Hi Any area that does not fall below freezing should be VERY careful with the stuff . It is illegal all over the deep south and all tropical countries . I frequently see it for sale in nurseries here in Florida though. Depend on how tough the state wants to get. They don't seem to enforce the laws at least here . Puerto Rico has some tough import laws but I would bet it covers the whole island lol. I keep it because I have never found a susstitute for keeping ponds algae free lol One question about it I've never found an answer to is does it produce viable seed?? Have two ponds less than 15 feet apart and it has never got from one to the other except by moving the plant. I redone an old pond in March and out of curiousity I've been keeping track of the reproduction rate . I placed 5 plants in it. To date I have removed 135 mature plants!!! How is that for invasive ??lol. It does an almost miraculous job of removing stuff from the water and of course the flowers are fantastic. gary

Gardentrekker, it is all a bit of a "wade" but once you've got the scientific names of the Cucurbita plants you grow, it should all become easier. Writing them down will help. The Australians seem to have taken far more interest in Asian vegetables than Americans and have a fair amount of information in English. For example, we can learn here that both winter melon and hairy melon are, Benincasa hispida. Purdue reprints the general outlines for cross-pollination and a chart of the members of the cucurbit family grown in the US is broken down by species: "Cross pollination generally occurs only among members within the same species. However some crossing between species occurs in the genus Cucurbita, among pumpkins, squash and gourds. C. pepo will cross with C. mixta and C. moschata: and C. maxima will cross with C. moschata. "C. pepo will not cross with C. maxima. "Cross pollination does not occur between melons, cucumbers or other species." The University of Melbourne broadens this list greatly including Asian members. Don't be too intimidated by the listing of names from so many different languages. I find that if I ignore everything on the webpage except the English, I don't drift off into the stratosphere. I think that the key to your question is that different species generally do NOT cross with only a few exceptions. Steve

Hi Windy, Here are a few more interesting crosses from last year. White Christmas X Red Peacock-85 seeds from 1 pod,great germination rate,vigorus seedlings. Picotee X Red Peacock-75 seeds from 1 pod (that is a lot for Picotee)great germinatin,vigorus seedlings. Royal Velvet X Red Peacock-64 seeds from 1 pod. These were some of the largest hippi seeds I've ever seen. Great germination rate,excellent growers & the seedlings have a strong red blush up the reverse of the leaf. There is some controversy attached to Royal Velvet.Some people claim it is sterile,mine is not. It is very possible that there is more than 1 cultivar being sold as Royal Velvet. Picotee X Charisma-76 & 63 seeds per 2 pods. Good germination rate & healthy seedlings.The seedlings seem to be better growers than either parent but I still expect 3-4 years till bloom . Ruby Meyer X LaPaz-A very high yielding cross! I planted out 100 seeds & I think every single one germinated :) Good growers with most having the red blush on the reverse of the leaf from Ruby Meyer. Ruby Meyer X White Christmas-72 seeds,44 with no visible embryo.Out of 28 good looking seeds only 3 germinated.These seedlings are -slow- growers. Pink Floyd X Appleblossom-2 pods with 20 & 27 seeds. 23 had no embryo,out of those planted only 3 germinated.Slow growers. Pink Floyd X Emerald- I didn't record the seed total but I planted 18. I have 11 growing at a decent rate. Emerald-It appeared to set seed but none germinated. Misty-It appeared to set seed but zero germination. Amputo X self-11 seeds,8 terminal albinos. I small seedling left. Amputo X Pink Floyd-10 seeds,1 small seedling left. I intend to cross Pink Floyd & Amputo again.The seedling failure may have been due to severe weather conditions. So far this year Pink Diamond,Honeymoon, Baby Doll,Cupido and Jade Serpent are all holding seed pods. It seems like the smaller South African varities do not want to self pollinate. Only time will tell. Hi Soultan, There is a huge server spam blocking program going on right now. Somebody on your server is a major spammer & it has been blocked by just about every other server out there. There is a chance that you could get email to me with a freebie Yahoo account, sent to my new Yahoo addy. My DH went through several email accounts to try & send to you but everything was rejected :( Lora

Linda, I was hoping some of the more experienced growers would pop in and help with the ID's over here. I think they have all been busy out in the gardens. I hope you get some helpful answers soon. Tracy