EricT: That is an Agave americana or Century Plant. They are a common landscaping plant in the Southwest. The variegated ones (like stanofh's) are much more striking than plain ones and make a spectacular addition to most any garden. They eventually throw an inflorescence that can easily reach 30 feet tall! Sadly, the mother plant dies after blooming, but what a way to go out!!! Stanofh: Thanks for sharing these pics! I assume this is your garden? It sure looks terrific. The Cyphostemmae is awesome. Will the leaves green up as they get older, or is that about the color they will stay? Also, are you sure that is P. geayi? All the P. geayi I've seen have much darker, more slender leaves with pink veins (including my own)...

I'm in zone 7 Maryland, for me Siberians start blooming the middle of May, a week to two weeks earlier than the Japanese Iris. The foliage of Japanese iris is overall more subtantial than that of Siberians. The leaf is wider and thicker, and has a fat, rigid mid-rib that keeps it from being floppy. It also stays a nice medium green the whole season (not as dark a green as Siberians). If your Siberian foliage held up well for you, there should be no problem with the Japanese. I have actually left the foliage on the whole winter some years and it was a quite attractive gray-brown, standing tall until I cut it down in February or March. They (at least my Japanese iris) set a lot of seed, and the pods are also attractive. Letting them go to seed hasn't seemed to affect the amount of bloom I get year to year. Sometimes I deadhead, sometimes I don't. But, unless you are particularly interested in seeing the results of genetic recombination, make sure to remove the seed pods before they start to split open - three or four years ago I didn't and I'm still getting seedlings all over the place. One of the seedlings was actually quite lovely (I somehow missed it weeding, and it got to blooming size), having gotten a deep purple color and flat, round form from one parent and a stripe/stippling pattern from another, so I kept it; the rest have gone to the compost pile... - Steve

Khalid wrote in another thread: "Then I stopped spraying even any organic matter. I gave more calcium to my roses which made the soft branches and leaves harder thus making it relatively unattractive for the pests. This reduced the affected bushes / leaves to a good extent." Agree with Khalid, folks in rainy climate lime their soil, either in late fall or early spring, depending on how many inches of rain they get. Rain is acidic at pH 5.6, as the pH drops, less calcium and potassium are available. The best lime to use is Espoma Garden Lime (sold at Walmart for $10 per 5 lb.). It has 20% calcium and 10% magnesium ... both are essential in keeping leaves thick so pests cannot invade. From the above chart, around pH 5.6 (rain water), less molybdenum, less magnesium, less calcium are available. Next nutrients that are less: phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen. I already posted in Organic Rose my experiment that I did with 2 identical Thai basil: I lowered the pH of one with acidic cracked corn (pH 4), plus gypsum (17% sulfur) .. that Thai basil' leaves became pale, plus THINNER due to less calcium and magnesium available. Then I saw blackspots on a Thai basil for the 1st time !! The other basil I planted in my alkaline clay (pH near 8), and it's twice taller plus really thick & glossy leaves (more available nitrogen, potassium, sulfur, calcium, and magnesium). But leaves were just a bit pale due to less iron at high pH, so I gave it blood meal, has chelated iron, and leaves became dark green. I once planted a bok-choy vegetable next to my patio with a limestone base, so the soil is very alkaline, pH 8. The leaves were dark-green, but its so tough that I boiled it for one hour, and it's STILL so fibrous that my teeth can't handle, let alone some tiny pests like aphids, rose slugs, or midge. Rose slugs (sawfly larvae) are very rare in my alkaline clay, unless I lower the pH with my experiments: Put acidic cracked corn (pH 4) in potting soil, and roses got rose-slugs from THINNER LEAVES in acidic rain (calcium, magnesium, and potassium drops when pH drops). Mirandy rose got a big-fat rose-slug on it for the 1st time. Why? It's next to a tree, and the tree robs the soil of calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Plus tree roots secret acid, so the soil became even more acidic with rain (pH of rain is 5.6). Used molasses, plus vinegar, plus sulfate of potash (21% sulfur), plus gypsum (17% sulfur) ... such acidic solution made leaves thinner, plus the stinky molasses really attract sawfly which give birth to rose-slugs. CONCLUSION: The best solution for pests is to raise soil pH by using dolomitic lime such as Espoma Garden lime (20% calcium and 10% magnesium). My soil is dolomitic clay, so I don't have midge, rose-slugs (sawfly larvae), nor aphids, unless I use acidic fertilizer. When there's tons of acidic rain, I throw pea-gravel on top of roses that like it alkaline, pea-gravel has many alkaline minerals to make leaves thick, glossy, and to prevent pests.

Sinningia! Whuddathot. I've sworn off gesneriads so that's kind of a relief. I'll just ogle yours from here on, Kara. Here are some of mine (fall and spring growers) finally out of the basement. Aloinopsis schooneesii; I'm showing you guys the ugly side because this is the spot I've had to remove pieces from to stop a spreading rot. That gave me two smaller clumps and it did stop the rot. No guts no glory, I guess. Here is one clump, now two years old and still buried. I think I may have given the other one away, or it fell into a corner somewhere, never to be found. And from left, Othonna euphorbiodes, Othonna clavifolia and Tylecodon ventricos (this one needs a butt-load of sun in winter). And, below---really not fat yet, but it will be someday! I really like starting small. This one used to be taller but a Catzilla incident cut down the main trunk. Fortunately, it's crazy easy to root. Tylecodon buchholzianus My summer growers are still indoors.