Kyle..about your Obelisk..it depends where you bought it. I can't tell you the number of 'arbors and bird feeder/hanging basket poles' I bought, hoping they were strong enough to hold an outdoor vine, feeder, plant.. stand erect. They sent thin metal that wouldn't hold a flea. lol I finally bought a decent arbor that's held a number of years. More expensive, but if I added what I paid and would have continued paying for cheaper versions, I could have purchased three expensive types. lol Pics online/catalogs look strong. What a farce! lol Logees. I won't express my opinion, since you have plants on the way. However, I will say, in the mid-90's, Logee's was my favorite, non-local nursery. That's awful about your H. Lauterbachii. I was given one as a gift, purchased from Logees. It wasn't bad. Expensive--stood about 9" tall, several leaves and well-rooted. It's still around, but very slow-growing. Don't know if I'll be on earth when/if it blooms, lol. I hope your Monstera is nice..LMK, okay? I checked Ebay..only green. The seller I bought from with both variegated types, usually sends healthy plants. I was so disappointed when the two variegatas arrived. Think I have a pic, but would have to look for it. Thankfully, prices weren't too bad, each under 15.00. Still, that's more than I prefer to pay, unless a plant is in great health. Many of GlassHouseWorks prices increased. I once phoned, asking for a certain variegated Schefflera..he said, he might have some the following spring..cuttings..175.00..Sure, I'll take a dozen. lol. But GHW's sends healthy plants, or they did..it's been a while since I ordered from them. Kyle, are you growing Lily of the Valley in a container or garden?? Danny, I'd like to walk down your alley, Free plants..The price is right. lol. Seriously, I don't browse through alleys..When we first moved here, walked our dog down alleys, people tossed Azaleas and other flowering plants that could have been grown indoors. I was too embarrassed to grab them though, lol. Someone discarded a brand new plant shelf..They assembled it backwards..so it fell foreward. I got that shelf, re-assembled..it's fantastic..Bet it cost 50.00-75.00 nowadays. I agree, Adansonii is a super fast-grower..Mine is a few yrs old, growing up a swerved, metal stake, but it needs something stronger. The metal tilts. It's leaning on plant shelves before a window. Toni

Malcolm, good article, lots to digest there. Poor sammy (OP) has kind of been left behind in a cloud of um rooting hormone and minutiae, but this has been a nice, spontaneous thread where not much goes on any more over on the prop forum. Hopefully sammy will have gotten some ideas and encouragement as well. Just take it at your own pace and skip over info that may be too involved for where you're at. Have you even tried growing from pieces of root? I tried that, too, and failed, probably didn't have enough root or knowhow. Suckers aren't so easy either unless you sever the runner that produces them and let them grow on their own in situ for awhile before digging. I've never read a method for root propagation as an alternative which could be useful, did read somewhere that's how someone in Scotland or England dug out pieces in cemeteries, countryside, homesteads and got them to grow rather than taking cuttings. Aged roots are pretty tough and one would think they might be more advantageous to cuttings sometimes. Jeri, I thought you were involved in saving roses. Nobody around me gives a flip. Oh well, I might not have years ago but just maybe I would have because even in my frantic years, I never forgot my childhood delight in flowers and seeds. Before I took up trying to grow roses again and more seriously but by no means expertly, by chance I picked up a new release at the library, "In Search of Old Roses" (google says 1989). Never forgot it and intrigued me, no mention of rustling per se, but that's what part of it involved. I'd be interested in reading about some of your experiences, maybe not a whole book for awhile but surely you're qualified to write one. Even failures can be profitable because of the learning experience if you don't give up. It makes your successes that much more gratifying and appreciated even if you lose something you may not get another chance at soon or ever.

1. 2 of the 8 cuttings that I transferred to cups and vermiculite had a very small amount of mold on one spot. I gave it a good wiping with a damp paper towel and continued. Is that ok or should I be throwing them out? Or separating from the others? You did fine, choosing only perlite to root in. Vermiculite is too water-retentive for my taste. I'd have dipped the cuttings for a minute or so in a 10% solution of unscented household bleach or a 10% solution of 3% H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) to eliminate mold concerns. As Al noted, F carica is a very genetically vigorous plant and very easy to root, as woody plants go. 2. How much should I be watering these since they are 100 percent perlite? I know the key is to keep them moist, but with all perlite they seemed to just drained 100% with little to no retention. Plants most effectively absorb moisture from the microscopically thin film of water on the surface of soil particles, and from water vapor trapped in soil pores, so you want your rooting medium to be damp - not wet ..... and you NEVER want your cutting stuck so deep that it is below the upper limit of any perched water your medium supports. Cuttings need gas exchange, too. You might consider screening & rinsing your perlite, and employing a wick at the bottom of your container. Damp, not wet or soggy is what you're striving for, and 80% humidity with some air movement is a worthy goal. 3. Do they need any sunlight at this point? I don't have them near a window. Technically, they don't need light to root, but the cutting WILL be able to carry on some degree of photosynthesis in the green stem tissues, which will contribute food to what is already stored in cambial tissues. Also, it's best to have any foliage that emerges preconditioned to the photo-intensity that will be the norm for the cuttings. I wouldn't have planned my adventure around the idea I was going to maintain these cuttings indoors for the winter. I'd have timed it so they struck at or just after last frost, so they could go outdoors. Root temps of 65-70* with air temps about 10* cooler are ideal for figs, and eliminate the bottom heat as soon as they strike. If I take fall cuttings, I bury them upside down to callus until figs/mulberry starts to leaf out in the landscape, then I dig them up and pot or plant. I get near 100% success every time, and don't have to fuss with them and watch them decline over the winter. There's soo much more that COULD be said ...... Any questions? Al

What a great kitchen! The main piece of advice I would offer is this: get rid of excess plastic containers. I had zillions of rubbermaid containers that didn't nest at all. I thought I needed every shape and size out there, so I bought far more than I could ever use. After we renovated our kitchen, I gave myself one drawer for plastic stuff. That's it. Now, it's a big drawer, but I have a family of nine people, so we still need quite a bit. First, I tossed or gave away that which would not nest. I standardized on 8" squares that fit into one another. I bought 6 of these and I've never needed more. All the lids are the same size. I have deep rectangular rubbermaid containers for holding flour and sugar in my baking cabinet. I have round containers for lunch boxes: my husband takes leftovers for lunch every day and reheats them in these lightweight containers that are as sturdy as regular rubbermaid. In this drawer I also store two rubbermaid butter dishes, three nesting funnels, 2 two-quart plastic pitchers, 2 small mixing bowls and 2 large mixing bowls, plus about 12 measuing cups from 4-cup to 1/4-cup in size. The key for my kitchen is that any plastic container we have is in this drawer. So I've gone from cupboards and drawers of plastic containers and measuring supplies to one single drawer. I will add that I have a plastic pasta scoop and larger colander that I store under the prep sink. I never save even the nicest of plastic containers that food might come in. If we ever need more, I can use a storage container from another part of the house, wash it out, then put it back when I'm done (like when I need to bring 60 cupcakes to school). I've also done the same sort of thing for lunch boxe supplies and ingredients. I have a baking center, which is to the right of the oven. My baking center is really just an upper cabinet with wire storage things inside that make it easy to cram a lot of stuff in a 30" wide cabinet. I do store extra baking mixes and flour/sugar in my lazy susan cabinet. I don't have a pantry. All of our health food is in another cabinet, near the blender where we make our protein shakes. I bought white plastic wirer coated shelves at the container store to stack dishes and baking goods in those cupboards. And also these tall, narrow two shelf units that fit under my sinks which sit next to the plumbing. They aren't really deep but just hold the basics in view (stuff tends to migrate to the back of the sink cabinet). I also got rid of excess pots and pans. I figured that if my pots and pans couldn't fit into one base cabinet, that I would have a hard time keeping tabs on those as well. My baking pans and cutting boards store vertically in a cabinet designed to hold tall thin items. You have so much wonderful space. If you can be judicious with how you plan your storage, you will find that you can even keep major seasonal items in your pantries as well, or gift wrap, etc. In fact, it looks like you could even put a desk in one of your pantries. Lucky you!