Suggest you get a copy of the New Pronouncing Dictionary of Plant Names, a handy little pocket guide published by the American Nurseryman Publishing Company (800-621-5727). Unfortunately, there are always exceptions and even some regional variations, but in general there are no silent syllables - everything spelled is pronounced - emphasis is usually (but not always) given to the second syllable of the name, the vowels in the emphasized syllable are almost always pronounced long (pinus = PINE-us), 'ch' is pronounced as 'k' and double vowels ('ii') are pronounced individually ('david-y-i'). Fine Gardening magazine has a pronunciation guide in the back of each issue covering all the plants listed. They also have a website that covers everything in their publication since '03. Also, plant-names.com has a pronunciation guide as well. FWIW, even professional horticulturists mispronounce botanical latin from time to time, so don't stress :-)) But these resources should help you to at least get more comfortable with what often appear to be tongue-twisters, but really aren't. Here is a link that might be useful: FG's pronunciation guide to botanical latin

Hello Violet Lovers: As President and Webmaster of The American Violet Society http://americanvioletsociety.org, I have been supporting the continued existence of our society's website, largely at my own expense, over the past several years. Not a big deal, as the site gets a free ride on my personally contracted web server. The site has been stale over the last couple of years, prior to Tom's efforts in providing the material for New Cultivars. That can be seen at the link below. We are in the need of self starting and finishing people, to take responsible positions in the society. I am competent as an organizer and organizational lead, but I am totally incompetent in almost any area of responsibility. In particular, I am not a treasurer nor do I consider myself an extensive violet expert, beyond some level of expertise in rudimentary taxonomy. As a result, we are currently in a situation, where even when we receive donations, we have no way to accept them or process them. We don't even have a bank account! Even more important than money, WE NEED NEW MATERIAL for the web site. That brings me to another issue. I have noticed that not only is The American Violet Society largely dormant, but that it appears that "the other society" The Violet Society at: http://www.sweetviolets.com/SWEETVIOLETS/index.html is in an even more comatose state. In particular, it appears that their entire, very valuable Violet Journal, is no longer on the web. That is very sad. Over the years, I have approached members of The Violet Society, to try to get them to collaborate and pool resources, to extend the reach of both societies, but alas, I was continually rebuffed. Now, upon discovering the loss of their journal, I have tried every email address listed in their remaining site, but received error messages back from all of them. If anyone knows how to contact any of their remaining administration, please let me know. For those of you wishing to contact me, the addresses shown elsewhere in this forum are all out of date, due to excessive pornographic spam. You can reach me at: presidentXXXXXXX@amerianvioletsociety.org where the Xs should be replaced with the letters of my family's name. Alternately, continue to exchange with Tom, as most of you "know" him already. I am hoping to hold another Violet Field Event in the spring of 2009. If we find enough interest. That's all for now. I will try to stay more in touch Sweet Violets To All Gary W. Sherwin, President, Webmaster The American Violet Society http://americanvioletsociety.org Here is a link that might be useful: New Viola Cultivars

Thruth be told as you most know i cook for family and friends on a regular basis. I never have a small crowd and often laugh at the fact that I have beautiful china and crystal service of 12 and never get to use it because I have too many guest all the time. I use it for my childrens birthday (private dinner) and Valentines and the kids love to sit at the fancy dining room with the "fancy dishes". I enjoy cooking everything but I must admit I get the most pleasure when serving "different" meals oppose to the standards. I love to introduce people to new foods and cultures that they normally on a staple wouldnt cook at home. I should say basically "THEMED MEALS". I think next will be a host of old fashion SOUTHERN or CAJUN food night. Im also looking foward to a GREEK themed dinner maybe when the weather cools down. The setting is always good to think about...you dont have to spend alot of money to play the cultures music or use even paper goods in colors of the country. When I did latin night I had Latin Music and Spanish Saint Candels burning around the house...just adds to the atmosphere. Anyone do these type of get togethers???? Id be interested to know what you use for atmosphere and bringing a theme together. Also what "CULTURE" dinner have you hosted?

I specialize in sprouting mostly tree seeds - and American Persimmons have been one of the easiest so far. I typically just repurpose a clear plastic drink cup and fill it with organic compost soil. I find such cups (vs wider pots) best for seedlings because they allow deeper root growth and are easier to transplant later from since you don't have to dig as wide a hole. Most tree seedling roots need more depth, and not so much width, in growing space. So, a lot of pot width is basically just wasted space. With narrower cups, you can store more of them together due to their smaller footprints. And plus, I'm using something that would otherwise just go into the recycle waste stream faster... Anyhow, after inserting a seed into each cup (without scarification needed), you then just have to wait about 3.5 months for them to finally sprout up. Only thing I might do during that waiting period is water the soil once in a while to keep it somewhat moist. Note that most tree seeds DO take much longer to sprout compared to say, annual vegetables. Quality generally takes more time! Now once these American Persimmon seedlings finally sprout, they are very robust and will grow fairly tall with a thin woody stem and large leaves early on... I mean, relatively-speaking, of course. It will still take probably around ~2 years+ from planting the seed to grow to a foot-tall seedling, to give you a rough idea. Again, these are trees, not "weeds!" But definitely a great native, fruit-bearing tree to propagate, though!!! I've found ripe American Persimmons to be the sweetest I've ever tasted! So, I really wish more people would plant a whole lot more!