Thank you all for looking! Sunnysa (Irene if I remember correctly?) I don't mind questions at all. The white orchid tree is Bauhinia forficata: Brazilian Orchid Tree. You don't see it much in nurseries, but maybe that will change with our climate getting warmer. Some sites rate it's hardiness to z. 11 and some to z. 9. When it was young I covered it with two quilts and wrapped the trunk during a hard freeze, Now I do nothing. It's also called the 'insulin tree' and the leaves are made into a tea for diabetes and other ailments. You can read about it online. The Madonna image on the columnar cactus passed along by Tally is natural, but my husband said I didn't take the picture at the best angle. I'm tempted to notch the head portion to look more like a silhouette. Should I? As for garden art I've had a lot of years to collect plus many have been gifts. Also I've been very fortunate in finding some things at garage sales in my own block. Recently a dear friend who is anticipating a move gave me some of the pieces pictured above for which I am very grateful. There are more that she gave me that I'll post about someday.

You wouldn't be the first to go into the industry after retirement from some other career. Interior landscapers - also called interiorscapers, or commercial plant care co's - are the people who care for all the plants in commercial situations - the offices, lobbies, hotels, restaurants, airports, etc. Sometimes those places employ the interior landscaping co to install and care for the plants, sometimes they have their own full time 'scaper to care for the plants in their facility. The industry is called Interior Landscaping. If you're interested, this is an interesting history: http://www.manyhatspublications.com/article-145.html There are several websites for plantscapers which are often for professionals only, but you can easily join if you're looking for information; this is a good one: http://www.newprocontainers.com/blog/ You can also google "plant care companies" in your area if you'd like to talk to some professionals.

I do not know if that's what it is, but it may be a mutation. And possibly a regular offset has started growing. It is not known precisely why these mutation happen, but it is suspected that it could be fungal, bacterial or viral infection. Physical or chemical damage to growth center and are other possibilities. There is likely many other possible reasons for mutation to happen. Monstrose plants grow slower - and if monstrose, maybe that is what you see. Part of the plant could be damaged, and other part are not and will grow 'normal'.

I have no ideas. But when anything I can't explain happens to my haworthias, I dig it out for a once-over, just to make sure there isn't anything going on under the substrate. If there is nothing (and this has also happened once), I put it back in pumice and leave it alone. Two things can happen---the rosette will recover or the leaves will root separately. Note---get a magnifying glass when you examine the plant. Even if you do not see anything (pests or what-not), spray with alcohol all over before replanting.