So you guys are tired of my thread? Thanks! It's been crazy here.We've got another bday celebration this weekend, this time it's my nephew's.He's three. The party's tomorrow but I've been gift shopping-and that general routine. I also have my new glasses and I'm going through that realization of how bad my sight has been-now that I can see. I have to say I'm reading fine print more enthusiastically! I'm still trying to decide if I really like the frames I picked.It's hard to have something on my face lol. Been doing stuff like recovering from the virus I had and now we're in track season so three evenings a week we are busy with that. Thanks all for the bday wishes for Ryan-he loves being five and has accepted his new age quite well-I think he's getting out of his "I never want to grow up" mode. Lol Chris is chatting with Drema on the phone right now-he always steals my friends lol. Drema and he both work at the same university so they are talking 'shop'. Hope your pilates class went well Drema! Lauren your pics seem like a dream!-to have tomatoes on the vine right now-that is such a cool thing to realize how opposite we are. Love the pics and color-thanks!Glad to see you here again. V such dramatic burn pics-it really is cool to see how different our environments are, from you burning the place down; ) to Lauren doing fall cleanup during our spring lol. Hey brag away there's nothing wrong when your kid is doing a great job-three awards is worth being very proud of!You've done a great job raising her: ) and Happy belated bday to your DS! Honey you've got some fun stylin' clothes there! Definitely need some pink nails/toenails when you're wearing that first one! That's was terrible that your house got egged!I hope it doesn't ruin your siding.How could someone do that to such nice people! I've been thinking about Tom's job situation-reading the newspaper is so stressful lately when it comes to jobs.Hope it all settles well. Sue I hope Nick is improving-such a worry when you're not sure what's affecting your pup. I know when our two dogs started walking gingerly it was due to arthritis(they were old). I can't wait to see your new hairdo...will you show us? I'm sure it looks great. Aren't brothers mean: )? I'm convinced I'm more resilient because I've had similar 'brotherly' advice all through my childhood....luckily now my big brother lives on the opposite side of the country lol. I learned early to always be on guard when once he told me I was pretty and after I said "thank you!" he added, "pretty ugly". Grrr. Oh I never told you guys my experience last week when I helped out at school picture day. You may recall AJ has a teacher who is a bit overbearing and I really haven't cared for her methods. Well as I get to know her I see she's an insecure person and she was especially nervous about getting her photo taken. She asked me what type of pose the teachers had been placed in and to lighten things up I calmly said "Well so far they've been laying on their sides-you know, like a boudoir pose?" Her eyes got larger than saucers and she just looked at me stunned. I said,"you do know I'm kidding,right?" I never heard a louder guffaw from a person!!(My dry sense of humor gets me in *more* trouble) It was hysterical and thankfully she doesn't hate me and she actually might think I'm not so bad. She couldn't wait to tell the other teachers at lunch what I did....yikes. She did say now she knows where AJ gets his sense of humor...now I'm wondering what he's been saying lol. Taryn are you better yet?and the boys? Any house news? Mary-I liked your description of Annie. That's nice to hear she's having a good experience with the music group. I've been hoping the same for AJ. He's got very few boys in his class so I'm hoping when he joins advanced band next year he can forge more friendships-the music groups generally seem to attract friendly kids I think. I look forward to May when he'll be involved in an area band festival even though he's in beginner band. They group four beginner bands from different schools together for one practice that's two hours long then perform the following day and amazingly their fall performance was very impressive for their very first performance experience.You sound like me-I was always shy in big groups of kids too. Marian I hope all is well...and we're missing so many others. Have a good one. ~Babs

How large is the plant? Young violets will often have small, less mature leaves. Some varieties also just have small leaves. The few pictures I could find of Gossip on the internet showed leaves similar in size to the blooms. These were all young plants though. My Steel Blue rarely has leaves much larger than a 50 cent piece, but my Kris has leaves the size of my hand at times. Cyclamen mites can also stunt growth, but I'm not sure that's what's going on with your plant. Can you post a photo of it?

I absolutely despise these people. They would rather throw a living being in the garbage and basically allow it to die like a human in the boats or Scaphism... Than to allow a needing person to get plants for free. These terrorists are not selling plants, the are holding them for ransom. You pay us or we torture these plants to death. The government is deliberately lying to us that plants cannot feel. They can feel. Our terrorist government is doing what they do best. Commit conspiracy. The know damn well that these plants suffer just like an aborted fetus... And they could care less. I even think they enjoy inflicting pain on plants and animals. It makes them feel powerful. Any human that stands up to them will also be killed or destroyed. The do not take care of us with this economy. The create poverty and destroy billions of animals, millions of Humans and hundreds of trillions of plants. They are no different than the Nazis if you value non human entities. And I do. I'm not a violent person but there are those who control the policies and companies shot be shot in the head. Not that I would ever do that but they do deserve it!!! They are lying terrorists to all life. A blight and parasites!!!

Hi Snasx, I think more realistic approach would be to mutate them rather than genetic engineering which may be really expensive (look up Suntory expensive and unsuccessful attempt to genetically engineer a blue rose). I think in Thailand, they will irradiate plants (bulbs, tubers, or seeds) to produce mutants, usually resulting in variegated plants. And in America, plants such as Daylilies and Mangolias are inentionally made into tetraploid to breed with. Tetraploid specimens can be created if exposed to colchicine as seedlings. And tetraploid plants tend to be larger or larger flowers. The problem is, I've never seen any variety of Jasminum sambac set seed before. Are they all sterile or just require diligence in hand pollinating to breed them?