I'm not sure about the clivea part, but went to a house party where this girl had a plant. I tipped it over and separated this piece with its roots and brought it home. I still owe her a part of my chinese evergreens.

I know the original message was posted almost to years ago... But I cross all my vegetables. Just to see what I get mostly. I have many squash crosses. And many, many brassica crosses. I've also crossed peppers. Bell peppers X jalapeno. Jalapeno X ornamental Thia Hot. If interested in the results, let me know. As for brassicas. One intersting cross I made was a red indian mustard (Brassica juncea) and Chinese Cabbage (B. rapa). I mostly got empty pods with vestigial seeds. But I did get one viable seed. This bolted immediately and grew into a tall (about 4 1/2 feet) weedy looking plant. Leaves were very small and narrow and only slightly reddened. It branched heavily and flowered profusely. I only allowed other chinese cabbages and bok chois to flower at the same time and cut back any mustards that bolted. I let the bees do the work. At the end of the season, I had 13 seeds from this plant. I planted all of them the next year and they all grew. They all basically looked like mustard plants, some very red, some slightly red, and some green. I allowed them to be pollinated by other indian red mustards and and southern giant curled mustard (also B. juncea). I now have a very mixed mustard that I grow every year. They range from red through green. Some leaves have jagged edges, some have curly edges, while most are more rounded. Their seeds are bigger than typical mustard, more like B. rapa. They also cross more easily with othe B. rapas as well as B. juncea. Aproximately 25% of the seedlings have 3 or 4 seed leaves instead of 2! These for some reason are usually red. I once pollinated a brussel sprout from a wild winter cress just to test viability. The brussel sprout produced well developed fat seed pods but they were totally empty. I have many crosses including kale, kholrabi, broccoli, and/or cauliflower. I now have a strain of broccoli with white cauliflower heads that produces as early as broccoli. An annual kale X broccoli derivative was still growing and flowering in a pot in my yard here in N.H. until two weeks ago when I brought it into the heated greenhouse. It has been unuasually cold and into the 'teens many nights!! Two others potted next to it froze weeks before. Any more interest, contact andyspigeons@yahoo.com

For Kat, apart from your Hippie seed age (most likely problem) extreme heat just like extreme cold, will be against germination. Veti, hippiastrum seed is best sown fresh, all species have different germination rates some Iris are very slow, sporadic and unpredictable. Clivea if ripe and fresh can take anything from weeks to months. Climatic forces like drought can certainly be a factor with any plant that is grown randomly that is just by broadspreading. With some plants with short viability if they miss the right conditions that season, the game is over. Other plants can have any range of triggering mechanisms for germination. That's why we "cultivate" in special conditions when we can, to assure best chances. Your question though would fill a book (and probably has). Jay, they will survive a while even floating under water but its not necessary to wait for a shoot before planting. Once a root has formed that's pretty much all you need. Transfer gently to a moist mix - I make a little "rill" and use tweezers holding the seed case if it remains or if not any forming shoot - then gently backfill around the root. Leaving TOO long in water can be fatal though as you may get some rot/fungus or the seedlings may be deprived of oxygen and nutrients while being in just water. Just keep lifting them out as they get big enough to handle.

ANNAbel...............you know what you have done don't you? I'm in a huge quandary, do I wait until my cream one finally flowers or hack off all the leaves and pot them on so I can have 100's. Details please, was the leaf all completely green or did it have a white base. Did you trim it first and what mix did you pot it in to? Is it in it's own pot or next to the parent? See what you have started in my garden :o) Kayle you don't escape my thanks either, I usually grow aggie's by the heaps from seed. I wonder if they develop on much quicker from leaf. Wombat thanks for the site. I can't wait to try all your ideas - thanks heaps. Mrs B