"Helene" wrote in message
om...
Hello everyone!

Thanks for you answers, I will repot my plant today.

As for The One Formally Know As the Asshole, I blocked him, and cannot
see any of his posts anymore. As per my search on Google, all he does
is insult everyone. Obviously, his perceptions as pretty askew as I
actually gratuated from law school cum laude (with honors), while he
thinks I'm as dumb as a rock. Oh well. If he judges me solely by my
gardening habilities and English grammar, then he's a selfish bigot as
I am only a begginner in gardening, and English is not my first
language. Besides, I don't spend all my free time stroking my plants
with one hand while stroking myself with the other like he does.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Alright, first thing here........Helene, I took your post of drowning
houseplant as a valid and real question. There are some situations regarding
plants that, until we get some experience under our belts, we don't know.
That is what this newsgroup is for. To ask questions. Granted, I am soooo
weary of the cat shit and dog shit and absolute obvious answers to some of
the questions that are posted here, but then again, that's what this
newsgroup is for. Because not everyone knows how to do a Google search to
check for answers to their repeated questions.

When I first came to this newsgroup, I was more computer illiterate, didn't
know the computer "netiquette" and most everyone was kind enough to walk me
thru. But after a few years, unless it was something that I hadn't done or
asked yet, I was thrown into the pool feet first to swim and figure things
out.

Sometimes when I asked obvious questions, or was about to post something,
I'd cover my butt and just tell those more experienced that I really didn't
know the "obvious" answer to what I was about to ask, and to bear with me.
Most times it would work. Sometimes I'd get flamed. Which means I'd be made
fun of or insulted.

I don't have a thin skin (or quick to get hurt by words), but there was one
poster who turned out to be a troll that was TRYING to get me to respond
about things I was posting about, and I lit in to "her" and then it was
pointed out to me that this person was a known troll, or someone who
deliberately starts crap between other posters. I learned.

Now saying all that, Cereus-Validus can be harsh sometimes. He is also one
of our more knowledgable people here for really good plant identification if
given all the clues and what not. He does get testy if given vague
questions, but he also recognizes trolls and people who are posting just to
start trouble.

By responding like you did to his barbs (he does have a dry wit, by the way,
and yes, he can be a shit, but you have to overlook those traits and cut
thru to the actual good responses regarding plant questions and problems)
you played right into his hands. Now never knowing this, first one was a
given. But by tell him **** you, calling him asshole, and continuing to
respond like you were standing there getting his cuts, you pushed his
button and got more barbs and insults from him. Yes, this is an unmonitored
newsgroup. You'd not gotten as far as **** you on GardenWeb with Spike. He'd
have banned you to the Disney website forever and that would have been that.
I visit there to chat with other Tennessee gardeners and to check out select
forums that are about all the many things I'm interested in, but I am
careful how I post, so I can continue to visit there. Because there are
really neat people over there too that don't visit here.

I am not offended by words. They're words. Even with ill intent, they're
still just words. We're still sitting safely at our computers, no one has
threated our children, poisoned our pets or ****ed on our plants or
administered RoundUp in the dark hours of the night. We have a few regular
posters here who are free with their language,(me being one sometimes) and
those that are offended by such display respond like I expect them to. They
are "outraged" and cover their eyes and tell you to kill file someone. And
I mean no disrespect in that response, either. The person who told you to do
that was well founded to tell you how to deal with it with finality.

Well it's a free country, and you can -not- listen to anyone you choose.
(or read, which is my point). If Cereus' posts are offensive, just don't
read them. You might actually miss a good response or piece of advice by
killfiling him. You can always tell when he's flaming someone, there are
alternate posts of his and other people's. And unless you want to see the
dry humor in his retorts, you can choose not to read them and move on.

Now I've jumped into this little shit slinging, and I hope I've not offended
you myself. And just so you'll know, Cereus did recognize a couple of
trolls there in the responses. Bob caught it. As did I.

Thru the years you will gain more experiences with your plants. Might I
suggest a really excellent book on houseplants that you can find at a
bookstore or possibly at a Lowes on their bookstand by the service desk.
It's called House Plant expert by Dr. D. G. Hessayon and has quite a few
houseplants listed, how to care for them, good watercolor drawings with
great drawings of diseases and such under the problems section of most of
the plants and how to deal with them. It's about $20 but worthy of
purchase. And it's paperback. I have two of them. One for the house and one
for me to drag around at Lowes at work in the greenhouse and outside lawn
and garden department where I work, because despite everything I know, I
still get questions I can't answer yet and this book is a gem.

By the way, having a law degree does mean you are smart, but my genius best
friend whose IQ is out of the ballpark has no common sense. She has
discovered this, and we laugh about it sometimes when we talk to each other.
I help her with what to me is simple things, and she helps me with things
that are beyond my comprehension. And I don't resent it. I am smart enough,
and what I lack there are books, t.v. programs and other people to educate
me thru my walk in life. I don't nearly know everything I want to about
horticulture yet. And probably won't by the time my stay here is over.

What are some of the other plants you are growing and nurturing? I myself
have not only perennials, some reseeding annuals, but in houseplants, I have
tropicals like schefflera (the tall, umbrella plant, not the bush variety)
and the Houseplant expert says to repot every two years, mist the leaves
frequently, water liberally, and bright light away from direct sunlight. I
have the giant leaf spathphillum, Sanseveria's of several varieties (mother
in law tongue or snake plant), quite a few tender bulbs that thrive in the
heat of my summers from Africa that wow me with their exotic blossoms at all
times of the winter and sometimes summer if they're really happy. I also
have lots of cacti and succulents because I adore them. I bring them inside
every year as the maturity of these plants and bulbs and rhizomes and such
bless me with more flowers. Zhanataya sent me the most awesome Korean Crinum
a few years ago that, so far is the neatest flowering exotic plant I have.
My Clivia's haven't bloomed for me. But I have a second bloom from my
Eucharis, or Amazon lily that usually blooms for me on Thanksgiving. This
year she's blooming a second time right now and it's awesome. (pictures on
alt.binaries.pictures.gardens)

I don't try to do ferns inside anymore as they're difficult in my dry house
in the winter, instead I've transferred my love for the textures to the
hardy perennial ferns. And since my windows aren't all excellent in winter
for some things, I've resigned myself to plants that don't mind my house
environment when I drag them all inside for winter. No sunroom yet. And I
suppliment with fluorescent lights.

I look forward to chatting with you up the road about plants. Have a good
weekend. Enjoy summer. Buy a hawortia and learn to grow those, they're cool.

madgardener up on the ridge, back in Fairy Holler where there are waaaaay
too many plants, and that's alright, where it overlooks English Mountain in
Eastern Tennessee zone 7, Sunset zone 36