There's a leaf on the far left hand side of the first image of #5, which you have identified as noidhosta-015.jpg and it looks rather suspicious to me, I believe what I see may be signs of HVX. Take another shot of it, it's the leaf @ 9 o'clock. The odd looking green-misted leaves on Undulatas are quite common. Undulatas are quite unstable. #2, marked Francee, quite obviously isn't as labelled. With the plants still rather immature it's hard to say which blue one this is, perhaps Elegans, time will tell. #6 is Undulata, either Mediovarigata or Univitata. Check out Henk Hooijer's webpage for more info. #7's on the tip of my tongue, the memory's excellent, the recall leaves something to be desired. #8 looks to be correct as Francee. May I suggest it would have been an easier post to answer if it had been split up into several smaller posts.....

My parents were married for 25 yrs when they divorced. Their marriage didn't come first at all. I don't know that even us kids came first...LOL. My mother has not re-married, but my father has. I have been on both sides of the fence with step-families. I was an adult when my father remarried. I have taken my approach with my SS's from what I have learned as a child of divorce, and from the mistakes his wife has made. 1. The marriage to my DH is of equal importance as his children. 2. The children need one on one time with their father regardless of how good our relationship is as a family. Whether intact or not, children need one on one time with each parent. 3. If anything were to happen to my DH, the chilren will recieve all monies from his life insurance policy, any items of his that they want, etc. It has been made clear to me and my siblings that we are not welcome to a personal relationship with our father. We are allowed to have one with him AND his wife (which is fine, but sometimes you need one on one with your parents) When I got married the first time, my father was dating his now wife. He brought her to my wedding. That was the first time I met her. They had come from out of state (about 1,000 miles) to our wedding. I welcomed her openly. She was awful. Very rude to my brothers, my mother, and disrespectful to my grandparents. She made it clear that she didn't feel that I was old enough to get married, and that she would never allow her daughter (same age as me) to get married. (I was young...21) Six months later, her daughter married a meth addict. Nice.... Anyway, over the years she's pulled some pretty crazy stuff. Alienating one of my brothers totally, and pi$$ing of the rest of us. Here's the thing. I still invite her to all family functions becuase she's my fathers wife. I remarried a while back, and she was invited to the wedding, and she sat with my in-laws, etc. I would never dream of treating her with any disrespect. I don't have to like what she does, but she is my father's wife, and that is the choice he made. My relationship with my father isn't what it use to be, and that's pretty sad, but that is his choice. I love him regardless. So, understanding both side of things, my goal is to foster a positive, fulfulling relationship between my DH and SS's. They all deserve it. What's funny, is that my DH would never allow me (or anyone else for that matter) to come between him and his kids. Nor would he allow my SS's to be disrespectful to me. I've been lucky, my SS's are very good to me. I don't know what I'd do if they weren't. I know I'd be crushed. I just don't think it's ever OK to exclude a bio OR step parent. When my SS had his 12th b-day party, he was mad at his mother still (he had moved in with us a yr before)and I told him "you invite your Mom, or no party...period". He got the message. We're teaching him tolerance. It can go a long way, just like manners.

I deleted some stuff that doesn't apply to your situation. ............................................................ A couple in my church adopted a little boy whose parents' rights had been severed because of sexual abuse. The first year of life with Daniel was traumatic for all three: Daniel's kindergarten called the new mom to come pick him up because he was approaching children and adults sexually. Daniel went to a few birthday parties & was quickly blacklisted because of his sexual overtures to guests & parents. Daniel & his new parents went to intensive counselling, & the new mom quit her job to take care of Daniel... not only did he need full-time mothering, but he kept getting thrown out of day care. The parents learned that children who have been abused sexually almost always approach others sexually; it's what the children have learned to do for attention, approval, companionship...love, or a cheap facimile thereof. Yet their abusers have also shamed them into keeping the big secret; Daniel never said one word about previous sexual "activity". Based on what you *know* of sexual activity at her mother's house, I'd bet that this young girl has seen, *& been involved in*, a lot more than you know. She'll keep approaching people, girls, boys, grown men, whoever, sexually because *that's what she knows how to do*. ............................................................ Please get some help for this little girl, & keep her safe. If you 'give her back' to someone who's led her a chaotic existence & allowed her to be sexually abused, I think the day will come when you will find it impossible to forgive yourself. I wish you the best.

I've repotted a few I know were in solid, concrete-like soil. I simply lifted them out and put them into a bigger pot with pine fines. I broke the root ball a little. I figure when they're dormant, I'll do a better root treatment. I've got the Bayer 3-in-1 and treated my big maples (Autumn Blaze, etc) with the Tree and shrub. Now that I know what to look for as far as insects are concerned, I'm horrified. I'm not so sure as far as fungus is concerned, but I got the recommended fungicide and applied it to the trees Owen found fungus on. I'm watching Oshi Beni, Sherwood Flame and Nicholsonii closely, because 1/2 of those aren't good. Owen things a lot of the die back I experience isn't necessarily from the cold winters, but rather bad soil. My Inazuma death after being in the ground for about 5 years was bugs and fungus. Where I have obvious bugs (dead leaves on the end, chewed foliage) I've used a big spray. My Sunny Sister is practically bald from bugs, and the deer haven't touched the Green Cascade again after the deer-stink spray. It's refoliating. I did put a Winter Flame into a bigger pot, then that into an even bigger pot, buried 1/2 in the ground with rocks in the bigger pot. That's one that will go into the ground this fall. I have 2 others I did the same to, but I don't remember their names at the moment. I'm confused by your use of the term passé. As it usually refers to a fashion statement, as in last year's, I can't tell if you're referring to repotting as a good or bad thing. I do think I have some trees that could handle it, but I'm practically paralyzed with fear. I do know I just killed my Fjellheim. 7 years old. I grabbed the wrong bottle when I followed directions and soaked the leaves to dripping with fungicide. I realized what I'd done and rinsed it thoroughly, but I'm afraid 8 hours of Round-Up is deadly. I'm looking for turface and oil dry. Owen had me get Turfstone, which is recycled glass and can be rinsed and reused. I am looking at all the threads on particle size, and thing these must be a bit big in conjunction with pine fines. Plus, they're stupidly expensive for someone with over 100 to repot.