Like you, I recently bought a potted,grafted Shenandoah 'tiny' plant and transpotted it into a bigger pot, where it has grown OK with 2 small branches developing full-sized healthy leaves. An identicle-looking tiny grafted KSU Atwood from the same seller that was packaged the same, growing in the same kind of nursery pot, repotted by me the same into the same kind of tall pot on the same day in the same soil mix with the same fertilizing and the same watering and the same Sunlight....never had one bud on the tiny scion grow out. It's rootstock sent out a couple shoots, but even these declined and died. I have used Miracle Grow, Super Thrive, and some granular fertilizer to nourish both. My conclusion is that the tiny root system is not reliable to support the tiny grafted scion. I have more confidence in clipping off the scion and regrafting it to a mature paw paw with a developed root system. I do not know what the patent restrictions dictate, but if I am going to invest $$ on a valued scion that is only being kept alive by an immature, very vulnerable rootstock, that is not a safe bet to make again. It would be a whole lot better taken care of if it was grafted onto a "Mango paw paw that has been in the ground for several years and is 8 or 9 feet tall". I wish that paw paw roots on tiny plants were as eager to grow and hardy as,.. say,...mulberries. Maybe that would be the best focus of additional paw paw research. Vigorous hardy rootstocks.

I wouldn't use the term "leaf bud." Growth buds break from the cane to make a stem with multiple leaves. In late spring, most of the growing stems will terminate in a flower bud or cluster of buds. These are unmistakable, shaped something like Hershey's Kisses of various sizes. It a stem doesn't have enough oomph to produce a flower, it "goes blind" and terminates in a final leaf. If the top leaf is fully expanded and dark green, then the shoot has gone blind. New plants may normally produce some blind shoots.

Jan how large is your Hoya erythrina and is this it's first bloom? This has been a fairly slow plant for me but it does put out growth in spurts. I have been watching it closely for signs of a peduncle but I think I am going to be waiting a long time. I literally gasp when I saw your Hoya Mithilde it's absolutely fantastic! I am looking forward to seeing the plant in full bloom. I wonder if the unusually cool weather this winter was a help in developing so many blooms? Do you find this Hoya to be a heavy bloomer or has it only bloomed this well as it became a larger plant? Mike

I love lilacs, but I don't have a place for any bushes that need sun. Instead, I have been boldly lingering at others properties and burying my face in the flowers with a silly smile on my face. Please enjoy and post a picture when it blooms! Ken, those bushes can barely hold those blooms! What a great Spring display.