I got some decently lit pics today, here's a few more from the collection! A better view of the big one: A bonsai-esque dwarf variety of some kind: This one is a broadleaf cultivar with blotchy colours.. I had to cut it back as its old leaves were not acclimating well and spider mites were starting to have at it. So, I went for a drastic haircut, which seems to have worked out okay, as it's been growing back slowly the last couple months! Might be same cultivar as the big one, not sure though as the "rippled" effect seems to appear in some leaves. I've cut it back each year for two years, hoping to develop a nice looking bushy plant some day out of it. Hard to get a good pic of this one on an iPhone camera but it's certainly one of the stranger ones I have. I think the cultivar was labelled as "devil's paintbrush" or somesuch. Didn't handle going from the garden centre to the home very well as first, but after a couple haircuts its growing well enough. Haven't fully recovered the colour yet though, wondering if it needs more or less sun. Bit of a weird one I haven't seen at any garden centres since getting it.. long leaves like the Banana cultivar but fades to red/pink instead: The second croton I ever bought. When I got it it was very leggy and in a tiny 2" container, I've given it regular haircuts which have done well for it. (The third one I ever bought has since died, as has any of that cultivar I've bought since.. the very-long-leaved brght-yellow ones just don't last long with me for some reason!) This one seems to be a relatively close cultivar to the previous, but the leaves seem different to me, enough to nearly convince me it's a different cultivar.. it certainly grows slower and with larger leaves: Bought this one last week. I noticed today as an added bonus it has started to product a flower stem! I guess it likes me. As usual, came with spider mites, I have it in quarantine away from my sunroom at the moment: Here is a link that might be useful: All these photos on a Google Plus Album

The plant in my photo was taken either last year or before. It has been divided and even the divisions throw keikis but they also bloom. Strange behavior. I have a few Twinkles and only this plant and its offspring do this. I find the oncids like to dry out quickly. I have good luck growing most of them in Aussie Gold which is free draining. In winter I put some sphag on the surface to slow down surface dryness. Sharry baby is a fast grower and, if happy, will quickly fill a pot. I never had keikis on my plants no matter how pot bound they were. They always have multiple spikes this time of the year. I give them full sun all summer and leave them out until the nights get cold. Try cutting back on fertilizer or stop it completely. I would wait until Spring to divide. If you aren't getting spikes now, you probably won't. Mine always bloomed around x-mas. What zone are you in? Mine all went to the auction table or trade. I cannot stand the smell. Many people love them, I get queasy just remembering. Jane

Like animals, trees grown from seed must pass through several phases of development before they become sexually mature and capable of producing reproductive parts (blooms/ seeds/ fruit). The plant phases of seed - seedling - juvenile - sexually mature are roughly mirrored in human developmental stages of embryonic - infantile - juvenile - adult/ sexually mature. A freshly sprouted seedling is no more capable of producing reproductive parts (blooms/ seeds/ fruit) than an infant. Too, a plant's aging process is different than an animal's. Where animals age chronologically, plants age ontogenetically. Ontogenetic aging can be thought of in terms of how many cell divisions have occurred to move the plant to its current phase of development. One might reason that the most recent new growth would be the youngest part of the plant, but ontogenetically, it is the the oldest part of the plant because it has taken many more cell divisions to produce the newest parts. Ontogenetically, the youngest part of a tree grown from seed will always be the root to shoot transition area at the base of the trunk, no matter how old the tree is chronologically. Pruning a tree back hard can easily remove all existing mature growth and return it to a juvenile phase that would require a considerable amount of new growth before the wood again becomes mature. All factors that influence growth rate have an impact on how long (chronologically) it takes a plant to become sexually mature, so thinking that a change in nutrition alone will cause a plant to bloom is misguided. The fastest seedlings to mature within any given species will depend on how proficient Mother Nature or the plant's grower is at providing ideal cultural conditions. Ideal cultural conditions = most rapid growth rate and shortest period of time to reach maturity; this, simply because ideal conditions are most conducive to cell divisions and therefore a fruitful tree at a younger chronological age. It should be noted that applying nutrients or other products in willy nilly fashion with no knowledge of whether or not there is an actual deficiency of those nutrients or no good reason to apply them is highly likely to be limiting in terms of both growth and rate of maturation. Whenever we discuss what is or isn't an appropriate part of the methodology we use to make certain our plants get all the nutrients essential to growth and good health, we would probably first want to be sure our objectives are on target. It's difficult to argue with the idea that our focus in supplying supplemental nutrition to our plants should be on ensuring all the nutrients plants normally assimilate from the soil are A) IN the soil and available for uptake at all times, B) in the soil in a favorable ratio - that is to say in a ratio that mimics the ratio at which the plant actually uses the nutrient, C) at a concentration high enough to ensure no nutritional deficiencies, yet still low enough to ensure the plant's ability to take up water efficiently, and the nutrients dissolved in that water won't be impeded (by a high concentration of solubles in the soil solution). The part in bold is where growers often run afoul of sound husbandry. By adding unnecessary nutrients we A) skew the ratio of nutrients, each to the others, such that an excess of one nutrient causes a deficiency of one or more other nutrients, and B) make it more difficult for the plant to assimilate water and nutrients. So, for plants in containers, best results can be had by choosing 1 fertilizer with an appropriate nutrient ratio and all the nutrients essential to normal growth. Forget the snake oil products and claims made on product packaging by sellers whose only goal is separating you from your money. For plants in the landscape, a soil test is ESSENTIAL for any grower aiming at providing the best cultural conditions possible. "A little extra" is almost always going to be limiting rather than beneficial; otherwise, it wouldn't be "extra". Al

Oh, Karen. I wasn't bored at all. I was totally enthralled by the ever changing colors. The first 2 daylilies are fantastic, whatever their true color. I understand wanting to share all of this beauty with someone who can appreciate it. My husband is not a gardener at all, but is so sweet to walk outside with me when I want to show him something. Bless his heart, he tries to show enthuriasm the best way he can. Plus he lets me garden as much as I want. Please keep posting your beautiful pictures. Ann