For #3 Peperomia came to mind, but I couldn't find anything that quite matched it. They don't appear to have the right leaf arrangement, in general. Leaf structure and arrangement is much like Nematanthus now that I actually compare the two, though--opposite leaves growing in pairs 90 degrees apart. That and Aeschynanthus is also quite close, so I bet Pirate Girl is right on one of those counts. Will have to do a bit of a detailed analysis, maybe, unless someone pops up with a confirmation. Or I suppose I could wait for it to flower... #2 - Chinese croton it is, cliss, thanks! I thought it was something with an 'e' on the label, but that wasn't much to go on. Amazingly, there were two of these plants there priced at $2--made it impossible not to buy! Apparently the sap can cause blindness, giving rise to the Latin name. Good to know when handling it! Maybe that's why it was so cheap... #1 A. haworthii seems like a pretty good guess. I won't even bother asking in the C&S forum because that looks like a match. I have to admit I didn't really think about the future of that banana, I'm sure it will want to get bigger than I can deal with. It's Musa acuminata ssp. zebrina ('blood banana')--an image search shows they get pretty big, but not as big as other bananas seem to, or at least people don't take pictures of very many big ones. Oh well--I can always hack it up if necessary. People in Seattle are able to grow bananas outside, with some mulching and hacking in the winter (though I don't think they exactly have time to thrive in our short period of warmth).

Thank you very much, everyone, for your nice comments. Rosemarie: those are fake mushrooms you see in that photo. They look real, don't they? Xuan

Hello everyone! Thanks for the link, Ming. How's it going in Arizona for you? Things are ok so far in TX, although grad school's been a bit rough. Hanging in there, though... pirate girl...I am wanting to say Karen, is that right? Nice to hear from you! I've not been online much for a good month with traveling home for the holidays and such. Glad to hear the cutting is doing well. My davidcummingi is blooming right now. The link shows all the new ones so far, the addresses show some better pics of some of the plants. I've got a couple cuttings on order that will be shipped when they are ready. The imperialis was received through a trade with a fellow GWber, it has been doing wonderfully since I got it in the fall. I think the aroid you are referring to is not around anymore, I need to go through my pics someday and update. Many things did not survive my moving. However, the hoyas have loved the move. Right now I'm just keeping the cacti and succulent things mainly in the GH, I had some hoyas in there until before the ice storm in Dec. Now that the ground is so dry here, I am afraid to run my little electric heater so everything is in the house for now. Not that my setup isn't safe, I take every precaution I can think of, but it only takes a spark right now. We're I think 8 inches below normal for rainfall. Well, thanks for keeping in touch everyone! I was lucky enough to receive a new laptop for Christmas so hopefully I will be able to browse at home and be a little more active here. :) Kim

blondboy: For the cycads the mix is 50% perlite, 50% topsoil from Home Depot. In the spring I mixed in a slow release 16-4-12 fertilizer with Micronutrients (the trace elements are extremely important). During warm weather I water almost daily, and once a week I supplement with a high nitrogen soluble fertilizer, such as Miracle-Gro lawn food. The plant sits in full sun. Cycads truly are wonderful plants, and they do very well indoors for the winter because they will tolerate lower light and humidity, and as long as watering is kept to a minimum, they will not grow any unsightly fronds. oppalm: I will just trim back the impatiens down to soil level when I bring the palm indoors, the impatiens' roots will die and provide compost as it decomposes. I don't think that disturbing the palm's surface roots would really harm it anyway; if I was to repot and start trimming back the main roots, then I'd be concerned. When I repotted this palm earlier in the summer, it did not skip a beat, it kept right on growing.