Leucoplast was a term I co-opted myself for variegation. You probably aren't going to find many books that call them that, but it is correct with respect to the Latin: "colorless/white plastid." I did find a review paper that used the same terminology: http://www.springerlink.com/content/01148l09u2553067/ I don't know if you will have access to these journals (through JSTOR etc), but some scientists have studied variegation. Looking into the literature, it looks like nucleus-controlled non-chimeric variegation is more common than I previously thought and some common internet resources (e.g. Wikipedia) would have suggested. Still, it is clear that non-viral variegations are extremely common and possibly much more common than viral variegations. Some examples of genetic variegation. Nuclear control (non-chimeral): *Saintpaulia ionantha http://www.jstor.org/pss/2444194 ****There are also chimeral variegations in African violets *Dieffenbachia "Camille" http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/content/77/4/285.short *Arabadopsis thaliana http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/content/84/2/138.abstract Chimeral: *Ficus rubiginosa 'Variegata' http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/94/1/51.full *Tobacco http://www.jstor.org/pss/2440210 *Barley and Rice http://www.genetics.org/cgi/reprint/13/6/544.pdf ****Figure three is a very good visual explanation of the concept. Clearly non-viral variegation is common to many groups. One will notice that an aroid is reported (Dieffenbachia) with nonviral genetic variegation. My recollection is that Dieffenbachia variegation is natural, as in D. seguina and D. regina, and cultivars simply exaggerate the variegation. I wasn't able to access the fulltext of that article, so I can't say quite as much. This paper reports Epipremnum aureum, another variegated aroid, as natural variegation (a surprise to me): http://www.springerlink.com/content/d005p75vg1171860/fulltext.pdf. It looks like this is controlled by nuclear genes and is non-chimeral. Another example of natural aroid variegation is in Schismatoglottis calyptrata (http://www.springerlink.com/content/wmeda9kpt7d2bnga/). Another paper shows/mentions natural variegation in Homalomena and Caladium (http://www.springerlink.com/content/5608833712u8537r/). I think it is clear that natural variegations are relatively stable and under genetic control, rather than being virally transmitted. They frequently function to deter herbivores by mimicking damaged leaves. It seems clear (IMHO) that at least in many cases, aroid variegation is not due to artificial infection by viruses. No doubt it has been reported for several plants, such as Zamioculcas, but I don't think that one can conclude that all aroid variegations (even artificial) are necessarily viral in origin.

Hi Marlene: after some searching, I found a picture of it! But it's coming out weird so I'll just take a pic of mine when I get back to that room. It is made by Safeway, but I'm guessing they just get it through another company. It's called The Flower Shop Professional Potting Soil. The ingredients online are not updated to reflect the recent changes made to the mix. What mine has:. Fir or pine bark, Canadian sphagnum peat moss, pumice, horticultural grade perlite, dolomite lime, and a wetting agent. Now, I'll say that I did use this with my own addition of fir bark. I used it straight and uncut for a very small cutting, but outside of that, I plan to continue to mix it with bark. Since using bark based mixes, it seems as if I no longer know how to water a plant in bagged mix anymore! I am very heavy handed with the watering because I am used to the mixes that can handle such watering. So, for me, the majority of the mix needs to be bark and perlite. Maybe you might want to start out with some reptibark and perlite. The former can be purchased at a petco and I get my perlite from Walmart. Just add about enough potting soil to equal 20-25 % of the bark and perlite mixture. Then you'll have a starter 511 mix just to see what it's like. I hope this helps! Best of luck.

Some of my ideas for activities are: This will be the first year to start back up, I’m told a teacher ran one many years ago here. My goals depend upon contribution levels. I will canvas local stores for donations as well. If you know of any local nurseries that have helped with this sort of thing in the past that would be great. I would like to start with potted plants in the fall. I can buy one house plant, and since they are always crowded, split it many times. I want to get medium terracotta pots that the students could decorate, and eventually take home. I am also considering that if a teacher wanted a plant for their classroom they could sign up and we would deliver them after a month or so. I will get some LED overhead lamps to dedicate a shelf or two for starting plants inside. I would love to get back into vermiculture and keep a worm bin in my classroom, kept under a table. I have done extensive composting when I had a backyard garden and kept worm bins in my garage. I even took a worm bin to some boy scout camps, and gave presentations on sustainability. I would like to compost here on the school grounds as well using a pallet bin method I have used before. I would like to involve the cafeteria into sorting out some of the compostable waste as well, starting small to get them on board. A leaf blower that reverses would aid in shredding OPBL other peoples bagged leaves that I will collect and bring to the school. I plan on preparing raised beds this fall to plant in the spring. My past experience with gardening in VA is that raised beds are much more manageable with the amount of rainfall we get. One thing that would absolutely depend on donations is a hoop houses using plans that require PVC and low raised tunnels. The final stages of the student garden would be a fund raiser with potted flowers for Mother’s Day and a few Saturday mornings at one of the local farmer’s markets selling produce from our garden.

Next month I will cut my old huge epipremnum aureum and my plan is to plant about 15-20 cuttings in one large pot. As there's not much free space in my small room I'm considering to add monstera deliciosa very young 2-3 seedlings to it in one pot. What do you think? Is it good idea? For both plants I will use the coconut cane (hope I used the proper name of the stick) as I want to get larger leaves for epi. Yes, I know about lots of indirect light and moisture ;) I own epi for years and I know how fast it grows but no experience with monstera so there's my confusion. Is it growing too fast to mix it together with epi? I was also considering to add very young philodenderon erubescens cuttings to it too. Looks like all of them have similar needs for the soil... Thanks for any help and all the best in 2018! :)