I do all my plants from seed. Petunias, I start in January (all petunias including waves and non-waves) and I pinch them at least once. By the time they are ready to be planted out, they are in 4 inch pots, rather than cell packs or larger. My petunias are thick and lush, and I have found that rabbits dont bother them as much when planted out if they are thicker plants (anyone know why??). These Dolces have super thick stems and are really tough plants. I would like to post a picture, but it keeps raining here and they are all hanging their heads a bit. However, even after a heavy rain they rebound quickly and still put on a show. I grew about 1200 impatiens from seed this year, and yes, they will damp off quicker than any other seedling I have ever seen. One trick I have learned is to keep them on the heat mat just a bit longer after germinating...........I have several heat mats and I have some that are under lights but without the dome for post germination but still needing heat. I keep impatiens on this additional heat (without the dome) for several days before I remove them from heat. I have 99% better chance of no damp off doing this (I learned the hard way last year). I have also found that certain kinds damp off more than others, I grew several kinds this year: Tempos, Encore, Xtreme, and Brunos (my favorite), and others. Brunos damp off terribly, Tempos do also, but the Xtreme and Encore were outstanding performers, from seedling on. I had 100% germination out of both of them and they are very stout robust plants. You will be pleased with the performance of your Dolces! I cant wait for more colors that may come out of them.

Hi. Stan here. All right, let's put this puppy to rest. First, if you want to keep one of the "resurrection plants" alive, you need to figure out which resurrection plant you have. Here, I'm going to address ONLY the resurrection plant from the Chihuahua Desert, spanning several states in the southwestern USA and adjacent parts of Mexico. (If you have one of the other kinds of resurrection plants, you're on your own.) Botanically, these plants are part of a much larger group called the club mosses. They fall somewhere between the mosses and the true ferns. They are a very old group of plants dating from the Coal Ages. Their scientific name is Selaginella lepidophylla. If you want to get it right, the "S" and only the "S" in Selaginella is ALWAYS capitalized, all other letters are lower case. And both words are italicized. (No italics on your typewriter? Then you can underline them instead.) Almost all other Selaginella in the world are moist habitat plants, living in deep forests, swamps, in or near streams and creeks, or among other plants for protection from direct, scorching sunlight and desiccating dryness. You would grow them the way you grow most of the true mosses. S. lepidophylla is a distinct exception, apparently surviving if not thriving in a desert, and a pretty severe one at that. I am trying to include several photos I took of them growing in their native habitat in western Texas. Note that they most commonly grow on the northern sides of hills and protected in the shadows of rocks or other plants. If they receive any direct sun at all, it's only for a few hours in early morning and very late afternoon. They tend to grow where they're in dense shade throughout most of the day. Note also that the soil in which they grow is comprised mostly of disintegrated, calcareous rock (i.e., limestone soil) with a little organic detritus (mostly naturally composted leaves, grasses, mosses, and other dead plants) mixed in. The limestone base is strongly alkaline, and the organic stuff tends to act as a hydrophilic buffer, holding water for a few precious hours or days after a dew or rain. The climate in which they grow is fierce. In Summer the daytime temperatures often reach 100̊ F. They may receive a few drops of rain from time to time, BUT while the Chihuahua Desert does not receive a lot of moisture in the form of rain, it is often blessed with dense fogs and heavy dews. And these are the resurrection plants' saving grace. Winters are a little less hostile. Nighttime temperatures often drop slightly below freezing, and light, freezing rain and sleet are not uncommon. For S. lepidophylla, life is a lot easier. S. lepidophylla, much like other Selaginella, uses a collection of tine hairlike roots to hold itself in place in the desert, and to absorb what little liquid water might be available, but it probably gets most of its water from the aforementioned fogs, dews, and occasional rains as the water is absorbed directly through the surfaces of its leaves and stems. It almost never sits in liquid water for more than a few hours. No, they are not immortal, and cannot survive forever in a dried state. In fact, if your S. lepidophylla isn't obviously fresh and alive when you get it, it probably never will be, regardless of what you do for it. All reports of them recovering after 50 years rolled into a brown ball are either circus hawkers' sales pitches, or statements by people who can't recognize a dead plant when they see one, and were fooled by the unfurling corpse. (At this point perhaps you should review the Monty Python "Dead Parrot" Sketch on YouTube.) How long can they survive in such a dried, dormant state? I don't know. Apparently no one has ever performed any sort of controlled experiments to determine this, and there is so much hogwash flying around about the matter that it's impossible to even make an educated guess. So, how might you try keeping one alive? I confess I've never been successful, and I've only seen one botanical conservatory with living S. lepidophylla on display. And, I know of a veritable garden of them growing wild in the Chihuahua Desert of west Texas. Here are some suggestions based on general plant care, plant physiology, Botany, and what I've seen in the wild: 1) Almost all plants in nature experience an annual growing cycle based on the change of seasons. This helps all members of a given species flower at the same time to promote cross pollination. It also prevents them from flowering in deepest Winter and trying to go dormant when they should be actively growing. If you try to get one of these to grow as Winter approaches, you're almost certainly wasting your time. Early Spring would be a much better time to try this endeavor. 2) Don't waste your time on a dead plant. If it isn't obviously alive, move on to the next hobby. 3) Soak your newly acquired S. lepidophylla in room temperature tap water for 2 or 3 hours, no longer. This is intended to just "top off the tank" of its water reserves. Soaking it any longer might likely afford harmful molds or bacteria a foothold. 4) Plant it by laying it, right side up, on a layer of barely damp soil. The soil should be composed mostly of a mix or limestone sand or finely crushed oyster shell mixed perhaps half and half with compost or garden loam. Do not use commercial potting soils because they are composed of either peat or composted lumber byproducts. All these things are acid by nature, and these plants have evolved to survive in an alkaline environment, the exact opposite. Commercial cactus soils might work. Maybe, maybe not. 5) Do not use a tall or deep container. A "bulb pan" would be much better than a standard 6" terra cotta pot. The entire soil must be kept only slightly damp, and large masses of soil are sure to develop pockets of wetness in their centers. If the plant or its roots are allowed to set in water or are too damp, they'll rot and the plant will die. 6) For the first week, keep it loosely covered with plastic to maintain a high humidity. Remove the plastic after a week, or as soon as the plant appears to be alive and growing, or begins to develop mold. Mold is a bad thing. Generally, a molding plant is a dead plant. Maybe you need to try a newer, fresher resurrection plant. 7) Give the plant the brightest light available that isn't direct sunlight, except that it can receive a little direct, early morning sunlight for 30 minutes, no more. 8) Do not water the plant like you do your geraniums! Instead, mimic a dew once a week by misting it. The plant itself should end up quite wet, but the soil should be only a little damp. 9) S. lepidophylla should be allowed to dry out a little more in Winter, and moved to a brightly lit but much cooler place for several months beginning in early Winter (November in the Northern Hemisphere). Remember that they routinely survive light freezing weather during many Winters. They may be taken out of their Winter rest period in early Spring (early March perhaps in the Northern Hemisphere) by moving them to a warmer room and beginning their weekly misting. Go easy on the misting at first, but resume normal misting after two or three weeks or as you can see new leaves and branches forming. 10) *USE DISTILLED WATER.* Not spring water, not softened water, not demineralized water, not baby's sanitized water, not holy water, not expensive French bottled water. Reverse osmosis (RO) water might be acceptable, but is a lot more expensive than simple, old fashioned, distilled water. All such water contains some level of dissolved minerals, important ones being lime and/or salt. As you water your houseplants with the wrong water, the water evaporates, but these contaminants merely accumulate. If you don't believe me, look at the mineral crust that's developing around the edge of the soil in your half dead geranium's pot! And before long your gorgeous plant begins to look tired and droops as it tries to fight off the doses of lime and salt that you've been dumping on its roots for months. Soon, it can no longer grow effective roots and it begins a slow, inch a day, march towards the waste bin. I hope this helps you when you try your hand at growing these most fascinating plants. Best of luck.

Hi Sherry and Sandy, Thanks for your comments. I hesitated somewhat posting on this forum as I had read that A. gigantea (and I believe A. elegans) are toxic to some butterfly larvae. However, I assumed that there would be people with considerable experience growing Aristolochias on this forum. The nature of the toxicity is not clear to me, nor is it clear whether a hybrid would share that problem. Is it even known whether the "toxicity" is due to a poisonous substance or substances, or whether the plants are "poisonous" simply because they lack some molecule(s) necessary for the caterpillars' survival? Regardless, I assumed that on a forum like this there would be a number of people who started growing Aristolochias for the butterflies, but then fell in love with the genus for the plants themselves. I know that is true of many who grow Passifloras. I'm not familiar with the debates over the naming of A. durior and A. macrophylla. For some reason I had thought they were synonyms. I have a friend who used to be involved in vine propagation at UCBG and I'm hoping to get his thoughts as to whether the parent could have been A. gigantea. I'm sure there are cases where the flowers of a hybrid are larger than either parent, but (particularly in the absence of polyploidy) I would expect they are rare. An 8 inch flower (assuming the description is correct) is a pretty dramatic increase in size. The white flecks on the leaves are also highly suspicious. Again, my impression is that those are diagnostic of A. gigantea, and never found in A. durior/macrophylla or A. elegans. The white "flecks" are odd enough that many people think their A. gigantea is diseased the first time they notice them. My interest is in the ornamental aspect of the plant, as well as its adaptability. I've grown other Aristolochias--A. gigantea, trilobata/macroura, elegans, and fimbriata. I've offered both unrooted and rooted cuttings of A. gigantea for postage in the past, and at the moment I have rooted cuttings of A. trilobata/macroura that I will need to find homes for. What intrigues me about this particular hybrid is the possibility that it could resemble one of the tropical species in terms of large and dramatic flowers, yet have unusual hardiness. The hardiness is not an issue for me, but it would be for people living in most of the rest of the country. I would guess that there would be people interested in growing such a hybrid outside if it were possible in their climate. Passiflora incarnata is an example of a plant whose hybrids differ in their hardiness. Passiflora 'Incense' (P. incarnata x cincinnata) is one that is reasonably hardy for many people (typically given as zone 7, I think, sometimes even zone 6). Others are much less hardy. In that case the origin of the P. incarnata parent may be one factor, as strains from more Northern regions are not nearly as hardy as those from the Deep South. The bottom line is that for either P. incarnata hybrids or for Aristolochia durior x elegans, the hardiness of the hybrid can't be easily predicted. It needs to be tested. But yes, for those whose sole focus is attracting butterflies, the issue of toxicity is probably more important than hardiness. By the way, I think the Yahoo Aristolochia group has essentially died, with almost no posts in the last year or two.

Yeah, fatamorgana, stinging nettles. It did say sow in spring, but the weather here was so crazy...i guess when I did sow them it was too warm. Yeah, it's a perennial, and somebody is cursing it now, but don't know who! I guess i'll get another packet and try a fall sowing. Should I stratify them first you think? Thanks, Gretchen (recently nicknamed dirty girl but won't use that name as it could be taken the wrong way!)