Posted by florauk none (My Page) on Tue, Jul 9, 13 at 10:14 Thank you so much for pointing this out. I have corrected the typo and trimmed the joke. It is both a joke and a linguistic hiccup =) Posted by balloonflower CO 5b (My Page) on Tue, Jul 9, 13 at 13:14 Thank you so much for the suggestion. It could be that I placed too many leaves in the tea pot. I will try apple mint soon.

Ha - mine look just like that. I wouldn't claim it's ideal, but neither would you, right? ;) Idyllic would be every leaf getting perfect exposure to outdoor sunlight, with heat and humidity so thick you could cut them with a knife, unpolluted rainwater and a smorgasbord of pungent mature organic fertilizer. But they don't always experience idyllic life in the rainforest, either, so I think it's important to make a distinction between (a) environmental conditions that endanger plant health and (b) environmental conditions related to fast growth. Air Flow: I have zero problems with air flow. I do run a nearby ceiling fan constantly. I 100% agree with Denise that grouping them together creates extremely beneficial micro-environments of humidity. My closely spaced plants are much heartier to drought and other human-related indignities. Light: I try to keep plants of a similar size (height + leaf size) together. That way I don't have a big meredithii playing umbrella over a starter pubera. It can be more challenging to line up a row of mindorenses (mindorensis plural I just made up), rather than spacing them with small leaf varieties in between, but that's how I know they're all playing on the same field. But I think it's more important that they all have leaves reaching the top level, close to the lights. Bugs: The biggest challenge, as Denise points out, is that the closer the plants are together, the more bugs are obscured from your vision. I don't ever have a problem with fungus gnats because the plants dry out, but if you are prone to an occasional mealy or scale outbreak, you really have to be thorough and not-lazy during inspections. And it can be challenging getting pesticide coverage to the inner layers without taking the whole flat apart. That is why I am the BIGGEST FAN EVER of my latest switch to putting similar-textured-leaves together. Now I can check flats of finlaysonii more casually, but pay A LOT of attention to flats with delicate leaves like megalantha or soft leaves like diptera. The best thing, if your plants are closely spaced, is to have no pests, like Doug. Can't we all try and be more like Doug, guys? ;) Tangles: I don't actually have a lot of problems with tangles because new growth primarily occurs near the light source. So, they all lay their new vines neatly along the top of the flat (or out to the side), where I can deal with them once they are long enough to loop without putting new growth down. I did have that problem with all the lacunosas turning into one giant knot, but that flat went ungroomed for years and a lot of it had to do with their internodes being so short, so their leaves linked together just like they were weaving a mat.

This is almost exactly what I did but you have even more room that I do (assuming that the 72" you are talking about does not include the side towers, of course). Mine is perfectly fine and does not feel cramped at all. We have only 60" where you have 72". We also have the sconces and the recessed lights and it looks beautiful. Make sure you place your sconces far enough in so that they are not in your face when you use the sink. We placed our on the side of the linen tower. Your top 12" glass cabinet will not be useful since it is so high. You might consider putting the smaller compartment on the bottom and putting your electric outlets in there for hair dryer, etc. You might also consider making the top of the linen towers less deep so you don't feel claustrophobic. Finally, if you are doing any tile trim in the rest of the room, it would be nice to edge the mirror in the same trim to finish it off rather than just having the mirror meet the tower.

"... do you think it's too crowded?" Not at this point. If/when you do decide to divide the individual propagules, you can correct any curves or leaning tendencies by adjusting the angle at which the stem exits the soil, and pruning the top slightly to an appropriate branch. I can help you with that at the time if you find yourself in a quandary. It's a personal preference, but I think that plants with trunk movement (bends) and plants that exit the soil at an angle provide much more visual interest than plants with an owner whose vision doesn't extend much beyond a vertical trunk with a sphere of foliage directly above the point where the trunk exits the soil - like a lollipop. Best time to divide and/or repot would be right around the summer solstice or just before (around Father's Day). Al