Annuals are, as you said, plants that come up, flower, set seed, and die in one growing season. This season, however, can be variable. For instance, larkspur are planted in the fall in the south, flower in the spring, and die when the heat moves in. Yet, they are annuals. Your moss rose (portulaca) is a hot weater, self-seeding annual. If you grew it in an area one year, even though you pulled out the old plants at the end of the summer, it had already dropped thousands of seeds on the ground during the summer. The next spring, when the soil warms and the sun shines, up those seeds come. Moss rose (and many other annuals) that seed so generously are often called "annuals that behave like perennials". They are beloved (and occasionally cursed) for this trait. You do need to realize that if the varieties you grow were hybrids (as many portulacas are), when the seeds volunteer, they may very well not be the same colors as the ones you planted in the first place. Some gardeners actually "select" their own colors, by watching volunteer seedlings carefully and pulling out all except the ones they want to keep. Over a period of years, by allowing the desirables to set seed and denying this to the undesirables, they can get nearly all the volunteer seeds to come true. Now, for the dianthus. Botanically speaking, dianthus are bi-ennials. This means they come up from seed and make roots, stems and leaves in one year, overwinter, and then bloom, make seeds, and die the next year. "Bi"-meaning two. "Ennial", meaning year. Get it? This being said, there are lots of kinds of dianthus. Some do exactly what I just described. Some are self-seeding, so they volunteer. And some are very perennial-like in their behavior. I have some that are perennial-like. They return reliably, but to keep them in top health, they need to be divided every other year or so. I discard the old, tired centers, and replant the fresh, new divisions. It sounds like this is what you have. The funny thing is, one of the best perennial-like dianthus I have was in a six pack of the bi-ennials that I bought one fall. The other five bloomed the following spring and died when the heat moved in, but that one didn't. I have had it for several years now and have divided it and spread the wealth all around. Another one I have was a pass-along from a friend who got hers in the same way. Another, I ordered from a nursery. As you can see, dianthus are quite variable. (Just another note, MOST dianthus don't like the south's heat and humidity. But, as already stated, there are notable exceptions.) I'd say this one you have is a true keeper, for the odds were totally against it. Very few plants would have survivd that long in a four inch pot, let alone inside. I highly recommend that you put all the divisions outside, and give it some care. Sounds like a winner to me. Just so we cover all the definitions, a true perennial is a plant that, although the above-ground parts "die" each year, the roots do not. So, they are said to go "dormant" each winter (or sometimes summer, depending on the plant), and then the roots produce new stems, leaves, flowers, etc the following spring. Although most perennials can be grown from seed (though not necessarily easily), most do not bloom the first year from seed. But, since they return year after year, they are called perennial. The definitions are pretty clear-cut, but as you can see, the plants don't know that, and there is a good bit of blurring of the lines. Hope this helps! :)

Morning, Thanks!! NJ. You make it sound so simple. lol. Now I wish I'd have bought two Camellias. Maybe I'll place an order if Camellias are still available. We rarely have 0F nights, but it's not impossible either. Climates changed drastically over the years. Yesterday, it was 67F, extremely high humidity. It's in the 30's today. Do you think it'd be a good time to plant a Camellia now or should I wait until spring? Wouldn't it need time to adapt? The plant isn't that big.. I'm surprised loquats and Aspidistras are hardy to z7. Especially when temps dip to 0. Do you mulch? What about wind? Is it windy there? Wind is one problem here. Temps may be 40 but when winds are strong, temps feel 32 or so. If I wasn't having problems with IE, I'd Google cold hardy Camellias, then see if the seller on Ebay has one. Thanks for the info. I haven't repotted..If needed, I'll wait until spring. Thanks for mentioning Cam's need wide opposed to deep containers. Knowing this helps a lot. My Cam will go in the back room where temps are chilly. Azaleas do well in the back room...don't know if you're familiar with Azaleas or not..they prefer cool to heat, therefore grew well in that room. What about humidity??? Nj, where's your pics? :) Hey Nancy, What a big bloom! So pretty.. Yep, there's all types of Cams. Some fragrant, some miniatures, others with large, medium, or small flowers. Oh, different color flowers, too. I had a Cam back in the 90's. I used to work at a plant outlet store..They had a Cam 'standard' tree, in bad condition..they were going to toss it, so I decided to take it home. This type bloomed during winter. I had it 3 years..then one day it up and died..boo hoo. Flowers, 'not many but it did bloom, lol,' were large and fragrant. It's death was my fault..For one, I didn't know its care, never changed soil..the pot was at least 12" so I 'assumed' it'd do well. Fertilized with the wrong fertilizer..because of its size, tree Cam was in an area with little light. I now know it should have been rotated, too. Nance, do you trim all the branches? Are you not worried you'll cut when Cam is about to bud??? I notice the area has mulch...do you add mulch to prevent weeds or to keep plant roots warm, if temps happen to drop too much? I'd love to find a variegated, fragrant flower Cam. lol. BTW, our HD's do not sell Camellas. Not even as house plants. Thank God for online nurseries. :) Toni

Tom: A couple of questions just to clear things up a bit: Are you certain of the origin of this cutting? What did the person who gave it to you tell you about its source? Was it one of the mall plants? If so, you might be best off asking the management of the mall who contracts to maintain their plants, then ask them. Care of indoor plants is quite a large business in many urban areas, and I am sure they would be glad to tell you what they are growing and placing in the malls. Is your impression that it is a type of almond based only your internet search in which you found similar leaves? If so, your identification is by no means certain, since so many leaves look similar in photographs. Rhizo may very well be correct that it is one of the common ficus species. There is a Gardenweb forum on indoor container growing, in which appropriate soil mixes for this type of culture are one of the most common of topics. You might rather want to visit that forum than this one, which is concerned principally with fruitgrowing. I was a little puzzled by your comment that Canadian tire stores sell these tropical plants. Surely, Canadian nurseries do not also sell tires. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

First, to clarify, not processing high-acid products like fruit is not "unsafe" per se. "Unsafe" is an inappropriate designation. The jars may not keep as well on the shelf because there's a higher risk of oxidation, softening, mold, etc. even fermentation, but no one is going to get botulism or die. If any of these problems occur, you will see it and smell it and simply not consume the fruit. So some recommendations for heat processing are not safety-related so much as quality-related for longer shelf life and better preservation of the product you worked so hard to bottle. That's why the American standard is to process these products by boiling water bath. But lots of Europeans do not process and health-wise they are not at risk. Do note, though, I'm only speaking of fruits and that I'm excluding certain fruits like mangoes or figs which are lower-acid. With rhubarb wine you are fermenting the fruit. Again, rhubarb is high-acid, so it's not a risk. Plus you're adding lots of sugar and the fermentation process will create acid. Wine is a very acidic beverage. So again, there's no risk. (Except sometimes wine goes "off" and tastes foul or molds. Fermentation is always a gamble.) Vodka and gin are not "unsafe" either. You can do what the Europeans do and infuse cherries in brandy and not process if you don't wish and it's fine. Again, in time the fruit will soften, but nobody's going to get sick or die from it. But again, I wouldn't infuse a low-acid fruit like figs without refrigeration or processing. That's a different issue. Alcohol is "biologically inert" and is also high-acid, so putting cherries in brandy is not a health risk. Carol