I have a large pot of Buddha Belly you are welcome to have for free. It's too large to mail. I live in southern CA - Mike

Hey dr, I am confused by our ceanothus. I took several 8 inch woody cuttings of all three varieties that we have (concha, skylark, and yankee point) and at first they seemed okay. I put them in moist soil covered with a plastic tent. Well, they all failed after a few weeks but one - one of the conchas - and it still looks as happy as the day I cut it. Which was two months ago, but it hasn't even hinted at roots yet. I have also tried rooting small cuttings of these three. Like 3 inch cuttings without much woodiness in the stem. It's too soon to say whether those will root or not. No attempts to root our manzanita, though we are talking of pruning them and I may put some in water or something to see what happens. Our ribes cuttings looks like they will take hold. As for seeds vs cuttings --- I suspect that when I get the knack of propagating by cutting I will be a convert. In the meantime I really enjoy finding seed pods on some roadside plant, and harvesting the seed. The plant ID process is fun too. Several of the seeds I have are from dried up seed pods on a park specimen of this or that - and I have enjoyed learning the species names of the common plants around here. There is uncertainty about traits breeding true, I suppose, though for some species there seems to be only one variety around so it wouldn't seem to be a concern. Anyway, good talking to you! patty

All I know is that my L. pardalinums haven't bloomed yet, but they were put in a sort of tough situation a couple of years ago. I expect blooms this year or next. My L. parryi got stuck in among Epimediums and other woodland plants in rich clay loam, and it bloomed and thrived. Clearly I have no freakin' clue what I really *should* do, but sometimes, okay fairly frequently, I succeed anyways with the "jam 'em in the ground where they want to go, and divide them now and then" method. Lisa

Oh right! Theodore Payne sells seeds online and ships. They don't do shipping still for plants right? Just in person I think. And lots of in person educational seminars. Good if you live near Sun Valley in SoCal. :)