I, too, love Polyscias! The last ones I bought were just the other night, in fact. I was browsing around Wal-Mart and went into the garden section (outside) as I always do just to look. Its now November and it was about 60 degrees but has been getting down into the 40's at night recently. Anyway, outside there were an assortment of tropical plants, the usuals. Then I look down and see 3 beautiful little variegated Balfour Aralias. I couldnt believe that I would find these at Wal-Mart, but they were outside and I couldnt stand to think they would spend another night in the cold so I bought them all at a whopping $5.88 a piece. They are about 5-6 inches tall and in nice little autumn tin containers. I found that to be a very pleasant score! Back on the topic of Aralias or Polyscias, I have several others, all of which are in a set of 3 large north facing windows. They get bright afternoon sun and they love it. I have 2 small fountains set up beside them for humidity and have all of them on wet pebble trays. I also mist them in the morning a few times a week. I allow all of them to dry out considerably before watering again. When I water, I drench and let all excess drain out. I keep all of mine in lightweight plastic greenhouse pots so that I can pull the rootball out and examine it every so often. I'm giving all of this advice because I have never had one complaint from any of my aralias, so I guess they are loving their environment. I keep the heat on 67 in the fall and winter and a/c on 76 in summer. I prune them usually late winter-early spring. As for the ones I currently have, I have 2 Mings (one scraggly looking one I purchased at Home Depot recently, now 4 variegated balfours, 1 4 foot parsley, and 2 small variegated parsleys. Can you tell I like Aralias? Hope some of this information helps. -Chris South Carolina

From your use of Celsius degrees I assume you reside in Canada somewhere....14úC = 57úF....cool, but shouldn't be too cool for a houseplant in winter. Plants normally now are, while not dormant per se, use a lot less water...and to that you don't say how or when you give water to the plant. Does it drain properly and do you throw out such drainage, not letting it be drawn back up to the roots. The plant's position in relation to sunlight, and to outside air or air from a heat vent. This can affect how much moisture the leaves are taking up. There is very little drier than a house in winter with the furnace on. Cool nighttime temperatures are appreciated at this time....hence the 57ú is just about right. You didn't say just how long you were away and whether you watered it before you went away. Most plants, given a good watering, and good drainage, can go weeks without additional. If they are not growing then there's no need to feed--they couldn't juse it if fed. Most problems with drying out will be noticed first at the bottom leaves of the plant...they are ones closest to the drying roots. Make sure the pot's soil isn't shrinking from the sides and hence, when you water, it goes straight down to the saucer...very little makes it to the roots to stick around. If that occurs, simply add soil to fill the cavity. To assist in drying during winter months, try misting the plant. The leaves can then absorb some of the moisture without giving the entire plant a watering. Watch how the sun comes through the window glass...too close, it can burn--even in winter, sunlight can be too much when close to the window. Draw it back some and as winter progresses, put it closer. The days are getting longer now...winter solstace--the shortest day in the year---so the plant should begin to improve.

Philip- I love the enthusiasm. While it seems quite logical when we start to talk it out--the mixed plantings, so few of us, myself included, know enought about the maturing growth habits of the many varities of maples to pull things together. It is an experiement in learning as we look at online photo galleries and books to learn how the plant might grow for us. I would not spend the money on that CD right now, but use the links from my page, M & M Maples. I have been working on the site and the gallery, but you will find the links will contain much more mature specimens than I grow. Pay special attention to Esveld and Ganshukutei. The French site of Maillot Bonsai is o.k. but does not show many "tree" photos, but pictures of leaves. You will also find that many of the trees on the Maillot and Ganshukutei sites are not available here. You can use the tree finder at MountainMaples.com as well as their descriptions and make sure to search the UBC forums and this site for the trees you are interested in and for details. When going to the library, look for the Vertrees "Japanese Maples," 2nd edition. This edtion has the trees grouped by type or growth habit. It will allow you to see similar varieties grouped together. The 3rd edtion is alphabetical and it is hard to see the similarities. I may poke around some tonight and tomorrow and see if I can add some links to my website, so check in a day or so. There is a great photography site out there that has some outstanding photos of maples that I need to relink. The link I used to have died on me. Anyway, enough for now. If you go to the links page, lick on Iseli Nursery--the display garden is quite spectacular. Another spectacular garden can be seen here: http://www.bloomriver.com/reFrame.asp?page=/root/viewPlants.asp?ID=14 I visited in 2004 and quite enjoyed it. MJH Here is a link that might be useful: M & M Maples

Thank you, everyone! I do think it's scale (warning: very last photo will be an icky picture of my scrapings—this is as close as I could get, floral :T ). They came off like flakes with little weight, actually, with the nudge of a plastic knife. I immediately sprayed both the inside of its shell and where it had been attached to the tree in case crawlers were coming out in a frenzy from either. Litterbuggy, to provide more info (that pics alone can't provide!): We will try the chopstick! We had previously been sticking a finger in / using a meter. The potting mix isn't typical peat moss + perlite; it's fast-draining succulent mix with perlite. Does this look coarse enough? We live in Orange County so it's desert-dry; I mist it some mornings. Our temperature stays around 78°F with the AC off while we're gone. Air doesn't move much. And our tap water is indeed pretty hard. Still have little budding green shoots on nearly every stem. Most leaf stems are still upright; only some droop, especially this one trunk stem: My two top concerns now... I'm now worried every little brown speck on the trunk is scale... Should I be? The tops of each trunk/stem are dark; since every one was that way (and has been for a while), it didn't occur to me that might be unhealthy. Is that of great concern? Gross photo alert. It's so dark you can't really see much...