Calvin I can't comment on your kingianum but your Coel. is doing what it is supposed to be doing, even with you IMHO, mistreating it. I haven't researched your nitida and probably should before I type, but most Coel. want a dry-er winter routine, not a dry winter rest. To me, a dry-er winter just means the cooler temps slow down the need to water. They are very slow to lose leaves and when they do the p-bulbs still remain quite plump for a long time. In the heat of summer, they get watered every 2-3 days. This winter, they get watered every 5-6 days - dry-er but still watered. In the fall, unless you get very extended periods of heavy rain, I wouldn't worry about shielding it. They like moist and bright. They need to be planted in a very shallow container because the roots are only 1-3" long and tend to appear on top of the mix, rambling about. Post pics when you get blooms. My Coel. lawrenceana 'Ervie' is in spike, we can compare blooms. Brooke

Bachelor's buttons is a common name given to quite a number of flowers, including both annual and perennial Centaurea species. A small book could probably be written on the term. You may be sorry you asked--!--but here is a lengthy but interesting quotation from "The Plant-Lore and Garden-Craft of Shakespeare", written by the very erudite Canon Henry N. Ellacombe, Oriel College, Oxford. I have a reprint of the 1884 edition. Canon Ellacombe begins with a quotation from "The Merry Wives of Windsor", referring to a young bachelor carrying "buttons". Then he quotes another authority: "...the supposed allusion is to a rustic divination by means of the flowers, carried in the pocket by men and under the apron by women, as [the flower] was supposed to retain or lose its freshness according to the good or bad success of the bearer's amatory prospects." Canon Ellacombe continues in his own words: "The true Bachelor's Button of the present day [19c] is the double Ranunculus acris, but the name is applied very loosely to almost any small double globular flowers. In Shakespeare's time [late 16c-early 17c], it was probably applied still more loosely to any flowers in bud (according to the derivation from the French 'bouton'). Button is frequently so applied by the old writers [example]...and by Shakespeare [example]. It's interesting that he doesn't mention any Centaurea at all. He was quite a gardener so he would certainly have known Centaureas. I should add that I have been searching for the double Ranunculus acris for several years. It was an extremely popular old perennial, also called Sailor's Buttons. There's an interesting thread about it on the Perennials forum. Closer to home, Alice Morse Earle, who was from Massachusetts, wrote the following in "Old Time Gardens" in 1901, also since reprinted: "[Some say the bluest flower is] Centaurea cyanus or Bachelor's Buttons, a local American name for them, which is not even a standard folk name, since there are twenty-one English plants called Bachelor's Buttons. Ragged Sailor is another American name. Corn-flower, Blue-tops, Bluebonnets, Bluebottles, Loggerheads are old English names [for Centaurea]. Queerer still is the title Break-your-spectacles. Hawdods is the oldest name of all." If you imagine a small circle of glass, shattered from the center outwards, you can envision how the name break-your-spectacles came about. Plant lore is endlessly interesting.

ladyslppr: Robin is right Salvia hispanica is the most common Chia sold on the market. It is sold as a "Aztec Superfood" it is being produced in South America which is the second largest exporter of Chia Seed. I take it and use it in fruit juices. The same can be said in Southern Mexico. There is also Chia flour which is being used in glutten free breads. And the first use of it was the "Chia Pet". I have some growing here at my home they have got 4' Tall but have not flowered yet. I understand if you harvest the plant early you can use the leaves in salads. You get a more easily digested omega 3 than in fax seed. Now you know way more than you ever wanted to about Chia. Art

I agree with Howard. My greenhouse temperature can increase by over 80F (45C) beyond the outdoor temperature during the middle of winter when the sun is still quite low in the sky. At other times of the year the increase would be even higher if I allowed it. The type of greenhouse you have is not as well insulated, but the temperature increase could still be more than enough to do the type of damage you're talking about. The cover basically creates a solar oven during sunny weather. Greenhouses use shade cloth, ventilation, and/or evaporative cooling to combat this effect. -Chris