of blooming, but I have trimmed old branches off. When real young, I see no problem with giving it more fertilizer. I read someplace that blooming is a survival reaction to stress so if that is so, don't make them too happy once it gets to blooming size if you believe this. I grow things pretty hard and only feed them after a bloom. I also read somewhere that the blooming is triggered by natural light dark cycles in early spring, so do not keep it in a room where you live after dark. I put my epi outside as soon as there is no frost. Other epis are more tender and I have found that the Dissocactus Akermain never grew well when I treated it like my epi. This year I kept it warmer during the winter and I am fertilizing it and it is growing much better. I am still figuring that one out.