Hi jfike: I'm in zone 10/SD too. I want to plant a solandra maxima along my fence, a top a hillside. However, the fence gets a lot of hot sun during the day and it's guite dry. I'm inland, so it's dry and windy too. It's a chain link fence, would I still have to tie it? Also, how much watering/fertilizing do you do? I may have to find a different vine for this location, if it's too dry and hot for a solandra. mike.

Hey gardenpaw! Is it a regular or variegated variety? I may be interested - if I have something you may be interested in. Shoot me an email - if you'd like. Mike

I root a lot of different plants in sphagnum but only used the wax paper for the brugs and that was due to space issues. I don't have any room to pot up the cuttings so they'll stay in the moss until spring. I hope you're feeling better. At least you'll have some nice weather. It's sleeting here and I just discovered a water main break in front of my house when I went to meet Kyle's bus. It's just a coming up from the middle of the road. I called WSSC and they're coming out. I guess my water will be turned off for a while : ( I just hope they don't cut my phone lines when they tear up the road. They've cut our lines no less then 5 times over the years!

In the early spring, take soft/semi hardwood tip cuttings about 6 inches long, dip in rooting hormone - preferably liquid. Immediately pot them into a free draining mix. Water & mist spray well and allow to drain. Cover with a plastic bag. Place on bottom heat source eg. hot water heater, heat mat etc., out of direct sunlight. The cuttings should have roots in 2 weeks or less. This method has been used successfully for Brug. sanguinea tip cuttings and that's saying something, because these are difficult to root. If you take the Solandra cuttings off the top of the plant with a tiny flower bud attached, the cutting won't always abort them and can hold onto them, in a state of suspended animation, until the cutting forms roots, at which point bud development proceeds as normal. Hope this works for you! Be sure to email me and let me know how it goes.