Alana, I love your photo.....well composed!! I am intrigued by this co-op group.....as usual with any Yahoo group there is zippo info on the page that describes how it actually works.....none I could find anyway.....I can be clueless though so maybe that explains it :o) can anyone tell us more about how it works? Are these rather standard plants or do they import from South Africa, South America and other more unique places to get plants that can not be had without a lot of work? For example, another Paramongaia or a Pamianthe from Peru would be awesome.....are these truly rare sorts of things on the list? They talk about Hosta and garden plants which are not what I would be interested in......any info from those of you who belong would be appreciated......although the silly 1 month without buying this is a real turn-off for me. Thanks for any input you guys can provide!! I did just get in some more Boophane, Ammocharis, Haemanthus and Brunsvigia from South Africa....so I guess that is my fall order a tad early :o) Dan

Frogs stay very near water, toads are more widespread since they do not need to stay near water except to have some to drink. If you've seen them at the edge of the yard, enticing them nearer shouldn't be hard. I used to get toads to stay in my yard by making little piles of rocks with crevices big enough for them to climb in. Occasionally I would find one under an unused pot (which I always leave upside-down when not in use so they don't hold any water.) I also had a huge bottom tray that I wasn't using for the pot it was supposed to be under, so I kept that filled with fresh water (change twice weekly to avoid breeding mosquitoes and algae.) I put it on the ground in the shade. Having lots of cool, moist, shady spots between and under large perennials and shrubs is attractive also. NWF has info about this, and Garden Gate magazine. A google search of toad habitat garden leads to many other articles.

I agree with Joseph Corlett. Due to extreme financial constraints, we did a lot of our remodel DIY and subbed out a few things (essentially acting as our own GC). Without fail, EVERY. SINGLE. SUB. who showed up said the last sub did something wrong. Each sub did only what it took to get his job done and did not care at all if it was done in a way that made the next guy's job harder. I had to know how to do each sub's job from start to finish before he showed up, or it'd not be done right and would cause problems in the future. Initially, I had all these great hopes that, when we did hire out parts of the job to professionals, it meant I wouldn't have to do the mind-numbing amount of research and go through all the learning pains of figuring out how to do the various things I didn't already know how to do. But, no, the GC or the owner (whoever is managing the project) is the only person who cares about completing all the future steps of the remodel and not setting up problems preventing other parts of job from getting done down the line. Your subs do not care what the next guy will be doing, what the whole plan is, and everything is someone else's problem and someone else's fault. You have to know yourself how everything should be done and make sure it's done that way so everything can keep rolling along. This is what a (good) GC provides, and it's SO worth it. By the end of our remodel, I wanted to marry my plumber, who was the ONLY guy who didn't set up problems to be discovered in a future step. Showed up, on time, did his job, taught me a few things, reasonably priced, and NO issues with his work EVER during the entire process. Also, he was delightful as a human being. This ties into the problem with piecemeal renovation too -- sometimes it took several months before a problem with the last bit of work was discovered because it wasn't evident until the next step was taken. GCs really earn their keep. We are never remodeling again until we can afford a good one to manage the whole job, to do all the work at once, and with the entire plan figured out, start to finish, before anybody even looks at a hammer.

In my experience you just have to live in an area that toads already live in and is not too far from a water source (within a mile i would think) and maybe isnt completley developed. Toads like lots of overgrowth where it is wet and cool in the summer. I've never had much luck with toad houses, but ive never tried much either. Toads in my area like when i have thick corn patches or thick watermelon or squash patches where it is dark and cool and lots of bugs. They occasionally will hop over 6" raised bed, but i dont think they like that either. Flat ground is best.