Hello, helenawall. Well, can you describe the conditions in these shaded lcoations a little bit more? Or can you post a picture? Plants can successfully grow in shaded locations sometimes because light bounces off nearby surfaces producing "bright shade". The front of my house is one example. I have some azaleas, camellias and hydrangeas growing there for decades. During most of the year, they are in shade. Only some of the hydrangeas ever get a little sun (in the summer). Because the plants are close to the edge where the shade ends and sunlight strikes, the area is technically shaded but there is a lot of indicrect light. The same thing happens if plants were to be shaded near a cemented walkway where sunlight can bounce off and hit the plants. This type of bright shade scenario will not affect flower production much, at least not to the point where one might notice. Your buds will do fine in this case. Dense shade is another story. I use this term to refer to areas where reflected light has no chance of reaching the shrubs. In areas where there is dense shade, you usually cannot successfully grow much of anything. So see if these decriptions help you determine what kind of location you have and feel free to transplant them again (now is fine; do not worry that you just planted them) if you decide there is too much shade. Just maintain the soil moist as best as you can and mulch with 3-4" past the plants' drip line. As for identifying a named variety only by the leaves, it can be done in some really rare cases but usually the leaves "look alike too much" so this is not enough. You need to see the blooming flowers and compare the blooms and record on what month do the blooms open. Take pictures and post the question again when several blooms open. A close up of one or two blooms plus a pictures of the leaves/shrub can help. I am not really good a identifying camellias but others here can help. Ha! After seeing lots of camellias pictures, they all become a blur to me and I start saying to myself "did I not just see THAT ONE on the previous page?" Check with friend to see what fertilizer program works for her already. I could give you the standard one recommended by the American Camellia Society but your friend's fertilizer and watering program may work just as well, assuming she lives nearby and not across the country. Does this help you? Luis Here is a link that might be useful: Camellia Care by the A. C. S.

excel spreadsheets? lists? rooms dedicated to wrapping? Sheesh that's far too organized for me. I thought just getting the ornaments organized by tree was a HUGE undertaking! For wrapping I use the desperately rushed, christmas is in 4 hours, need a bottle of wine approach. I spread out the entire mess of crap with a hole in the middle for me and the wine, and begin digging my way out carefully :p I actually am organized when it comes to the decorations though. I have one attic for trees, one for ornaments that go on the trees that are on the 3rd and 4th floor as well as the decoration, and then I store the decorations and ornaments for the first floor and second floor are kept on the second floor. Less hauling down (and up) stairs that way :) I also label the boxes for the appropriate tree which is helpful when distributing boxes around the house. WHile I can obviously see what's vintage and what's traditional as well as all the other themes of a tree through the plastic boxes, I don't know how many vintage go to each tree unless I put them in separate boxes. THat leaves me just enough ornaments for each tree without taxing my little brain. I wish I could apply that kind of organization to presents LOL I do actually wrap all but the Santa ones in advance (so that's the 23rd verses the 24th btw) and those can go out under the main tree. I have been known to buy the same thing more than once...perhaps that list idea is a good one LOL Gad a room dedicated to wrapping and holiday storage...well I'm a bit nutso over christmas (major santa barf is in EVERY room) so that would have to be a big big big room! But it's a lovely fantasy!

One time I got a book in the mail. It was called Shabby Chic and I didn't remember ordering it, but thought maybe I did, because I like that sort of thing. Opened it up and there was a card in it....I had gone to a country decorating magazine site...one of the first things I had ever done when I got webtv, and entered a sweepstakes, and actually won. So, at least that was a legitimate prize. I think it was just about the only thing I have ever won tho.

I host a similar gift swap at a party I do every summer. Out of season right? But the point of the game is to have fun which we always do. I call it the Greed Game, mainly because that's what it was called the first time I ever played it years ago at a Christmas party, but also because that is the whole point of the game: greed! I've found over years of playing it that these things hold true: 1. People LOVE to unwrap a present 2. If you get a low number (one of the earlier pickers in the game) there is a good chance that the game will not be fun for you, in the event that you pick a gift no one else wants to steal. It's not fun to watch everyone else stealing and laughing and having a good time while you sit there with an undesirable gift. So here are the rules we play by, which seem to work very well. Everyone draws a number. Round ONE consists of everyone unwrapping a new gift. Round TWO is for stealing. #1 looks at his/her gift and decides to either keep or steal. If keeping, play moves to #2. If stealing, #1's gift goes on the table and #1 steals from someone else who we will call 1a. 1a can take the gift on the table or steal from another person (1b). 1b can take the gift on the table or steal from another person (1c). 1c must then take the gift from the table. Once the gift is taken from the table, whether it be by 1a, 1b or (forced) 1c, #1's turn is over and play moves to #2 who initiates another round of stealing if desired. Within one player's turn (#1, 1a, 1b and 1c for example) a gift can be stolen only once. However, once that person's turn is over and stealing play moves to the next player, all gifts are again available for stealing. This method allows everyone to open a new gift AND to have an opportunity to steal. The stealing goes on AFTER all the gifts have been opened so that people can decide what they want based on complete information. There is still no guarantee that everyone will go home with the gift they wanted, but that is never guaranteed. The fun of this game is in the stealing, thus the "greed". So when everyone opens a new gift and everyone can also steal, it's the fun of the game that becomes the star instead of what gift you end up with. The gift you end up with is more of a bonus for participating in the game. I will say that the gifts need to be imaginative. If everyone brings a gift card, there won't be much fun in either opening or stealing. And it doesn't matter if the gifts are worth $5 or $50. Again, because the point is the fun of the game and the gift is merely a bonus. I hope you have fun no matter what you decide to do!!