Folks there seem to think that this is a toxic Solanum pseudocapsicum (Jerusalem Cherry). _________________________________________ In related news, you could let your friend know that all peppers are Perennial, if he wishes to grow an actual pepper that is both ornamental and edible. I have four peppers in the house for the winter. The dwarf varieties - like various Thai chilis - are nice and compact, and have smaller leaves. Josh

You're right. It's 'Very Pretty Weed' ;-) Actually something in the pea family and I think it will make yellow flowers.

Last winter, we had under 14 degrees here in No. Carolina (I am a former New Yorker and was surprised the winter can get so cold here).. Anyway, all of my Salvias came back (what you have). The trick is to NOT cut them back in the winter. If you don't cut them back (and you may want to because they can get unsightly by the end of our growing season) there's a great chance they will come back. We had a really cold and wet winter with snow and low temps and mine were fine - mark where you have them and check in the spring for new growth. Let us know how they did Carrie

I would repot it in new dirt. A nice fluffy orchid /succculent mix with drainage. Not gritty one but one with barkfines. I grew mine from a cutting and the first EARLY springs, I cut it back to 4" stubbs and that forced a bunch of branching at the base. I would have it outside as much as possible in part shade. We have thin shade under our small trees in texas. They are plants that like to grow in the canopy. The thing about cutting it back so drastically is that you won't get blooms the year following because it does like to bloom on old stock or that is what the literature says. Some say that one should keep it in a natural light dark cycle in early spring to set up a bloom cycle. I water about 2 a week here in HOT HOT HOT Texas. It would probably like more but I am lazy and without much water. It is a JUNGLE tree cactus. 112F and 13% humidity is not its preferred environment. I fertilize once in the early spring (fish fertilizer) and then once after every bloom cycle.Those huge blooms must take a lot of energy to make. I can get 5 flushes of blooms in a long texas summer. Once I had 50 blooms . There is an Epi forum that could be of help. It does like neglect, that is why it likes me. I have heard that the blooming is a reaction to stress. I do not know if that is true. I take that tidbit with a barrel of salt. Hey, I think we bandy the racist card around to easily in this day. This woman got close enough to several asians to check out their plants and make an observation. It might have been a faulty observation but its intent had no malice. Looks like she got a cutting from one of those "asians". It was a different world back then that she was a product of. Sounds like a great OMA.