Plants don't age in the same way we think of people aging. Age in people is a described on a chronological basis, where plants age ontogenetically. This might be framed as, the parts that have taken the most cell divisions to produce are the plant's oldest parts; so strangely, the most recent part of the plant (say, a new branch high on the plant) to grow is the oldest part of the plant. The youngest part of the plant will be found in the root to shoot transition zone. This juvenile part of the plant is also nearly always the most vigorous part of the plant. Plants pass through life stages until they end up at the sexually mature stage. At that point they are capable of blooming/fruiting. Whether they DO or not is complicated and not entirely understood. Blooming and other environmental reactions of most healthy plants are primarily influenced by day length (technically it's night length), but more than a few plants are triggered by other factors, like moisture availability, temperature, predation. Some plants even seem to have an internal 'alarm clock' that acts as a trigger to bloom. There are species of bamboo that bloom as infrequently as every 130 years and when the bloom occurs, all plants of a given genetic origin bloom simultaneously, en masse (all at once), and this occurs regardless of environmental influences. Now, that a plant is capable of blooms/fruit doesn't mean it will produce same, no matter how much we hope. The factors that limit a plant's ability to bloom are as complicated as those that trigger blooming. The plant's internal chemical messengers that limit blooming is first influenced by the plants ontogenetic age, but then by health, stress, stored energy reserves, a significant number of environmental factors, and sometimes seemingly no more than a built-in piqued obstinacy that can be more irritating than Justin Bieber or the Kardashians, if that's even possible. How do I get it to bloom? Keep it healthy and let it do its thing. You can search online - there might be some simple ways to coax it to bloom exactly whenever it feels like it. How old does it have to be? The only age important to plants is what growth phase they're in. They have to be old enough chronologically to have reached sexual maturity. This is also complicated because the (ontogenetic) age of the parent plant from which the propagule (that is now your plant) was taken has to be a part of the equation. Example - a hawthorn tree from seed needs to survive around 20-25 growth cycles to bloom; whereas, a cutting from a blooming hawthorn tree can be counted on blooming within a few years if its state of vitality has been generally good. Al

Sounds very much like rose slug larvae damage, to me. Here are a couple of links to threads about rose slugs found by doing a search on this forum with some interesting information. There may be other threads on the Antique Rose Forum. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/roses/msg1113121915397.html http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/roses/msg042021559569.html http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/roses/msg0512455712090.html Smiles, Lyn

I "stumbled" upon this thread as I'm reading quite a bit on snakes lately. I moved into an area in Alabama that is known to have Copperheads, (unknowingly until AFTER we closed on the home) and there are other snakes (Cottonmouths, rat snakes...) as well. I haven't seen Cottonmouths but I have seen other snakes. I have eliminated quite a bit of the things that provide food and shelter for them. I plan to expand quite a bit of hardscape (concrete, crushed aggregate, river rock, pavers/patio) and ALL monkey grass, jasmine, pine straw, and other ground cover including shrubbery will be history. The goal is to keep everything clean and green and incredibly unpleasant for snakes. I have also found rodent holes and filled them with crushed aggregate, and rocks. I make certain to use long garden tool handles to push the rock into the holes and pack them to the point where no further material can be packed. We have killed two Copperheads to this point. one was under my vehicle as I headed out one morning. We have younger children, visitors, dogs and cats... that may not be aware of the dangers. The Copperheads are particularly dangerous as they can be aggressive and may not be easily seen by an unsuspecting visitor... We want to decrease the likelihood of an encounter but we also don't allow the snakes to live once we discover them on the premises.

I have a collection of Snake plants and I rarely describe them as easy, hardy, resilient, tolerant, etc like most people do. Some varieties are just plain finnicky and die for no reason. When they die it's usually like this, by one random rotting leaf at a time. I have two plants that are amazing and I've gone through quite a few other varieties that haven't done nearly as well. What has worked for me? Idk really. When I buy them from the big box store I immediatly take them home and rinse off all the soggy peat from their roots and let them dry. Then I pot them using orchid blend mix (dont buy the miracle gro brand, theyve all had fungus gnat infestations recently) which is basically just pieces of bark and the pots have to have drainage holes. So really the water just runs over the roots, never actually sitting on it. They like to be root bound, whenever Ive tried putting in large pots they suffer. I only water every couple weeks. Ive attached a pic of my good variety (I have two of these). They're beautiful and constantly growing and reproducing but, like I mentioned before, other varieties have died with identical growing and care methods. Luck of the draw maybe? I'm still trying to figure it out.