Tropicals & Tender Perennials: New Photo Thread is here:, 1 by Clare_CA

Clare_CA wrote:
Thanks, Jamie. These brugs tend to grow six feet in a year so you may very well have a big plant on your hands come next winter. The multi-trunk look is a nice look as well as the single trunk look. I have about half and half with my brugs.

Man, you are I are so much alike. I would have done the exact same thing with those boys. They are thoughtless punks. A puppy showed up at my court reporting school in Los Angeles county, and the school administrators had him locked up in an enclosed fenced area. People said he had been hanging around the school for several days over the weekend. He was in bad shape and looked a lot like Willis in your first picture. He was bloated from worms and yet very thin. It was obvious that he had been on his own for some time. The school administrators were going to call animal control, but in Los Angeles animals are euthanized the same day that they come in. There is no holding period. I took him home to Ventura County, where there is a no-kill Humane Society. I gave him a bath and fed him, but hubby would not agree to keep him because we already have two dogs, and we rent here, and he did not want to violate our lease agreement which allowed for two dogs. The Ventura Humane Society, actually located in Ojai, would not take any animals unless they had been unclaimed for 30 days. I had to lie and say that he had been living with me for 30 days. They looked at him and his condition and then looked at me like I was a horrible, neglectful person. They could see that he was bloated and underfed, and fortunately, they agree to take him, or else I would have had to take him to our local animal shelter where they do euthanize unwanted animals. They nursed Bear (the name they gave him) back to health for 30 days, and he was soon adopted after that. I had to lie because I knew he didn't have an owner out there looking for him and would have been killed or died on the streets of Los Angeles or at an animal control. The helpless need protecting.

Thanks for the compliment! In all fairness, I think I was 35 when that picture was taken, and the makeup hides a multitude of sins! You look very youthful also, and I bet you will look great when you are 40. When people ask me how old I am, I still reply "30-something.":-)

That last picture of Willis is soooo adorable. He is one happy boy. I've really enjoyed chatting with you today and sharing pet stories and pictures. I feel so much better this evening than I did this morning. Have a wonderful evening.

This is Duke when he was a puppy: