What fruitnut suggests has worked very well for me. I first acidified my potting soil (1/2 peat compost and 1/2 azaella, camellia mix) with about 1/2 cup of soil sulfer (large pots). I then planted, taking care to break up the root ball (apparently very important, as they can have root ball shock if you dont' do this). I watered in carefully, then set my drips. I checked the pH for the next couple of weeks every day. I had to adjust my pH down a wee bit, and I did this with a few tablespoons of ammonium sulfate diluted in a couple of gallons of water. I made sure the pH of the acidified water was about 4, since I needed to pull down the pH a bit. That did the trick and they have been doing extremely well ever since. I did check the pH about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and it was still around 4.5 to 5.0 per pot. So, they're happy campers and I'll even get some fruit this year. After the fruit is off, I'll pinch back like what fruitnut has done to keep the tallness down, and get them to bush out a bit, especially my more leggy blueberries. Patty S.

Heythere, Toni! I am so in love with the plant in your top pic. What beautiful coloring! Love the Dr. Seuss look about the big 2nd one, too. Nice, thanks for sharing them! I have 3 Dracs, the 2 from this discussion, and a corn plant that WM had on clearance this spring. I knew there was nothing wrong with it, it just wanted to get out of WM. It's grown a lot this summer, too. I think the big one making new tops out of the branches is about 35 years old. Nobody remembers when it joined the family. Is the Aglao/Dieff planted in the same soil as your marginata? Are you asking about the Philodendron? If so, yes, those 2 plants have been companions in the same pot for around 10 years. I cut pieces of it off all the time to keep the mass at a manageable level. It's really cool the way the philo has roots about 2 feet long that grow all the way down to the dirt. This summer the philo has started making leaves 3 times as big as they used to be. I've read how they go into adult phase upon reaching the top of a tree but didn't think this little tree would be enough of a climb for it. I don't allow it to get much higher than the point where all of the branches start breaking from the main trunk, and keep weaving it around the trunks and back down to the soil. Maybe a factor as important as height is security/bracing. It's got a good grip on the tree in several places. I feel like I'm in the tropics when I look at that pot. That philo came from my Uncle's funeral about 15 years ago, and has had a hard-knock life also. It came in a wicker basket planter with plastic liner from florist and although I knew better, I never did anything about making a drain hole or repotting it. About 5 years later, I had the basket hanging on a shady hook in the yard and the wicker broke (decomposed?) from filling up with rain water while I was away and I found the plant in a heap on the ground the next day. I discarded the roots and put several cuttings in water, gave a few away, and put one in the pot of the Drac tree hoping it would hide the soil. It started doing that right away and the cuttings in water did great and even got moved 800 miles but then got neglected and dried out. So you could say this tree saved the philo's life. At this point, I'm not sure which plant is supporting which. Like me, both of them seem to really like being transplanted to the south and drinking sweet tea.

Everything I have read on the subject of growing bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, allium, crocus, etc... states that bulbs planted in the fall will require some time to grow decent root systems in order to bloom well in spring. This would apply to bulbs planted outdoors in the north, in autumn. The bulbs will set down a decent root system so that when spring arrives, they are ready to begin top growth and flowering, as signaled by, I'm assuming, warmer soil temperatures and sunshine. But since hippeastrums are taken out of their natural bloom schedule, and are forced into blooming around the Holidays, for the most part... I think we sort of screw them up for good root growth before blooming, as would happen if they weren't tender bulbs and were planted in autumn for intended spring flowering. I notice that some of my hippis grow roots before or during flowering, while others seem to grow them after flowering. Some bulbs flower and are very loose in their pots, requiring staking in order to not tumble right out... others feel firmer within the soil while blooming, and may only require staking because of scape height or flower weight. My thought is that root growth can't really be forced too much upon receipt of the bulb, but that shortly after the first flowering, it should grow and maintain a healthy and nicely established root system.

Miguel, the winter blooming plants were pretty much on schedule.......depending on variety, most witch hazels bloom here from mid January on, ditto the others. Some hellebores will start blooming as early as November here (H. niger) but because we are so far north, it always seems to be a few weeks later than more southerly locations in the same zones. But maybe not :-) What really amazes me are the number of spring blooming plants already popping into bloom and even the budding up of those that show off later. We seem to be 4-6 weeks ahead of normal for this time of year. We did have one period of severe cold in early December - even broke a couple of records. Hopefully it was long enough to snuff out any insect issues, because it's been incredibly mild ever since and projected to remain so. It was 65F at my place yesterday and I've not had to wear anything warmer than a sweatshirt jacket outdoors for weeks. I saw someone in a tank top and shorts yesterday and umpteen folks in flip-flops, which are the footwear of choice around here in summer. And it's still only February!!