Depends a little on what kind of begonia you're growing how to propagate, but begonias in general are pretty easy usually. Techniques vary according to type. I haven't tried Magilla perilla, but have a friend who turned one small cutting into dozens of gallon or more pots over the winter--she loves to propagate and has a lot of experience, but I think she just stuck it in a pot of good potting mix and then took more cuttings as the first one grew. They're gorgeous! There are several different vines that are known as potato vines. Are yours Solanum? I haven't tried them but I don't think they're hard--just be sure with all your cuttings to use a good-quality potting mix and keep them moist but not soggy. As you do more of them you'll get a feel for what works for you, which might be different from what works for someone else. Cuttings are usually pretty easy as long as you don't forget to water (one of my failings!)

Susan, Thanks for asking. Our son's graduation from the fire academy was awesome. They showed about a 20 minute video of 'highlights' from their months in the academy and we all really enjoyed seeing that. Then we took a tour of the academy and it was so much bigger and more complex than I had imagined. It was huge! About a dozen of his future co-workers came to graduation and I thought that was really wonderfully supportive. He worked his first 24-hour shift as a firefighter at D-FW Airport yesterday and came in this morning just as happy and as excited as could be. He said they had one fire call, one automobile accident call and a terrific lunch and dinner. What more does a 22-year-old need? Husky Red Cherry. I think that you will like it. You know, it really is not a determinate OR an indeterminate and I thought about the husky series yesterday when I was writing Jeff a definition of determinate vs. indeterminate. Husy Red Cherry is an ISI, which stands for indeterminate short internode. So, technically it is an indeterminate, but a dwarf one. The ISI tomatoes are suppposed to combine the best characteristics of determinate and indeterminate tomatoes in one plant. Thus, it should give you the more controlled growth habit of the determinate and the unlimited productivity potential of the indeterminate. I think that is why it is advertised as a "one-stake" plant. The first ISIs were introduced in 1990 by Petoseed and I think one of them was an AAS winner a couple of years after that. There is a whole series of them....Husky Red, Husky Pink, Husky Gold, Husky Red Cherry, etc. I have never grown any of the ISIs. Some people who have grown them didn't care much for the flavor. I never worry about those kinds of comments, though, because taste is so subjective and what tastes good or bad to one person may taste just fine to someone else. I hope it attracts a lot of cats to your yard. Are you growing any of the wild nightshades for them? Dawn

Do they smell or taste different? There's no real way to tell from the photos. In my experience, the way your farmer designated them is typical for the way each of them look. But it's quite often the other way around, and it's also quite often that they're both the same. Peppermint leaves are supposedly quite a lot darker than spearmint leaves, but I can't really see all that much of a difference from your photos. Some people will tell you to look at subtle differences in the teeth of the leaves; others say that peppermint stalks are always purple, never green; some people say that the flowers are arranged differently. Most of that is relative to form, in my opinion. There are countless variations of mint commonly sold under names like "mint", "spearmint", "common mint", "garden mint" and sometimes plants that look like "peppermint", and are sold under that name, are actually just another mongrel form of spearmint. You can buy packets of "peppermint" seeds from almost any nursery, and what grows will look a lot like a typical form of peppermint, but since peppermint is sterile, there's no way that it's actually peppermint. I guess the only definitive way to tell is by testing the oil composition, which you can do to a degree by taste and smell. I don't really know to describe the difference without resorting to confectionery, but it should be pretty noticeable. I was going to also say that if it's spearmint, you should be able to propagate it from seed. But a lot of people never see flowers from their spearmint so that's not likely to work as a test.

My wishlist :) BEANS (anything pretty! except scarlet emperor I have lots of him) Asparagus pea (winged bean) Black Coco Blauhilde Purple Koronis Nonna Agnes's Blue Bean Fort Portal Jade Bean Auntie Wilder Good Mother Stallard PEAS! Any rare, heirloom, or odd colored varieties Arbogast Carouby De Maussane Champion of England Green Beauty Lincoln Magnum Bonum Mammoth Melting Sugar Prince Albert Spring Blush Tendril Tall Telephone Wando SQUASH (any bush types!) Bush Buttercup Desi Summer Squash Gelber Englischer Custard Kakai Kogigu Lakota Makaronowa Warszawska Spaghetti Moranga Musquee de Provence Shishigatani Sibley/Pikes Peak Sucrine du Berry Sweet Dumpling Tatume Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato Triamble/Shamrock MELONS Ali Baba Watermelon Ananas Crane Early Frame Prescott Ginger's Pride Ineya Piel de Sapo Plum Granny/Queen Anne's Pocket Melon Sakata's Sweet Melon Strawberry Watermelon Swan Lake Tip Top Valencia Winter Melon Vert Grimpant TOMATOES African Queen Aunt Ginny's Purple Aunt Gertie's Gold Believe it or not Big Ben Big Rainbow Black Russian Blondkopfchen Brandywine Yellow Burpee's Globe Ceylon Chile Verde Elfin Emerald Evergreen Gold Medal Goldman's Italian-American Green Doctors Green Giant Jaune Flammee Marvel Striped Mary Robinson's German Bicolor Matt's Wild Cherry McClintock's Big Pink Mortgage Lifter bicolor Old Ivory Egg Opalka Orange Banana Orange Strawberry Orange Minsk Peach Blow Sutton Purple Russian Red Rose Santa Clara Canner Sara's Galapagos Stump of the World Stupice Sunrise Bumblebee White Beauty Wild Sweetie ANY Dwarf Types - Fred's Tie Dye, Mr. Snow, Purple Heart, Sleeping Lady, Summertime Green, Uluru Ochre, Waratah, Wherokowhai MISC. All kinds of leafy greens (ANY kale, lettuce, cabbage, amaranth...) All kinds of radishes (the more colorful the better!) Carrots - (ANY) Atomic Red, Black Nebula, Black Spanish, Chantenay, Gniff, Koral, Oxheart, Scarlet Nantes, St Valery Cucumbers - Miniature White, Parisian Pickling, Dragon Egg Purple Artichokes Ground Cherry (physalis peruviana) Goji Berry/Scarlet Wolfberry FLOWERS Poppies (Papaver somniferum) Calendula - Kablouna, Oopsy Daisy, Erfurter Orange Dianthus plumarius Carnations Sunflowers Snapdragons Hollyhocks Nasturtiums Wild Violets (Viola Sempervirens, Viola Adunca, Viola Glabella) HERBS Anise (pimpinella anisum) Aztec Sweet Herb (lippia dulcis) Basil - Lime, Himalayan, wild basil Fireweed Hopi Tea (thelesperma filifolium) Lemon Balm - lime, variegated Lemon Verbena Ginger Mint Mountain Mint (calamintha sylvatica) Oregano - Any evergreen in Zone 8 Salad Burnet Soapwort Sweet Cicely Vervain Yerba Buena