Kate, the fog should be fine, as long as there's not high surf on the beaches happening at the same time. That's what throws the salt up into the air. Most of the time when there's fog, it's also pretty calm so wouldn't be a problem. It's basically condensation, so very pure water.

That being said, you certainly should be aware of the potential for salt spray at times, and after it's been windy, a good rinse off of the plants isn't a bad idea. Depending how far you are from the beach, I'd imagine not much salt makes it very far inland. If you haven't seen problems already, then either you aren't getting much, or you have mostly salt-tolerant plants already.

This fog is definitely rolling in off the Gulf. It retreats as the land warms up, but sits offshore and rolls back in at night. There were pictures of the dense fog banks on the news last night. We were very foggy this morning and I'm a mile inland.

I have never, ever seen a caterpillar on a plant in a nursery or big-box store. How neat that you have them as "bonuses" when you purchase certain plants.

Ken, I think you need to find new places to shop! I'm always a bit suspicious if I don't see caterpillars on host plants. Some of them are grown in greenhouses so I understand that part. But so many of the big box stores spray them so I don't tend to buy them from there unless I'm desperate. And even then I quarantine them for a few weeks and spray them down a lot. The place I mentioned, Hollie's, also has several host plants planted (not for sale, obviously) throughout their property so they usually have caterpillars on the plants they sell. It always makes me feel better knowing I'm buying a host plant that isn't going to kill my caterpillars. Which reminds me, I need to contact them and see if they have any rue yet. They said it usually comes in with their vegetable shipment.

Another great source around here are the USF Botanical Garden plant sales. It's mostly made up of the various clubs in the area: Bromeliad Guild, Orchid Society, Native Plant Society, Begonia Society, African Violet and Gesneriad Society, etc. So you not only don't have to worry about pesticides and such for the most part, but you get educated people who know the plants and they often sell them for very reasonable prices because they're just raising money for the club, not trying to make a profit. There are also businesses and for-profit nurseries there, but you can definitely find some great deals and unusual plants. The Native Plant Society has been a great source of hard to find host plants for my butterflies. And I don't have to pay an arm and a leg!

The tough part is being quick to the booths! They let members in a half hour early and of course, I'm a member. It's so funny standing in line, listening to other people talk about what they're there for. Because everyone is competition! I usually go for the bromeliads first. Mom comes with me, and she's in charge of the garden cart. So one year we're standing in line, going over strategy, and I say, "Okay Mom, you're in charge of the cart, I'm going to run." And the lady in line ahead of us just busted out laughing. I was like, "Hey, you have to plan these things!" How else do I get the best bromeliads? And the Bromeliad Guild knows me well enough that the guy always points out the more unusual or rare things to me which is super nice of him. And by the time Mom catches up with me (she knows where I'm headed) I've usually picked out a few plants and we start loading them in the cart. It's also fun trying to make your way back out with a giant bromeliad sticking out of the front. I try to tell people, "Get out of the way! These things are spiky and hurt!" But some people don't listen very well. One time I bought a Quesnelia quesneliana and the inflorescence was sticking out of the front of the cart. And we got stopped by so many people asking what it was and where we got it. I told them, but I didn't say it was the only one they had! They might find something else they like at the Bromeliad Guild booth, right?

Mellie, you do know where I live, right? We have a Lowe's and a County Co-op. That's it!

Ken, I just Google mapped your city. How far is it to the next major city - looks like Jackson or Tuscaloosa, AL? Seems like they might have some stuff going on every now and then worth driving to. Oddly enough, you're also surrounded by cities named after major cities. I see a Columbus, Philadelphia, and Louisville. When will we Americans stop reusing names? I once saw a British band over in St. Petersburg, FL and they just kept laughing at the fact they were in St. Petersburg, but apparently not the Russian one. Ken, it looks like you're just going to have to come visit us Floridians! Does your co-op not do plant sales? I think ours does stuff every now and then. You could ask Jim in the Orchid forum; I know he volunteers as a Master Gardener. As a grower, do you ever have open houses and invite people to come shop? A lot of growers do that here in Florida. I've been to St. Pete Orchid Farm which is a house in a residential neighborhood where they guy just happens to have several orchid houses (they're not really greenhouses because they're open) in his backyard. He has open houses once a month which his neighbors must love because it's a narrow street and parking must get weird.

Mellie, Jackson, MS is 125 miles away and Tuscaloosa, AL is 90 miles away. Memphis, TN is 140 miles from me. IF I shopped for plants in any one of those cities, I would be paying retail. That's not what I do.

I don't really have "open house" but do invite our Garden Clubs, the Mississippi State Horticultural Club, and the Master Gardeners over. The vast majority of my "business' is out-of-state. In a tiny town such as Starkville, there's just not a lot of folks that have or apparently want the plants that I like to grow. But I am a hobbyist, not a commercial grower. My greenhouses/home are in a pretty exclusive neighborhood (not grand by any means, just nice) so I am really limited in what I can/should do.

P. S. I am a Master Gardener, Mellie, and actually teach the course on Tropical Plants/Orchids.

Our 2 nice nurseries sell very pathetic looking Passion Vines when the cats are chomping away. Buy one of those & you get lots of fat cats to take home.

Well, my passion vines look pretty pathetic depending on the time of year. But I'm one of those that grows them for the caterpillars so that's the point! I'm lucky that when I have too many caterpillars I can just take them to the museum. Starving caterpillars makes me a sad Melanie.

Ken, you're just going to have to become a Floridian. Everyone is doing it!

That's what I keep telling myself, Mellie.

karmatree said:Ann, we went through almost exactly the same situation but including the plumbing, electric, seawall, etc etc.....and very lazy contractors out here. Almost like they don't want/need business. Like WE are the ones begging to pay someone to get out here and work! Is it a FL thing? I don't know!

All I know is that these huge, dense fogs rolling in the past few mornings are just wonderful for the orchids! Does anyone know if these Florida fogs near the water are full of salt, too?

I believe it's a Fl. thing & from my experience in zone 10 it's REALLY bad!

qwilter said:I'm afraid to try & remove the wall paper in my room off the kitchen. A bit was removed when the new garage door was put in & the top layer of the drywall came off with it. It is prob as old as the house (35) and in good condition so I'm going to just paint over it & hope for the best. A very ligth floral print so dont' think there will be a problem covering it.

I'm stopping to get Citrus fertilizer this AM. Get that put down before the next few rainy days. Maybe get some grapefruit this year!!!!

Jean, if it's that old & not peeling at all then try priming over it in a test area where there are seams. If that doesn't make the seams begin to loosen then you're probably okay painting over it. It sounds like they put the wallpaper right over the drywall without priming the wall first & that's a big NO-NO b/c when you try to take it off it will do just exactly what happened to you. Thank goodness these walls were primed before they put the wallpaper up.

Ken, there is a common, underlying theme in lots of your posts...you are destined to move here whether you realize it yet or not!! :D I didn't know you were a Master Gardener. Cool!

I'm around 1.9 miles from the beach, as the crow flies, and about a quarter mile from the bay in the opposite direction. My plants got really beat up in the cold/windy stretch we had there. I'm guessing it's the salty windy mentioned. I pulled up a few Tacca plants, a Strobilanthes and a Crocodile fern (much to my dismay, I loved the croc) because they were just pickled and then dried and were attracting pests from being so compromised. They aren't salt tolerant and I should have known better.

Kate, oddly enough my one and only child, Kenneth, has lived in FL for about ten years. He is the physical-plant manager of a huge mall in Tampa and he lives in Sarasota. I thought he and his wife would live in FL forever, as they could not wait to get out of Mississippi and in to Florida. Now they say they are counting the days that they can move out of Florida (when he retires, which is probably 15 years away). Though his mall flourishes because of all the snow-birds, they both hate that "infestation". (That's what they call it. )

Being a Master Gardener happened after I retired 4 years ago. I really, REALLY knew very little (useful information) about growing/propagating plants and that university-level course was, if not the best way, was the quickest way to broaden my knowledge base. One subject, or at least family of plants that was not covered was the tropicals. Now I teach the Master Gardener's about growing and propagating them. When I hosted the first half of the Mississippi State Horticultural Club students a couple of weeks ago, I asked them how much they were exposed to tropical plants. There answer was "practically none". I have a feeling that sooner or later, I will be doing something on campus to increase that exposure.

Maybe you can bring those students down and let them loose over at UF and all the horticultural 'stuff'. They have great plants sales thru the year and it would be an excuse to take a trip.

lets see how to say this...some of us still speak english down here....and as for the snowbirds, besides their driving habits, they do bring in alot of money and keep of state income tax free. As for the language thing, its not an issue up here, but when living in Tampa, I got where if someone didnt speak English to me AND those around, I would walk away. As up there Im sure, there are tons of student from all over the world here. I hear every language you can imagine, I do wish I could speak them all, but thats a diffferent kinda thing than, well...
I wanna learn spanish so bad. Always have. Who knows, maybe I can at least learn to understand it one day.

Got my first notice of daylilies arriving next week . I got my pine fines last weekend, so Im gunna get some mix ready, and let the season begin .

Good luck on the wallpaper

Pam, move to Miami for a year. You'll learn that "second-language"!

I guess anywhere that has nice winter weather, you have to put up with snowbirds - easier than snow and freezing weather!

Friends of ours just moved here from AZ (also lots of snowbirds) and they love it. They built a new house in an area near Lakewood Ranch (inland of Sarasota a couple of miles) and say that unless they stray out towards the beaches and the Trail they'd never know there were any snowbirds. It's the same with me. We plan our excursions to the beach at low traffic times, and really don't 'suffer' much from their traffic, but we sure do benefit a lot from their tourist dollars!

Your son commuting 50mi. from Sarasota to Tampa every day must really suffer the traffic on the freeway, but you know, they could move somewhere closer and he'd notice it a lot less. They must really like their house and location.

Nary a chance Ken ...not in a thousand years. A visit to take in all in maybe, but not a lifetime of it.

Sarasota to Tampa is a pretty tough drive. Im guessing he takes the skyway bridge, so at least thats better than the howard franklin. I will never forget where I was the morning a ship hit that bridge and the bus and cars went over...like yesterday. Glad I dont still have that job tho. Couped up in a closed room with a smoker that would have one cig going in her hand and one going sitting on the ashtray. Horrible...needed the $$$$ back then tho.

It felt odd when I was in Miami for our bowl game, that it seemed we Mississippians would be the only ones speaking English in a shop. I visited three nurseries in the Homestead area, and not a single one was owned or operated by English-speaking people (first language was either Spanish or Chinese). Heck, at one nursery, owned/operated by a Mexican family, the lady helping us had to go find someone who spoke English! She couldn't answer my questions - I always have questions. The second nursery was owned/operated by a Chinese family and the third by a Cuban family.

Ken, get Jim from the orchid forum to escort you around. He lived in Peru and speaks Spanish. Totally surprised me when we were in Apopka one day and he started speaking Spanish to the guy working at the nursery. I took four years in high school so I know enough to get by. I can't speak it very well, but I can read a lot and understand the gist of conversations.

This afternoon I am off to meet a member of the Bromeliad Guild in Brandon. I couldn't make the meeting on Monday night and I had promised him a pup off one of my Aechmeas. I would normally wait until the next meeting but the darn thing went and started blooming! I didn't want him to miss out on that so I'm taking it to him. And he's going to give me stuff in trade. Not that I have room for more bromeliads, but I guess I'll find some place.

To late, Mellie. The only time I go to the Miami area is for a football game (once every other decade) or taking a cruise out of there. When cruising from there or Ft. Lauderdale, we are only there the night before and then fly out immediately after the ship makes port. This may have been my last trip to Miami for quite some time.