Steve - I am sorry, I didn't want to imply that you do not know what minis are.I am sure you know. I copied this info just for reference. What I was saying - is the way the industry grows the plants for WM - is to grow a young plant in a very controlled environment very fast, force them all to first bloom at the same moment and sell them now. They are immature plants, plus they are jeopardised by this forcing - I presume by temperature and hi phosphorus fertilizer - that's why they have trouble adjusting afterwards. Whatever is sold in 4 inch pots - they are all standards, I am quite sure. At the same time they sell small pots (2 1/4") with minis and semis - I bought Rob's Boondoggle in Lowe's once - but again - you never know without a label - but the bloom on this variety is quite typical. Another thing I would look for - is the size of the leaf. Even if it is a young plant - the leaves on standards are ... standard size. Since WM is not known to be a super nursery - I think they can actually stick any plant into any pot and believe that it is all cabbage and roses. So - let's not argue about what they sell - they themselves do not know... Again - my apologies irina

Yes. This is how I prefer to water - from the top. I make sure to pour out any water left in the saucer after 30 minutes Well...it's because I'd read so much about over-watering and root rot ...I waited quite a bit between waterings as I kept testing the soil and when my finger would reach all the way down towards the bottom of the pot, it still felt a tad damp so I kept waiting. I may have waited a bit too long to the point where the lower leaves of this one started to cry for water. As I said, one leaf got really bent in the process and it seemed to have suffered a bit of breakage - so I cut it off. But the other leaves seemed to have recovered after the watering, except one that is till slightly bent towards the ground, but OK - so I am leaving it there. Goodness, I only remembered this at the end - unfortunately; so I ended up adding a bottom layer of perlite with only ONE of the four AV-s. However, I changed the soil for all of them to a 30% AV, 30% peat and 40% perlite. Or something like that. I hope the soil is airy-er now. As mentioned above. . Although the pots I have are supposed to be self-watering (with that lip saucer), I don't use the self-watering technique. I don't trust it in these pots - they have too many draining holes and I am afraid the AV-s would just sit in water for too long if I just filled up that saucer and left the pots sitting on it. ... I think it was indeed very high time for watering, even though, like I said, I didn't think the bottom soil was bone dry or anything when I took the plant out of the pot; it still seemed very slightly damp to me, but then again, it could be that AV-s would literally die by the time the bottom mix would become bone dry too, just like the one at the top! <... and getting too little light>. Yes. I think this is a problem. They are on an East-facing windown...which I later realized is actually a slightly North-East facing window, and I have been keeping them with the sheer curtains on (the sheers have in fact a slightly opaque texture)...so I really think they were not getting enough light. I thought I wanted to make sure they don't get into direct light, but now I think they will be better off with the curtains drawn away, even if they will get a few direct sun-rays on them through the window, during the first part of the day. After 1:00pm it's complete shade anyway and the morning sun is not that strong. . This is why I cut the one that was really bad. Yes, I realized mine is not a case of "necky-ness", at least not yet. But it's clearly asking for more light. Funnily enough, the other AV which was sitting to the right of the one with problems, remained shorter and with leaves parallel to the ground (even though they both looked the same height and size when I got them). It just so happens that the normal one was to the right (east), so slightly closer to where the sun-rays are falling. I am just not sure whether being slightly more to the right in such a small area would really make a difference. You can see the two AV-s in the link below. The one to the right stayed OK, the one to the left developed the problems I mentioned. Thank you so much for all the info, no such thing as TMI for me. As you may have noticed, I am not exactly the concise writer either! :-) Here is a link that might be useful:

NATALIA'S CANDIED POPCORN Double white blooms with pink blush. Dark green leaves. Semi- miniature. I got it from the link below. I cant find it on the AVSA either, or on any other page for that matters....lol. Maybe it is not a registered variety yet? Maybe someone else can help more. Here is a link that might be useful: NATALIA'S CANDIED POPCORN

Sorry for the delay in responding. I thought I'd get an email when someone posted. I looked at the plants suggested. My mom said the closes one is the rubber tree. I found a pic of a Castilla elastica leaf that she said would look like the plant she saw if the leaf was smaller. [http://www.hear.org/pier/imagepages/singles/caelap14.htm] I'm not sure if this plant was bought in a store. It's more likely someone went looking for the plant, dug it up and brought it home. My mom said she suspected the person who gave it to them knew about the plant and that's the reason they past the plant to them. My aunt thinks there is a picture of the plant (they thought it was a nice looking plant and had original intended to keep it) and she's looking for it. I'll post it if it's found.