I know I'll probably take a hit for this, but I'll stand firm on my assertion that the mix of equal parts of peat, black soil, sand, and perlite is a poor choice for houseplants - especially for inexperienced waterers. We can actually quantify what makes a good container soil, as noted above. Aeration is KEY in container soils and this mix WILL compact and WILL NOT hold enough air for an extremely high % of plants to ever grow at or even near their potential genetic vigor. I'm the first to say that it doesn't matter what soils are actually made of, as long as they provide anchoring, nutrient and water-holding ability, and most importantly - they must hold an ample volume of air and allow gas exchange at the rootzone. The soil described above will lack aeration and adequate gas exchange. That a particular person does something for a number of years with results that are acceptable, doesn't mean it should be adopted by others. Saying, "It works for me" is simply a statement and should not be regarded as a clarion call that others should follow blindly. That's all I have to say, and it's just an opinion, but it's easily supported by science and practical experience, and can be corroborated by dozens, if not hundreds of folks I've helped with soil problems over the years. I'm not trying to stir the pot here, just trying to help folks see that there are better choices than the mix we're discussing. Use science, don't fight against it. (I wish someone famous would have said that so I could offer it as a quote & it would carry more weight) ;o) A friend of mine, Joe Pye, comes to mind as I consider the reasoning of some. Joe Pye would get up every morning before work and bang his head against the wall. He always said it worked for him. One day he got tired of banging his head and decided to change, so he kissed his wife goodbye instead. Joe never did go back to banging his head. Moral: If your happy with how things are growing, please maintain the status quo, but at least allow there just might be a better way. Al

Give her some time and patience. I seem to remember her starting slow with me as well. Mine is not as a tree rose, but she performs from spring to fall for me in 9b, and is a winner!

To come back to soil/soilless for a moment (was working all day), I think a lot also depends on how many plants you have, where you grow them (inside house, outside, greenhouse), and your climate. My cacti, around fifty, are outside during the summer, and I don’t have anything to protect them against rain, except for moving them inside temporarily. In their soilless mix, they can take unexpected showers, even if the temperature drops more than I like for them. In a greenhouse, where I could control water, I might experiment with adding soil to my mix and seeing what worked better. But without a greenhouse, gritty works best for me, just about eliminating plants dying from overwatering. I don’t have so many plants that watering a bit more is a real problem. Of course it helps that our summers are comparatively cool, however much we complain about the heat ;-). Most of my haws and mesembs stay inside, and because they aren’t exposed to the direct sun and heat, on the whole they do fine in LP and pumice respectively, with me watering every 5 to 7 days. Another factor is the experience of the grower and a knowledge of individual plants. All in all, it is useful to have a number of choices laid out, if possible with reasons and circumstances, but in the end, everyone has to chose a starting point and then learn from experience.

Myal, this is a distinction I learned long ago on Gardenweb. We in the U.K. use the word 'compost' to mean the stuff we make in our compost heaps from any organic materials we can scrounge which is then used as a soil conditioner. But we also use the same word to refer to growing media such as seed compost, ericaceous compost, potting compost, etc. This can be confusing for US gardeners because they use different nomenclature to distinguish the two. Almost everyone on these forums is based in the USA so they may not be familiar with our usage, nor our gardening publications, although many are. I keep out of container growing discussions because there are very strong opinions voiced on these forums. Somehow UK gardeners manage to grow things in pots despite apparently doing it all wrong. But I just let those discussions go. I frequent these forums precisely for these differences in gardening culture and challenges. Some I agree with, some I don't. Some are irrelevant to our climate. But I find the ideas interesting. I find U.K. gardening forums and magazines fairly boring since they only tell me what I know already.