I have all three cultivars. This is their first year to bloom for me. My Darling Clementine blooms its heart out with new blossoms every day. So far, I've only had one bloom from Betty Warren Woods, but it is in too much shade, so I need to move it soon. Humdinger has lovely creamy light yellow extra-large blooms that keep on coming. I am liking it more and more every day. So far, the best yellow that I have is a diploid, Ruffled Perfection. It is stunningly beautiful. Nancy

Jake, you must be a hybridizer at heart. You are studying the exact things that all other breeders did years ago. The patterns for the hybridizing formula were established prior to the time BWW came out, along with Ida's Magic and Admiral's Braid. You are a true historian...now work on modern strategies. What is less widely known are the northern dormant patterns. They were established through line breeding and resulted in edges and narrow petals. Then Angel's Smile came along. Now the northern dormants are unfluenced by southern genes. Maybe too much. Bob, wanna write a book about northern breeding? I'm hoping that Numecca turns out equally good stuff.

I'm bringing this to the top again to see if we have anymore people that wish to add to it. I also want to include the thread from yesterday inviting all the "lurkers" to join us. It was a really fun thread and a very good indication of why this forum needs a conversation and gallery section. Thanks Shauna Here is a link that might be useful: Lurker thread

I wouldn't use straight peat as a substrate. I used normal potting soil at first, but recently I replaced it all with shredded cedar bark, and I like that much better. It looks nicer, is a more aerated substrate (important for plants), and will decompose much more slowly. It also smells nicer. Soil that stays constantly moist can get really smelly, and the charcoal will only absorb so much! Wild-collected moss is what you have. Moss that you are collecting from the wild. =) You shouldn't be harvesting wild sphagnum, because it is already vastly over-harvested. Just let the stuff that you have grow, and then snip it when you need more for another plant. The reason I asked is that we don't know how long wild-collected moss lives in terrariums. You may be okay, living in zone 9, but most wild moss requires that cold winter dormancy that it gets naturally outside, but it won't get that in your terrarium. As a result, it may die after two years, because it will just get too 'tired' from growing all the time without a break. But, since you live in a much warmer climate than I do, and your moss would be adapted to that climate, it might do just fine for years and years. Only time will tell. I have some wild mosses in my terrarium as well, but they haven't been in there for very long (just since this spring), so it's too early to tell how they do long term. If your moss does eventually die, I would replace it with a tropical moss like java moss (sold in aquarium stores). As for cleaning it, I'd do more than just hose it off. I soak my pieces of wild moss in RO water (which you should also be using) for an hour or so to drown bugs. It also helps to loosen any debris, like pine needles. Then inspect it for snails and the like. I have some snails in my tank now, and i strongly suspect that they came from some wild moss. They can be really hard to see, so check carefully!