I wish I had a wonderful story like so many of you! When I was a child I remember trying (killing) so many plants. African violets from grandma, baby spider plants from my sister, venus flytraps from school field trips to the natural history museum, etc. It wasn't until about age 27 that I tried serious gardening. Those first plants were a pack of dutch iris bulbs from Wal-Mart. Such a fairy tale story. LOL. :-) Those bulbs did get me hooked on Iris. An obsession which led to tall bearded, then to arilbred, then to Louisianas, then to native wild species (cristata, brevicaulis, versicolor, verna, etc.). And that led the way to native wildflowers in general. I think I joined PBS a year or two after it had formed. My favorite "bulbs" these days are gesneriads like Sinningia, Diastema, Gloxinella, and Niphaea. My oldest living plants must be some windowsill cacti which may be 16yrs old now. But perhaps my memory is playing tricks on me? I definitely have some outdoor cacti that are 14 yrs old. And some tall bearded irises about that old, too. Dennis in Cincinnati