Carol , Thanks for the information , I hope other people will join and give information on their seedlings . Up to now the information I could collect concerning doubling is a bit contradictory , especially the results with anemonoids . A German correspondent (breeder !) has the impression that the results are influenced by climatic conditions and a Belgian ( breeder ! ) wrote me that by crossing doubles he becomes all the way better results , the number ( % ) of double seedlings is growing . Elisabeth, The information of my correspondent of Holland was of great interest ; He "estimates" 50% spotted seedlings of the cross , H.orientalis guttatus ( spotted mother ) x H.cyclophillus , but no information about the intensity . He was doubting about the coloring by plastids , except for yellow . There is no valuable , scientific , information on Hellebore colors . The text he transmitted me confirmed that all hellebore have 32 chromosomes , all the wild forms and the studied gardenplants . Now let us go for the color and spot problem ; It is correct to ask everybody to speak the same " color "-language . My observation over several years is that flowers with some Rose ( by assumption : at least one gen for Rose ) darken and the spots are smaller when we have a cold spot over here ( Zone 8 ) . Now the weather is very soft , so we see softer colors and bigger spots . Very important : My original Rose ( unspotted ) has some flowers with very small spots at the base of the sepals ! That is one of the observations that brought me to the plastid hypothesis as possible part of the coloring process . The objection to that kind of observations is that this is probably not true for other climatic zones , or there might be some chemical influence of the soil ( ex Hortensia ) so it is not observable in other gardens . The point is ; can we make this observations more objective by measuring , calibrating and so on . In general an average gardener does not have the budget of a NASA moonwalker , but I'm sure it must be possible with some kitchenmaterial or by using light ( fluorescent ) or by putting a filter on the camera . Observing the plants in a greenhouse , as I wrote almost a year ago , enables us to compare better year by year , but is probably not much better if we want to compare with other climatic zones except if we are not low budget gardeners . About the protective effect of spots , anthocyanins . Not all (sub)-species have spots or contain anthocyanins , so I think your observation seems not very correct for wild plants . Nevertheless I also observe some behavioral differences within my seedlings . On the garden web there were also some observations going the same direction . The paler colors are more susceptible for stress ( they flower out of date ) and the seed is more endormant (for the seedlings that pop up a whole year after sewing the whitish are in higher number ) . Perhaps I can mention the following observation here . Last year I had a big loss (80%) , only of my two year old seedlings in pots , after a very and exceptional cold spot . A honest breeder told me the same . What is the acceptable return when starting with 100 fresh seeds and cultivating unto flowering ? How to find out the relation between color and return ? Concerning the polygenic formula you put forward , it is evident that it may not contain a dominant factor , to explain the spots . We agree that we have to do with some " distribution " ( poly-something ) and that the spots pop up or disappear in some seedlings of an unspotted or spotted cross ( a yielding point ? ) . By browsing some genetic books , I could not find a polygenic (diploid) example explaining such a result . With my observations and also the observation of breeder that the motherplant is of great importance ( Attention they are breeding for colors , yellow and black !! ) I came to a model with plastids ( multicopies ) . The literature on this subject is moving and ... very difficult as the vocabulary is not stabilized ! Recently I found another possibility ( it is called paramutation ) found in Zea Mais . The anthocyanin is formed by genes and there are three possible alleles A , Asp and Am . You divine that "sp" means spot and "m" is marbled . In the triploid context of the fruit , the alleles may be absent or present in different number . With six possibilities you can go from nothing ( white) to very dark red marbled and all possibilities between . A lot to think about ! Perhaps I may give my impression on the last one . Just browse in the plastid literature and you will see that a lot is changing , not always accepted by the " classical " genetesists who only think " genes " . I am always peplex that experienced gardeners over here can give me a lot of information without knowing anything of genes ( mostly I have to listen and to translate ) sometimes they just are speaking about cytoplasmic inheritance . To set up a data bank is only valuable if there is information , but information on hellebore breeding seems very scarce . It may be successful if we could formulate questions so that average gardeners , as we all are in the garden , can also participate . Your suggestion for tea somewhere between Brussels and Amsterdam is fully appreciated , but the distance between this cities is more than 200 km and we still calculate in cm over here . I prefer to answer very politely ( translation ) : It is as if I became it ! Johan Here is a link that might be useful: fynwerk

What a tough day, you are a hero, you know. And a good vent can be very satisfying. What about putting her in an Adult Day Care program every day. They are very good, it will give her a chance to get out of the house and do things, and give you the break you need. They are well worth it. Your mother sounds bored - she's needs to "keep busy" and she finds whatever catches her eye, and does it, even if it makes no sense to you. Of course she doesn't want to go to a nursing home, not too many of us wake up and decide today is the day to move to a nursing home. But it looks like it's time to get her out of your home. It's not doing your or your granddaughter any good having her there with this much chaos and anger and frustration. The tables have turned, now you and your husband have to make that decision, and see that it gets done. But..... once there, she'll be fine, she'll be happier there than at home with you. Good nursing homes have lots of activities and lots of supervision, and good care. And your weekly visits with her will be a treat, not an ordeal. Medicare won't pay for a nursing home unless she needs it for sub-acute rehab - and then only for a short time. If she has no money, Medicaid will pay for her care. If she has money, that would go toward nursing home expenses, she must get some money every month - Social Security/pension, etc. Why do you think you have to pay the entire cost? Your energy should go towards taking care of yourself, your husband and your dear granddaughter - his mother should not be at the top of the list. You know you are not going to hurt her, or your grandchild. That leaves you, and your marriage. And if your husband leaves, you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he'll leave his mom with you. LOL You are doing an amazing job, and have every right to be angry with her, even if she doesn't know what she did. It's still a waste of your time, money and the food you prepared. My mother had Alzheimers, for 15 years, and my dad took care of her for most of that time, and she became very difficult. After 10 years, we sat down with dad and said that it was time to move to a retirement community, he fought us for almost a year. After they moved, he loved it, said it was the best thing he ever did. After a few years, we insisted mom go to adult day care, and he fought that, but she loved it, and he could finally do some things for himself. The next year it was clear that it was time for her to move to the nursing home in their retirement community. She had become violent and was hitting him, and didn't sleep at night. She got out of their apartment a few times, even with an alarm. Even so, he fought that too, but the move went well, she was much happier and so was he. She died 9 months later. My dad lived for 6 more years. For 4 1/2 years, he remained in his own apartment, with some help after he had a stroke. Eventually he moved to the assisted living facility, and 3 months later, to the nursing home in the retirement community. He died there a year later. Both of my parents had excellent care, they loved the staff, and we were confident we'd made the right decisions. Take a deep breath, have a good cry, and hug that wonderful granddaughter and dear husband.

Stargazzer, let me clarify my explanation as I think we may be discussing two different things. "Step up basis" is not 'a state thing'. It is the IRS definition regarding estate taxes. Yes, there are many ways to deed property. But not all of them are tax-advantaged to the beneficiary. Being ignorant of these consequences can be financially painful. Now, admittedly the OP's SO is probably at a low risk for dying from this surgery! But my point was that this couple has been together for a lengthy period of time already, yet has not made a real effort to consider what MIGHT happen on that future date when something goes very wrong. Because....eventually something will. We all die, and not at the same time; that's a fact of life that is inevitable. No matter what state you live in, or how much your total and/or separate assets are, if you want your assets to go to someone else, it behooves you to find out what is the best way to pass your assets on, with the least amount of hassle and the least cost to the survivor. Loving someone, but leaving behind a legal/financial mess - or even worse, accidentally disinheriting them - is not a kind bequest to anyone. What is the point in leaving someone 50% of the house, for example, if they can't pay the taxes due upon death because the legalities ignored the tax consequences of the original joint decision? For the majority of people, setting up their legal and financial affairs properly takes very little real time, once they stop procrastinating, LOL. There are ways for SOs to leave their various assets to one another without need to resort to a Revocable Trust, for instance. And there is absolutely no time like the present for the OP to begin getting started! These are things (wills, durable healthcare POA, financial POA) that one should do BEFORE something bad happens, because you never know when Life/Chance/Luck may decide to take that freedom of choice away from you.

When red-spotted purples, viceroys, and white admirals (and their hybrids) lay their eggs, they lay it on the very end of the leaf. When the egg hatches, the tiny hatchling makes a string, or 'perch' if you will. The hatchling will object to being removed from the leaf it started off life on, and if you force it, you'll undoubtedly kill it. You'd be surprised how much they can grow on what looks like a bad leaf. Please, everybody, leave these caterpillars on their original leaf, no matter how bad it looks, at least until the caterpillar gets some size on it. I put a fresh, clean stem of the host plant in the hole in the leftovers container next to the stem the original leaf is in, and the cat will eventually, on its own time, move over to the better leaf. These caterpillars, at the end of the summer/early fall, might make a hibernaculum, so it's a good idea to leave any tree limbs alone if there are leaves on there still. The Goatweed Leafwing also starts out with a frass string. And then as it gets bigger it makes a rolled leaf nest. Here's what hatchling or very early instar RSP cats look like on their 'string' --