Man, I can't believe all the stuff you guys do to germinate these babies. I like my method of just sticking them in the starter greenhouse and setting it in the breezeway. I guess if you don't have a cold room or area like that to put them, it is necessary to refrigerate them. I'm just so excited about them popping up in the starter cells without any fuss. I see new seedlings popping up all the time. I had one whole section of the cells that I was afraid weren't going to do anything, but when I got home for lunch today, another new baby had begun to emerge in that section, finally! I filled up two more of those 72-cell starters last weekend, and I can't wait to see what they produce. My biggest baby already has split and is branching out in two directions!! I'll have a tiny rose "bush" soon!! That one is from ELSIE MELTON. My best germinator so far tho, seems to be LAVANDE. There are 6-7 of them! I can't wait to see how different each one will be. This is so much fun!!

Yeah, my neigbhors asked me how I was able to achieve that many plants. They saw me working on the garden around early March. They were curious about the garden beds I was making. They saw the milk jugs. I explained to them what it was and also gave them the Wintersown site. I actually watched their reactions when they saw it. They didn't pay much attention to it kinda like "oh, ok". However, when plants started to come out/bloom, they went back to me and asked, "was that from the tiny greenhouse". :) I'm going to make more beds maybe by fall once my knee gets better. :D Thanks mnwsgal! :)

Hi Nancy, I've posted about using Strep. 'Mighty Mouse' in crosses many times, so one more time won't hurt. It is often thought of as being sterile because the pods, when they mature look to be empty. But, there are often a few fertile seeds in the pod, and it only takes one to germinate and grow on to get something special. When a strep pod matures we expect to see lots of dust like seeds. So, when this one matures, the few seeds are barely noticable. I have only used 'Mighty Mouse' one time and that was over 20 years ago, but I got two plants from that one cross. The pollen parent was a species, gardenii. Anyway, your pod looks good. Grow it to term and when it starts to crack, carefully open it over some white paper to catch the tiny seeds. Hopefully you have good eyesight or a good magnifying glass to see the seeds. Plant them right away in a sterile mix and hopefully your first attempt will be successful. If not, don't dispair and keep trying. It is not difficult to make strep crosses and there is a lot of value in making mini crosses--most of potential here hasn't yet been seen. I learned about this plant as a hybrid parent from the creator of the cross who also was the first to make crosses with it. He said it would make 7 seeds, on average. His first seedlings from crosses with MM proved to be much more fertile, and subsequent generations led to the first mini streps, which really were more like compact streps as they could still get fairly large. He didn't name any of his crosses as he felt that each new generation made better hybrids than the previous. This was too bad as there are none of these early crosses still being grown. But, they were used by others to make the compact types that we see today. Of the hybrids that came from MM, but from a number of generations later, the best known is Jonathan Ford's 'Joker', a red hybrid. Dale Marten's 'Texas Hot Chili, a cross with kentaniensis, has MM in its background. The hybridizer of MM gave up on gesneriad hybridizing within a few years of making this cross, so much of the potential was never realized. Since it was made, dozens of heretofore never cultivated species were brought into cultivation, some of which grow fairly small. We have a much more diverse gene pool to work with today, so there is lots of potential. MM is a cross of a seedling of the 'Cape Beauties' strain x johannis (white flower form). Jon

Thank you all for your kind words and your advice. I have to say though that I am still so torn. I was planning on painting the cabinets white if I got soapstone but I am married to one of those men who loves wood - even if it looks like zebra - and I am not sure I am confident enough to go against his wishes. I have to admit that it is a lot easier to keep our oak cabinets looking decent than the white ones in the bathroom. I really had this vision though of an old fashioned kitchen with the white and soapstone, and Victorian style faucets. But I have a 70's house so I guess that was kind of silly. I was getting so obsessed about this that I just had to step away for a while and put it all into perspective. I have been perfectly happy in that kitchen for 18 years, formica, oak and all, but to make a change it all has to be perfect? But here I am, everyone else in bed, and I am googling pros and cons of countertop materials. Guess I haven't stepped back that much! : ) I'd like to "trust my gut" but all it tells me is that I am going to make a mistake! lol. Lascatx: I live in Plano, just north of Dallas. Thank you all for all your insight, and I will let you know if I ever have the courage to make a decision!