Cat....I think I stick to tried and true entirely too much. I think I should be trying to find something a little different to grow like you and Bill. I've never heard of guinea hen flowers. I do like toad lilies but I tried one and it didn't make it through my winter. I hope you will post photos later. Bill...I never saw a slug in my yard until last year. We had a lot of rain that wouldn't let up and they started showing up. Where do they come from, out of nowhere? [g] You remind me of me... when I can't sleep in the summer, I will get up and go out in my pjs with the flashlight and a paper cup and look for earwigs, which I hate! They seem to love me for some reason. Just the same I enjoy being out there at that hour. You get to see all the night creatures and some of the fragrant plants make the trip worth it. And if there is a moon out, a warm breeze and it's very quiet, it's almost magical! And you can't see all your mistakes at night. [g]

Yes Mike. It is a very handy tool. The bent tip makes it really useful. You can grab the base of the plant and jiggle the base to loosen the roots and pull it out. Very useful when reaching in tight spaces especially for succulents. In bonsai the back of the tool that likes a little spade is useful to tamp down the soil, smooth it out and tamp down moss on the soil. I have two of them because my wife seems to like it too and it disappears from my tool box from time to time. Come to think of it I have two of most tools.

Do they set viable seed? They can be had in the UK, but usually as pelleted seed and very spendy. The type of plants which need to be grown in a generous mass so spending £££ on 25 seeds is not really my cup of tea...unless seeds can be collected for future sowing.I would like to grow a coupla hundred so I can guiltlessly pick for a vase (or 2). It is very rare indeed, that I buy seeds. Since saving my own, germination rates of everything doubled and I can also collect abundant amounts. Hardy geraniums, for example, are sold in packets of 8-10 seeds whereas I can collect many dozens using brown paper bags and patience. Since I generally prefer the simple species and avoid sterile hybrids, seed collecting was a revelation to me.

Wanted to share a success, have been growing a passiflora edulis Nancy garrison indoors for the past two years. Second year of fruit.