Candle_Tree, I had a strange coincidence happen a few hours ago. I was at a shop looking at gardening magazines on my way home from work, and was curious about one called, "Birds and "Blooms". I dropped it by accident, and when I picked it up it was opened on pg. 28 showing a large picture of MG 'Heavenly Blue' with an inserted picture of the "Moonflower". How very strange! I thought instantly, and that I must send this to Candle_Tree somehow so she will believe me. So I decided to incude my e-mail address in this posting, but saw that you shared yours. I will be in touch this week-end when more time permits, and we can talk outside the forum to our heart's content on the issues we have shared. Also, I do not feel that you should be without any seeds you want (without violating international laws that I will check out). I will get them to you in the appropriate seasons if you wish. After all, we need to cultivate also the "earth goddess" aspect in you as a budding horticulturist. A cultivated variety or cultivar means that humans choose to propagate/multiply a particular plant because it has desirable characteristics (disease-resistance, improved flowers or foliage over the species form, etc). These hybrid traits can occur by nature's cross-pollinating through butterflies, moths, or the wind - or by human nurture and selectivity. I confess that I am not informed fully enough on the pros and cons of genetic engineering with the plant kingdom's food crops, so I have no view. I'm sure that when we manipulate or bypass natural evolution, there can be a lot of consequences and/or rewards to be debated. Hopefully, only the best educated minds on either side of the controversy will be in the spotlight - not the opinionated and ignorant hysterics versus the greedy corporations. A cultivar name has been traditionall written in semi-quotes, such as Impomea ( the genus) tricolor (the species) 'Heavenly Blue' (cv). So I doubt that this term applies ot genetically engineered plants. It pleases me to no end that ou are attuned to the lack of education impacting the work force. Trust me, I see it here all the time with workers endangering themselves, others, and the environment by mixing and applying pesticides when they cannot even read the warnings and instructions on the label. (These are not people in the company I work for). I have approached them on several occasions about serious mistakes they make, and there is no language barrier - there is a lack of interest in safety concerns. My Spanish is good enough to realise that they don't know what they are doing. I have quite a concern about the use of chemicals, and I do use them wisely as a certified pesticide applicator for horticultural use - but not on food crops. At the same time I am not in agreement with using organic fertilisers over "chemical" ones. Everything physical in nature has a chemical basis, and for "organic" products to bash chemistry is simply absurd. Plants could not care less whether the source of fertiliser is organic or chemical because it can only absorb the needed elements in an ion form (cations or anions). It's a chemistry thing. So they don't absorb the nutrients in the way we apply them - no matter what the source. They go through a series of stages until a cation/anion usable form is reached to absorbed by the roots. Organic fertilisers have the disadvantage of not supplying enough of the "micronutrients" (iron, copper, manganese, etc.) so it had better be present in the soil in sufficient amounts to begin with. If it doesn't, nutritional deficiences will result for the plant and for us. Quite often, sufficient soil nutrients do not exist, especially in tropical soils. And the most element needed by agricultural crops as well as most foliage plants is nitrogen. Urea nitrogen is synthetically produced organic nitrogen that will convert into a usable form through the beneficial bacteria in the soil. It makes no difference whether it comes from seaweed, fish emulsion, or a synthetic urea-based nitrogen. The conversion process (via soil bacteria) will remain the same for it to be absorbed by the roots, and chemical fertilisers can provide a better and much cheaper source for nitrogen that is MEASURABLE for application.Organic fertilisers do not list their percentages of micronutrients because they are either not present, or they do not have a guarenteed percentage. (Take a rest, John_Z). You are a gem. I look forward to sharing with you via mail and/or e-mail, especially on social concerns. Respectfully, John_Z.

I didn't think anyone could beat sguanzon but I got sunnysmiles51 seeds today 105 wants sent wow and she also sent seeds for everyone. I also got three shy acres seeds today everyones bags are bursting I am only waiting on 3 more queen of diamonds ilovefarac mkruby I'm not sure whats up with mkruby I'm going to try e-mailing her one more time before we get all the seeds in if I don't hear from her I will cross reference her seeds to everones lists like I'm doing with gardenwitches seeds.Patty

Happyhorse I pull out the wild white MG's because they are always in an undesireable area. I have no idea if they produce seeds or not because I don't let them go that far but they are there every year, without fail. The Texas bindweed that I have in a pot does produce seeds. It's a very pretty little flower. I have no idea how to start a discussion group but I know that people were discussing starting a tropical fruit tree forum. You might want to take a look in the tropical forum and see if that idea went anywhere. If so you could email whomever started the thread. Karyn

Woofie and others, I am uncertain if the photoperiod effect is seen in species of Ipomoea other than Ipomoea nil. I have read that if seedlings that are grown under long day/short night conditions for 5 days (that is, 5 days of 16 hours light/8 hours dark) then treated to one cycle of short day/long night (8 hours light/16 hours total dark) will induce flowering in the plants. I say total darkness because any break in the darkness, such as a husband turning on the light for just a brief period, will disturb floral induction. What you can try is popping the container with seedling into a light-tight box for 16 hours and see if flower buds start coming on in a big way. I have seen reports of big flowers appearing on very small vines when they are treated in this manner. I haven't tried it but it would be a cool thing to do. Ronnie, I think those products are compounts for inducing root production in cuttings due to presence of certain plant enzymes. The products I was referring to have mycorrhizal fungi that the root must come in contact with so the fungus and root can form the symbiotic bond by the fungus actually infecting the root. The fungus forms a web out in the soil around the roots, and make Phosphorus and other micronutrients available to plants in exchange for compounds the plants make available to the fungi. Google using search term mycorrhizal fungal products should give you piles of products to try out. Check out the videos that are on You Tube, I just watched the one in the link below and it was pretty informative. Joseph Here is a link that might be useful: Mycorrhizal fungi general discussion on You Tube