Hi milehighgirl, I have rooted dormant kolomikta cuttings . They root much differently than the Argutas. I have had very little success rooting them in doors as they seem to be very succeptible to fungus.Keep them in the fridge until spring. I have had the most luck rooting them outside in a shaded area which is on the northeast side of my house.The rooting medium I have found which works best is woodland mulch from the forest which is well rotted leaves, wood, etc. I guess you would call this HUMUS? Anyways kiwis are shallow rooted plants so I place the cuttings at a very narrow angle so the bottom of the cutting is no more than 2 inches below HUMUS level( basically what you would do if you were layering a branch). I first dip the cutting in some sort of IBA rooting hormone then stick it in the soil leaving just 1 node exposed and then place a flat stone ontop of the submerged stem.The stone keeps the moisture in the soil and I typically do not need to water the cuttings at all!!!! Just a little not on using the rooting hormone, from my experinces with the varieties I have typically the argutas seem to really benefit from it.If you scar the wood a little and dip,and add bottom heat, the cutting just explodes with callus and roots form at the hormone site.... Kolomikta on the other hand don't seem to react at all to the hormone treatment and bottom heat.The roots seem to form out of the node locations and not at the hormone treatmnet site! Thats why I bury all the nodes and simply leave one exposed. Good luck rooting ! I hope all works well for you! I think the kolomiktas are fantastic, nice mid to late summer fruit and no disease issues here at all. Glenn

An end-of-summer update. All made it through last winter very easily indoors, under lights, and then went outside as soon as I thought it was warm enough. Of course, mother nature and I don't always agree, and they did end up taking on a frost or two. P. alpestris is the only one that's never really recovered (and actually, it and mirabilis are the only ones that even showed any damage). P. alpestris still has a bit of green in the middle, so I'm hoping it will slowly recover, but I haven't seen any noticeable positive change since the start of the summer: Front row is bertroniana, chilensis, venusta, with alpestris and mirabilis in the back. All are now in one gallons or larger, and have sat outside on a picnic table in full sun all summer, without any supplemental waterings (and we've had a very dry summer). Bertroniana is probably due for another repotting. Very fun plants, even if they do require leather gloves to deal with.

We should all be getting Storage tanks built in with new housing, the trouble is the local council will have to try and collect their revenue somehow. Heather

No, I don't buy myself a Christmas present. Which is not to say I don't buy something for myself or the house when I come across a great price while shopping holiday specials. I MAY buy myself a gift this week, but not to wrap and put under the tree. DH and I haven't exchanged gifts on Christmas for a number of years, focusing mostly on children in our lives and my mother then a couple of charities. But I lost an earring in July. My everyday pair that I could wear without removing for weeks at a time, often only taking them out for more special occasions or on my way to have my hair cut and colored (where I don't wear jewelry). They weren't exceptionally valuable, but little white gold hoops with small horizontal baguettes. Now I don't have hoops, I have hoop. Long time jeweler here is retiring first of the year and I don't know the young man who has bought his business. The jeweler has been generous with his trade ins, I may go see if he has what I need on the chance that policy will be changing when the store changes hands.