Hey, Billy Rae! Go for it! You have nothing to fear! My only advice, up front, is this: Don't buy a braided group of plants. In my opinion, the braided plants are doomed to failure. Now, onto the story of how I came by my Pachira: My brother has a Pachira that used to be braided...slowly, all but one of the trunks died. The remaining trunk had been the largest/healthiest from the start, which is why I always suggest that a buyer simply purchase a full, healthy, single-trunked specimen. Anyhow, my brother is rough on plants. During one of his "moods," he broke several leaves off his Pachira...I can't remember if he bit them off, or if he was swinging his glow-sticks around the room like weapons. Long story short, he placed one of those leaves in the bottom of a plastic cup, filled with generic peat-based potting soil. The soil was constantly moist/wet because there were no drainage holes in the cup. He handed me the cup, and said here, take it. So I did. I brought the leaf from Sacramento to Auburn, where it sat from February to May on a warm Eastern window-sill. Surprisingly, it grew into a full-sized plant! Now, I summer my Pachira on the front deck (western exposure), beneath a large maple tree. One year, I put my Pachira out before the maple had leafed-out...big mistake! Nearly every Pachira leaf was sunburned white. New leaves grew when the dead leaves dropped, but now I know to wait until I can offer filtered sunlight. After a period of acclimation, Pachira can handle quite a bit of sun. Josh

I am afraid I'm as guilty as anyone here when it comes to having some plants die on me. There has been a lot going on in my life recently and unfortunately many of my plants have suffered. I lost one of my favorite streptocarpuses and also one of my chimeral African violets that I've had for many years. I have a saying that many plants have given their lives for my education. When I started out growing plants I killed most of them out of ignorance. Unfortunately now when I kill a plant it's usually more out of neglect, which is more of an embarrassment. :o( Fortunately my African violets and gesneriads are pretty tough plants and take quite a bit of abuse before they succumb. Life looks like it is going to be a lot less eventful and return somewhat back to normal. I know, famous last words. lol But hopefully my plants will soon reap the benefits. Larry PS - Yes, Cena does know where I live. She was nice enough to go out of her way to visit my wife and me one afternoon when she was in the area. We then showed her around our house that we affectionately refer to as the North Denver Conservatory. It is a great house for plants with its wonderful windows. Cena was quite gracious with her complements. I love you too Cena.

Next time dont bother! Dayliles do not need coddling, they will survive, any 4 month old seedlings doesnt need covering really after they are harding off, they just get plopped into the ground.. any seedling that cant handle 26 degree late frosts arent worthy of my time! Daylilies can handle several frosts and wide temp swings.. and MOST of my seedlings are derived from evergreen to SEV crosses, I didnt lose one this winter... Silverkelt

Okay--reporting back the results, so far, of my extreme measures taken in eradicating 'Southern Blight' on several of my hosta! The one-eyed crown I removed from the 'Golden Sculpture', unearthed and removed all leaves, cutting the crown back severely, and soaked in a bleach solution for an hour and then changed off the water every two days--is doing great! The remaining eyes, in the original pot show no evidence of the 'blight', with that eye removed! I did spritz full-strength bleach on the soil surface of those left in the pot, as well. So far, the one-eyed crown is producing 5 additional eyes and three of them are already sending up leaves. So far there is no sign of the 'blight' on this one, (these eyes) either! Now--the 'American Icon' that I also dealt with severely, and did not unpot, but in this case I just sprayed straight bleach on the base of the petioles, and surrounding soil, and left it on for a couple of mins. before pouring on a good amount of water--so far, so good! I've also sprinkled corn meal on the soil surface and watered it in well! The 'S&S' and 'Titanic' I treated in the same way and also have added corn-meal fairly heavily and watered in--so far, so good! Lost almost all the petioles and eyes on those, but one eye (that was decimated) is sending up a small leaf! They did get repeated straight bleach sprayings after pouring on the 10% solution seemed to not be working! The 'Alex Summers' planted in a raised bed--I removed on Thursday and also removed all the soil and soaked over-night in a 10% bleach solution--I have rinsed and soaked a couple of hours in plain water and potted them up, divided with cornmeal also heavily applied. Every leaf is turning a bright orange! On the one pot of 3 eyes I have just, today, cut the petioles back severely. I've left them planted to see what comes of it! The other two eyes are potted and I'm letting them play out the dying off of the leaves, in hopes they will also reflush! I started out with one eye of this one, from Hosta Direct, and had 5 eyes this year--3 summers later!!! I really am not very hopeful about those two! The roots looked so fragile when I removed them from the bleach water!! I've also done the same thing with another hosta that has shown the nematodes--my 'Maui Buttercups'!!!! I'm just sick about that one, especially! I started out with one eye two summers ago, and now I had three this year! It was looking so good! I also dug it up yesterday--removed all the soil, all leaves (cut them to the crown) and separated all three eyes and soaked them overnight in bleach water! They, too, looked fragile this morning! I've potted them up--set them apart from all other planting areas and will keep a close eye on them for a couple of years. I did test a leaf in the water, (that was also soaked in bleach last night) as I do with any nematode infestation and there seemed to be no 'nematode' life evident, today! How far reaching was the bleach in effectiveness on the nematodes, remains to be seen. And, will the hosta in both situations, having been soaked overnight in bleach 8-10%, survive and thrive--will also remain to be seen! Oh, I got the idea to bleach for nematodes from 'Pietre'! :o) I'll keep you posted--whether you want to know or not! ;o/