tropicbreezent, most of them have no problem with low relative humidity...as long as they stay adequately hydrated. This summer, because of the drought, I had to cut back on watering. The only thing I lost was a really neat hanging Pleurothallis. I had spread divisions around my yard as soon as I got it but for whatever reason the only one that established was the one on my tree. garlicgrower, thanks! You can do the same thing in Massachusetts...just on a smaller scale. Figure out which potted trees you can grow indoors over the winter and then attach some miniature orchids to them. Christmas tree version 2.0 has living ornaments.

Hi, folks!!! I see most of you guys are in California. I am in Philadelphia. Ok...I have only seen aloe blooming once here...and it was yellow like in the photo shown. That guy had his aloe for 15 years...and had gotten a million babies all over his house. He gave me two babies and I lost one and was about to lose the other but gave it "benevolent neglect" and it is doing fine. First question...how does one get the aloe to bloom??? Second question...I saw pics from S. Africa where there were many varieties of flowering aloe. What's with that?? How are conditions different??? Ok...let's see what help we can get on this!! Hope you guys are up for the challenge. Gardenbud, Faye

I know it may be problematic or not possible for that matter, I just thought I would try it. There is a picture (I tried to paste a link below) of what is reputed to be plicatilis crossed with bainesii and I think it is a terrific looking plant. I dont know enough about hybridizing to know if that is something that is possible by using natural techniques or if that is something that is created in the lab or something. I am generally not into aloe hybrids but I am attracted to the aloe tree crosses. The tree aloes are right up there with my favorite plants and I cant help but to be interested in the hybrids for the attractiveness and more rapid growth tendencies. Jordi, that is impressive after 10 years and starting from such a small seedling. Dont you also have pillansii in the ground over there? Are they pushing out leaves right now and how are they doing with all this rain? I have three small pillansii seedlings in pots in the window and I am waiting for it to warm up a bit before I move them out to more of a small greenhouse situation. They are sending up tiny new leaves right now and I dont want to mess that up. I am in Spring Valley so we are pretty close and I am encouraged by your success with pillansii as I would love to put mine in the ground when they are ready. Here is a link that might be useful:

That old age thing worries me! My parent plant might be as old as 30 years. It was a decent size when I bought it. The good news is that I have finally found a site in my garden for the twins. I’d forgotten that we took out a Japanese maple earlier this year because it had outgrown its spot in my small garden as well as outwitted my best attempts to prune it aesthetically. It’s a perfect site with regular water and some afternoon shade. If the twins survive separation and moving they are young and I shouldn’t have to worry about losing them to old age. But I hope I don’t lose the parent either!