I think you can proudly call yourself an oldtimer if you joined AVSA under the name "Mrs.Robert Jones". If not - you are a newtimer. I talked to Pat Hancock (Buckeye's violet hybridizer) on Raleigh Convention - and she mentioned using green sand, dehydrated manure, I think bone meal and a couple more ingredients to mix in your soil and let the batch sit for six months to settle - and than it is pure gold. I am it is sure something to make violets big and strong. On the other side - I saw Tom Greer's violets - and you cannot imagine anything bigger and brighter - and he grows them with a modern technology - he pressurizes his growing area with carbon dioxide. So - there is more than one way to spruce them up - may be using reverse osmosis water if you live in a hard water area... There is a lot of things you can do... A great grower in FL makes his soil mix out of perlite, vermiculite and rock wool. No organics - and his violets are superb. For him - the secret - good fertilizer. But - just regular repotting, good light source and grooming - works miracles and it is free. No need to buy $1500 worth of equipment to pressurize your living room with something you do not want to breath. Barbara Spofford shared her experience with a nursing home resident growning super symmetrical violets by turning them on a windowsill every day by 15 minutes (7.5 degrees???) Barb - correct me if I am mistaken with the degrees of a turn. EverYoung Irina with memory gone south, hair dyed blond and teeth...what teeth..

Hi all Bill - Thank you so much for posting your G. baldianum photo, Wow very nice I'm jealous. CP - It was very exciting waiting for my order to arrive as not many of the nurseries here in Townsville sell cacti, or if they do they are sad looking plants. I would love to know where you buy your plants from. I have purchased many of my plants from Max Holmes at Thornwood Gardens in South Australia. If you want to email me I'll send you his details. Michelle

Hi all Thank you all for your kind words. This Gymnocalycium was purchased from a mailorder catalogue and it was labelled as friedrichii. I had a look at the link and found it very interesting, does that mean I should change the name tag to G. stenopleurum. I have a few other unknown mihanovichii, stenopleurum and freidrichii plants so I will have to post them when they. Thank you all Michelle

>HOW do you determine if it's an echeveria, aeonium, >sempervivum, graptopetalum, pachyphywhatever? I have >scrolled through websites mentioned here until I'm cross- >eyed. As to the differences as to some of these, I'm not going to be able to help you as I'm 1) new and 2) more into cacti. I will recommend a book (though I would first get it from your local library (or if they don't have it -- your library's interlibrary loan system (as long as rates are low)). Terry Hewitt's book "Complete Book of Cacti & Succulents" It was published in '97 and the author's now deceased, but it has some excellent pictures and descriptions that will help you determine genus, if not species. (If his book isn't available, check out some other general references on cacti/succulents (at this point you want pictorial)) The internet has vaster information, but much is disorganized and the the best pictorial guides have far better picture resolution than most online photos. BTW, of what you have the sempervivum's are the most likely candidate to overwinter outside. >I'm also confused by 'family' and 'genus', not to >mention 'species' and 'variety'. Some of my plants look >like they could be in every catagory! For scientists to be able to classify and help determine 'inter-relatedness' life is grouped in to Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. So all cacti are in the family Cactaceae, African violets and Florist Gloxinia are both in the family of Gesneriads, all plants in the mint family are in the family Lamiaceae (square stems, opposite leaves, emitting a strong-mainly pleasant smells when crushed). Usually however you want to know Genus and species because they uniquely identify your plant (plus 'possibly' variety/cultivar). Sometimes these names are in flux. For example there are two groupings of plants known as prickly pears, one group has flat pads and generally fleshy fruit, while the other has round long pads and dry fruit (these are sometimes known as chollas). Their flowers are very similar and they both grow their new growth as jointed segments (as opposed to many cacti that keep growwing smoothly from the same growing point). So some scientists group all the prickly pears in one genus (Opuntia), and others seperate them out into tow (Opuntia and Cylindropuntia (for the Chollas)). A species is a group of plants that grow in a similar region and can interbreed fertile offspring. So the definition of a species is sometimes obvious and sometimes vague. A Variety(or sometimes cultivar (for "Cultivated Variety") is a nursery/legal term. It is either a vegetatively propagated plant or hybridized seed, or a seed line that has been selected or bred for unique qualities (usually a unique fruit, or flower color, or leaf pattern not appearing in the general species population). For example all the different apples in the grocery store are the species Malus (genus) domestica (species). However each variety was selected because of unique characteristics and vegatatively propagated (Red Delicious, Gala, Rome, etc.). Note too, that a vegetatively propagated variety can be patented and then marketed under a 'Trademarked' name. Thus if you look at roses they have a trademark name (something catchy), but it will have another name (David Austin's roses patented names all begin with AUS...) that it is actually patented under. >Does anyone have an easier way to determine what is what, >as far as family and genus? I'm trying to figure which >need to be houseplants with bright light, vs. outside >plants with full sun, vs. the 'do best with some shade' >plants. I wouldn't worry too much about the family - the genus is more important. Try that book (or ones like it that I mentioned. >I don't think I'll be buying anymore from WalMart. All >the info you get from there is "Grown in Mexico". I hope >this post even makes sense, because I feel like a raving >lunatic right now... Unfortunately, I've found that most of the retail nurseries don't provide labels on their cacti/succulents. Mail-order are usually much better about labeling, but even they can sometime mis-label. >So is there a very elementary explanation anyone could >give me? Like how would you teach it to a third-grader? >I'm still looking for the best color pic book with all >the info, but haven't found one yet. Sorry this went on so long - hope it helps. Try the book I mentioned or one like it. Here is a link that might be useful: Terry Hewitt's Book