well, we are almost to the max posts, so i wanted to update on my mature syngonium progress. i have 2 new leaves of 'mature form' AND also some variegation near veins - that's totally unexpected! so i have 5 leaves and 2 little 'horns' at the ends, just like other mature leaves. when i took the cutting, the last very young leaf got mangled in xfer , so i cut it off, but left the stalk (where the new leaf develops) - so the 1st leaf was def formed BEFORE i took the cutting. now the 2nd? i am not sure - may be it was already formed inside there too? so i'll have to wait for a few more to be sure. but so far i am happy - i fed it well, so new leaves are dark green, the older leaves are slowly decaying one by one. but that's normal. now the big question is - when do i trim the vine? i think i'll grow may be 10 leaves , so i can trim it and root again and then see what will come out. and then of course i am afraid that after the trim the young immature leaves start popping. but that will be end of summer, not sooner. so, the leaves on the left are new. they have a little hard time unfurling, so they some spots and tears. they are folded in a very interesting 'origami' fashion. next time i'll take pics as they unfold to show you.

Now, now, now ladies! Calm your feathers. Ianna was just asking a question. It was not an attack on your poor little defenseless Annie. :[ (wink) ianna, I took pictures of the morels I found today, but I cannot reveal the exact location of where I found them for fear of having people come stomping through my property and me having to get out old Betsy to warn them off with a few rounds over their heads. JK, but it is serious business around here and someone would come onto my property when I am gone and rob my shrooms. As it is, I am in competition with the wildlife to find them first. Where I find them every year though, is unprecedented according to some "experts". What can I say? I guess I am lucky. A few tips: When I rinse the morels before cooking them, I do so in a dishpan. Then I take the rinse water out to the exact spot I found them and throw it out there. I hope that any Morel spores that get rinsed off get returned to the wild and will make more next Spring. It seems to work. When I collect them, I use a mesh bag so the spores can fall out and thereby go back into the woodland soil to grow more next year. It would be a shame if people end up harvesting them out of existence. We have to be responsible stewards of the earth. Morels like to grow at the edge of trees (the drip line) where soil is rich and moist. I find them in grass or in leaves. Around here, they grow under the native Cedars (Juniper trees) and under Elm trees, at least where I have found them, but where the soil is rich & moist. You can do a GOOGLE search to read all about Morel hunting - when, where, how and all that. You can find images of them and lots of recipes. They only come up in the Spring - no fear of getting poison mushrooms because nothing else looks like them. I will also post the photos I took of the Morels I found today as soon as I get them uploaded. I'll post a special topic about it so you can see. Tomorrow I will go out again and see if there are new ones to be found. At $80 per lb, they are a real treasure and luscious eating. ~Annie

Hi Chris, Sorry to hear of this problem; try looking at pix of Hoya Carnosa. From yr. description, it may be that & also Carnosas, being more common, are some of the more readily available Hoyas. The punctuation & capitals you added helped a lot -- much easier to read, thx to you & Vera. Pls. consider punctuation, capitals and separate paragraphs almost like breaths, you gotta breathe once in a while (yes, even when one is freaked out, you poor thing!). I really agree w/ Vera to pls. take that cutting out of Mama pot immdiately. The whole point is to try to save it (I'd take a few more cuttings if there were enough to spare & it were mine). By putting it back in w/ Mama plant, you're re-exposing it to whatever the problem is. Also, Hoyas don't really need rooting hormone, I'd even suggest you put the cutting(s) in a cup of plain water & let it root there. When the roots are a 1/2" or longer, then you can pot it up in fresh, new mix. Pls. read around this forum for good mixes, but you could also use some AV mix (AV = African violet) w/ added perlite if you don't know what else to use. Vera has grown some beautiful Hoyas & shows good sense in their care, I'd be confident w/ her suggestions. Growth that is soft to the touch or mushy is rot, pls. cut that off right away all the way back to growth that feels firm to the touch, pls. don't wait, as rot can spread very quickly. I'm not sure the lights you added are a good idea, Hoyas are said to prefer bright, indirect light rather than direct. Even afternoon light alone should be OK. I also think the enclosed bag, after the original neglect, then the bug treatment & minimal water, followed by flushing out & then bagging up is going to leave the mix too wet & likely to rot the plant further. I'd open the bag up at least halfway. Personally, I think it would help the plant to stop trying anymore remedies right now, there have been too many changes in too short a time, the plant needs some time left alone to try & recover & just stabilize for a while. Good luck w/ it. We're pulling for ya! Pls. post again in a wk or 2 w/ an update.

well my regular chalice vine is a huge shrub,if I dont cut it back monthly, it would be an enormous vine,...the variagated one is still only like 2 feet tall and 5 stems,after 4 years. But its flowers make the regular chalice vine blooms look like miniature chalices,comapered to the varigated blooms, thats why I want to save it and root more, in case the 'mother plant' dies or it gets eaten by bugs or anything. Even with no scent from it, the variagted bloom if massive! It is suppose to smell as wonderful as the regular chalice vine,but mine has no scent at all. so I think I have a rare 'sport' or something. And want to root more.