A couple things worth mentioning... My preferred fern spore medium so far is a potting mix called "Metro-Mix 360". It's fairly sterile already, so further sterilization isn't really necessary. Agar's good for a few species, but there's a lot of stuff that just won't grow well on it. The things I know do well on it are the climbing ferns (genus Lygodium) and Ceratopteris. The things I know don't do well on it are all the members of Pteridaceae that I've tried. With regards to jello, the main reason I can think of not to use it is that it has a low melting temperature, just above room temperature; stick it under fluorescent lights with spores on it for a few weeks and I figure you've got 50/50 odds at best of getting happy little gametophytes growing on gelatin rather than just a puddle with half-germinated spores floating around in it. Rather than the lab-grade expensive agar, you can also get food-grade agar at some oriental food places and so forth for much cheaper. How long they take varies greatly with species and conditions. Under banks of fluorescent lights on agar, you can get Lygodium to go from spore to sporophyte in a couple weeks less than a semester. On a north-facing windowsill in Metro-Mix I got some Wright's cliffbrake (Pellaea wrightiana) to go from spore to sporophyte in a couple of weeks. Generally, for good development you want bright indirect light and temps in the low-mid 70's. Lower temperatures might not be a problem, but I know that either high temperatures or direct sunlight (which presumably causes high temps) cause major problems. Patrick Alexander

Wow, that's a lot of plants! I don't have a list of what I'm growing in my little gardens -- sometimes it takes me a couple of weeks in the spring to realize that that weird looking weed in the corner is something I've had for years. I just assume that more plants than not will grow in this area! One of the more unusual plants I grow is agapanthus. Not a particularly hardy variety, this was simply a florists' plant my mother gave me four years ago. But it's come up reliably every year for the past three seasons in Central Ohio. It's planted against a south-facing brick wall with excellent drainage, and apparently doesn't realize it's not in zone 8+ anymore! One of my mother's more spectacular plants is a 15 year old calamondin orange that arrived as a little "get-well" houseplant. It spends the winter on the unheated glassed in back porch in Cincinnati, and now stands over 6' tall in the pot, and is nearly 4' around. It always has flowers and fruit on it, and we've picked 200 ripe fruits at one time.

Fearlessem never came back to say if it was thorny or not... I thought dewberry was a pretty good suggestion. Looks similar to the wild berry vines that are ubiquitous here as well, though the ones here have more of a fuzzy kind of thorn than dewberry pics at the link, kind of invisible but they'll get ya'! Blackberries or black raspberries. Fruit comes on in April.

Fantastic Pics once again Barbara, Love that butterfly And the Gingers they are such a lovely plant With so many different coloured flowers. The old faithfull Petunia always in flower your whites are very pretty. And Yes those Butcher Birds sing the most beautiful songs a joy to listen too. Cheers..MM.