I have cuttings of: - crown of thorns (Euphorbia milii, could be x lomi but blooms aren't as big, bright pink flowers) - holiday cactus (multi coloured flowers, ) - tropical hibiscus Baja Breeze (bright red, compact, Hibiscus chinensis) -purple wandering jew (purple variegated, Tradescantia zebrina) -pink flowering maple (can be trained as a standard, Abutilon x hybridum) would you be interested in any of these?

Thanks hoovb zone 9 sunset 23 for the ID. :-) Earlier this month, I went to the forest for a walk, and this little beauty followed me home. :-o Note: I don't have an ID, but I think she might belong to the "ice plants" family (Aizoaceae or Ficoidacea) or I might be totally wrong :p As the month comes to an end, the little fellow is showing her true beautiful colours.

Karen, the blooms of C. woodii are indeed unusual. There is a variegated form available so you might look for it. Your hydroponics grown sans is interesting. I don't know much about hydroponics, but your system is obviously a basic one. So you just pour the same water over and over thru the medium into the bucket below? A brief primer is appreciated. chippedchinaplate, aroids have been my favorite group of plants for over 40 years and I'm always looking for one more, especially philodendrons and aglaonemas. Brasil is variable and with time and size they often produce narrow and wide slashes of variegation on leaves of the same plant. Reiger begonias are tuberous and won't grow well here in Florida because of the heat, they like cooler temperatures. Because of this I don't grow them, but I do love cane and rhizomatous begonias. I've grown zonal geraniums over the years but not recently. You should have propagated them a couple of months ago when temps were warmer, but if you still want to try it's an easy process. Take 6 inch cuttings, take off all the bottom leaves and flower stalks, then plant into a very porous mix. Peat moss or any light, peat-based commercial soil mixed 50-50 with perlite is fine. If you're using 5-1-1 for your other plants, just mix some extra perlite with it. Water the cuttings well and put the pot into a 1-gallon zip lock plastic bag to keep humidity high. Place in a bright location but no direct sun. If droplets form on the inside of the bag, open it slightly for a while so it can dry out. Bottom heat always works better for propagating in winter, there are heat mats available for this purpose but I've never used them. Russ

"dbarron(z7_Arkansas) Ok, Paul but is her Phal thriving or in decline...they tend to die slow." Won't know 'til I next visit her again. She lives a couple hours away from me. Unfortunately, she is not much of a plant person (as the death of a pothos pretty well illustrates :p ) and as such would be unlikely to recognize the "signs of decline" until it was just about dead. ;-D Many of the commonly available orchids such as Phals, as I know you know, are much tougher plants than most folks realize. Personally, I find them far easier than African violets -- and I am not one to dote on my plants.