I'm sorry to hear about your privet.... I sure wish I could send you some cuttings, they do root easily, and I'm constantly trimming mine back. I don't know how overseas shipping goes though with plant material. Do you know of anyone with a privet hedge in your neighborhood? I'm sure they'd be perfectly happy to let you root a bunch of cuttings from it, and it wouldn't cost you anything. Maybe worth a try?

Thanks, all, for your help. Shooa, the seed option. I am afraid, will not solve the problem as are trying to strike a plant that will be true to colour. If grown fron seed this plant will often revert to yellow, or so I am told. It looks like we will just have to be patient.

Once either soil or air temperatures, or both, are around 75 degrees, cilantro starts getting ready to bolt. I used to work really hard to keep it going longer, but got tired of trying to fool Mother Nature (by mulching heavily, growing it in fairly heavy shade, keeping it very well watered, even using shade cloth to keep the ground around it cool). Nowadays I just grow cilantro during the cool season, and grow either Culantro or Papalo (similar flavor to cilantro but they thrive in the heat) in the warm season. It is relatively easy to grow indoors under lights, but I'd just as soon have Culantro or Papalo in the ground outdoors instead of growing it indoors. Rick, Other than the fact that it is a cool-season plant, the only other reason I can think of that might explain why growing it can be challenging for you is that maybe your soil is too acidic, or much too alkaline. Cilantro is happiest in soil with a pH of 6.2 to 6.8 so in soil that is strongly acidic or strongly alkaline, it might not do well. Cilantro reseeds in my compost pile, and none of the wildlife eat it, so I rarely have it in the garden proper any more---I just wait for it to pop up around the compost pile. I do think that dehydrating brings out a bitter quality in it. Sometimes I leave it out of the salsa when I make it and can it, and then I just chop up fresh cilantro and add it to a jar after we open that jar. I think it tastes better than way, so probably the heat of the canning process also impacts the flavor.

As long as your plant is able to convert light/sunlight into more energy than it uses, it will continue to grow. As it grows, the plant will continue to produce leaves at the apex (growing tip of the stem) while lower leaves die and drop off. You can short-circuit the growth habit by cutting through the bare stem with a very sharp tool. Don't use scissors or secateurs as they tend to crush tissues and create large wounds that die back from the wound site. Use a single edge razor blade or a fresh blade from a utility knife to make the cut. The part of the stem attached to the roots will weep sap for a day or so. As soon as it stops weeping, wipe the wound clean of sap with a paper towel or equal, and paint it carefully with water-proof wood glue. This will prevent the stem from dying back a considerable distance from the wound. You can leave the cutting on the counter or work bench for several days so it forms a callus over the wound, then pot it into a very fast draining and highly aerated medium. What to expect from your efforts: The stub with no leaves that's still attached to the roots will back-bud enthusiastically. Every bud that forms will grow up to be a branch. The plant below has the same growth habit, so your plant might turn out to be very similar: It was treated exactly as I described. If buds/branches form where they are unwanted, you can simply rub them off with your thumb. Once planted, the cutting that was separated from the roots will produce roots and begin to grow, producing pretty much a duplicate of the plant in your image above. The adventitious roots you see forming along the existing plant's stem are a normal part of the plant's morphology, and not a reliable indication that your plant is dying, though I wouldn't be surprised if it was in decline, given what it's potted in. The plant would appreciate a terra cotta pot, which increases water evaporation from the medium and gas exchange. There are a number of ways to put together a medium that allows you to water to beyond the point of total saturation, so you're flushing the soil whenever you water; this, w/o the need to be worried that the soil will remain soggy so long it interferes with root health/function. Getting to the point where your soil is working for you instead of against you, is a very worthy goal and will make a notable difference in your ability to keep your plants happy. What I use: Al