Below is the posting for the swap... if you have signed up on HERE... you don't need to sign up on there. Just email me your information as requested below This will be an Easter Swap... It is a theme swap which means that all items should be related to Easter and the holiday. You can also put seeds or bulbs in your package as I have had a couple of questions about that. Please be sure they will travel well to the zone in which your pal lives. If you want to send bulbs let me know and I will assign you a pal in a warmer zone. This doesn't mean seeds or bulbs have to be of an Easter nature just other items. For those of you who have participated before, you will still need to do this as I have opened a new email just for gardenweb and won't have your information on that email. Please send me an email with the following information. I need your gw name Real name and address Fav colors, food likes, dislikes, any allergies, a want list of items, any interests or hobbies you may have, if you have a birthday next month include that, and any other information that will help your pal put together a nice package for you. Please write as much as you can think of or update your gardenweb page to include this information. I will be taking sign ups for this robin up until about March 5th. Names will be assigned between the 8th-10th and the packages will need to be mailed by March 17th. If the response is really good... I will start assigning pals before the 8th. My email addy for this swap is cassiesgardenweb@yahoo.com Cassie

Thanks Jim.....since it was so darned cold and we had no specific plans except to entertain the grandkids it was a perfect opportunity to sit on my keester and look at the birds. We do get a pretty good mix of backyard birds...and this was really quite fun. I had never taken an entire day to record all the different backyard birds and I was really impressed with the variety...some times the very things we see each day are not noticed because of the familiarity...but, I did enjoy this and plan to do it again. Its nice when my husband and I can get some time off work and travel to Audubon Park, or the wildlife refuge to take a look at the birds...but, sometimes its amazing what you can see in your own backyard....thanks again Jim... ~Kathy~

The plants known as Holiday Cactus, Lobster Cactus, Xmas Cactus, Sunrise Cactus, and many other names, belong to several genera of jungle cacti but can generally be treated alike. All are true cactus plants, some have small spines in the aeroles, and the flowers grow on last year's growth. These plants are generally segmented and flat, and roots form between the segments for easy propagation. These plants come from the jungles of Central and South America and therefore cannot store water like their cousins from the deserts can. Instead, they rely on almost daily rains, and enter a semi-dormancy period when the short dry season comes. For most of the species concerned, this dry season occurs in the short-day period so that the combination of short days and cooler nights leaves these plants drier but not dessicated. The soils of these usually epiphytic plants consists of decayed leaves, insects, pieces of bark, etc., generally anything the wind or birds leave in the crotches of the trees or on the ground below. In cultivation, the stone/gravel/sand mix for desert cacti is supplanted by peat/leafmold/loam for these. The difference is high organic matter, the similatity is that both kinds of cacti need well -draining mixes. Once the right soil has been given, it is important to note that full sun in the summer is not a good idea in most places, but that some sun is needed. When the days grow short (Sep/Oct in northern hemisphere), water sparingly, giving the plant about 6 weeks of a cooler, drier regimen. This period will induce bloom, especially if the diurnal range is in the 20-30 degree F range, something hard to do in the average home. Although some thought can be given to shading the plants from bright lights at night, this does not seem as critical as the rest period. More important is to shelter the plant from dry winds (heating ducts), changing the environment once buds have set, and ethylene gas (from plastics, propane heaters and ripening fruit). Any of these three conditions can cause the falling off of the flower buds, commonly called bud blast. The small roots of these cacti are not equipped to deal with drought, and the stems have adapted to living in the shade cast by their tree hosts. Given even a rough approximation of their jungle home they will bloom in a panoply of colors, in season, every year.

Sherry, Thanks Sherry! I definitely will kill it next time...I didn't see it until I was reviewing my pics. I'm glad to hear that you, my replied upon expert, don't think that the aphids will hurt the eggs :) I've got 10 good size plants now but as you know, they can devour the leaves very quickly. Rhonda