Morning, Happy to see this thread is still alive. Yesterday I made tacos...I like avocado on top, so as of last night, two 'cado pits are sitting in the sink. I'm debating whether or not I should 'try' sprouting the pits. I have a question. Why are some pits larger than others? The two in the sink are minis. What's with that? If they sprouted, grew, would they be dwarf avocado plants? Are larger pits and cado's filled with steroids and/or other chemicals? Is that the reason they're so much bigger? I mean a huge difference in size. Wanda, why are the passion vines dried? You said they're old....how old is old? I used to receive a catalog from a seed vendor. 'Don't know if the name can be mentioned.' On the front of the back cover were lists of plants/seeds with itemized care details. According to the company, passion vine 'fresh' seed takes 90+ days to germinate. I can't recall papaya, but someone here might have sowed papaya seeds, and a general time. Good luck, Toni

Howdy All, This thread has grown!! Laura, And all this time I thought Serissa's were slow-growers. One month later, and your babies are tall and full. How much pinching will be done? Also, are you planning on seperating or allowing each plant to grow in the same pot? You mentioned you wanted Serissa to resemble a tree. Laura, people are never satified..One might feel a family/friend gathering having fun is a wonderful event while another will call the police and claim their neighbor is distubring the peace. 'Their' nosy peace. Aw, son wants a ski trip. Actually, I don't blame him, but I agree, a trip is expensive. If he contributes, it'd be a lot less stress on everyone. Congrats on your sons graduation...you must be one proud mom! I guess, if you plan on buying him graduation and Christmas presents, the ski trip would account for both occasions..plus his contribution, of course. :) Oh God, Laura, your Orchid is absolutely gorgeous! Bi-colored flowers are striking. I can't really see foliage; which variety is the orchid? Oh, before I forget, and if I didn't mention this before..one time dh and I built a model plane called Black Widow...P-61..Are you familiar with P-61, kit plane? Actually, it was dh's project, he did a fantastic job. Well, the plane was set on top of a nice shelf, centered in the middle. About a year later, for some oddball reason, our cat decided to jump on the shelf. Down went the plane..no, it didn't glide, it broke. I've never seen dh so angry! For a second I thought he'd kill our poor cat, but thankfully, he didn't..he did yell at him though..lol. Laura, do you fertilize orchids in bud/bloom? JoJo....awww, Goober is sooo affectionate..He's aching for your attention..:) 'mom, don't play w/that machine..I'm more important.' lol. I think Goldfish tends to bloom more in summer, but since mine hasn't even put out a bud, maybe someone else knows the correct answer. lol Oh JoJo, your dh made the mistake of his life, opening the door, thankfully to your advantage. Woohoo! ") Sales, sales, where are the sales??? lol. I love Clydesdales..They're most beautiful..the horse posted in a real stud. Love Cyldes legs and feet... JoJo, you're a very attractive woman. Your son is so cute..He'll make one handsome man in the future. After a third browse, I just realized how huge that plane is. Oh, you're going to move Goober? lol. SS. I love your sense of humor..In fact, funny people are great talking to..happy and care-free..Well, most of the time anyway..It's too bad life wasn't care-free.. As long as you don't mind people discussing plants or other topics on your thread, we'll continue chatting..planes, trains and automobiles.:) Thanks for allowing me to set the bar...lol. Hey, so far so good. I swear, when misting plants, I check Jades..and each day more new growth appears. One Crassula is in another room, 'warmer/south window,' as an experiment...Don't inspect that guy as much. It's up high. Seems when I move a plant, it's like Domino's. One plant knocks down another, which turns into a bloody mess. Or is it muddy mess. lol. Wait, I thought you trimmed your variegated Jade? Now, I'm clueless..lol. I used to visit C&S's daily, now I check once in a while..even though I think I have more succulents than tropicals.. Every so often I'll post a thread, 'ask questions,' or look at pics..I LOVE MeyerMike's JAdes....Those colors! But, you're right. I got the idea cutting Jade/s back when someone ordered a huge Jade trunk on Ebay, then posted on C&S. There's so much to learn on the forums..you know? Yep, we can sit down, relax, 'you drink coffee, I'll have tea,' then you can tell me the story about your sink. lol Is it plugged up? I hope not..it's a pain unscrewing pipes, then trying to remove dirt, stones, whatever. As careful as I am when showering/soaking plants, it never fails..leaves/stones/soil ends up down the drain. I love ST, but did the price increase? I usually buy pints..It went from 20 to 34.00.!!!! Don't know what to do..In my case, it's uneconomical buying 2-4oz bottles. If you're serious about the scoop, I'll take it, but please let me know the price of postage.. Hoarders. lol. I save all types of valuables, 'some would deem junk,' for plants..Especially trays, plastic domes, and jars. Buying a brand name or even generic item would really shrink a wallet, so why not stock up?? lol. Have a great wkend...Toni

Wow! So much activity over the winter. I am impressed at how all of you keep motivated over the winter. I just spent this morning watering the trees and the few perennials I managed to chunk in the ground before winter because it was crazy warm so it got me thinking about gardening and my unfinished retaining wall :( and how late I am with seed starting - just placed seed orders! I would love love to come to the Spring Swap. I am planning to start some seeds (Snapdragons, Linum, Pansies, Petunia) given to me this weekend outside! Gulp! so there is a possibility I could have seedlings to bring. Also (prob more appropriate on the orchid forum - is there one?) I get a good fix of bloomers from my orchids over the winter. Almost everything is blooming now. The Oncidiums have a shorter bloom span and started in late December (blooms are starting to wane) and the Phaleonopsis started blooming about a month ago. So with this going on, I forget that I need to start seeds! Anyways there is a possibility that I will have several Oncidiums that needs repotting and separating if anyone is interested. They are really easy to grow and maintain, the first Phal was obtained (blooming now!) about 12 years ago and it could possibly be about 15 yrs old.

Zuzu I totally agree about the Hortico bare roots being among the smallest in the business. The main canes are somewhat larger than pencil thick and the root systems look like strings (but there are plenty of them). At least they haven't artificially pruned the roots back like another bare root company I order from, but they're still quite small. If you put a lovely richly rooted Palatine bare root against the Hortico bare roots, it's like an elephant vs a mouse. Still, the canes look healthy enough. There still are some problems in their Hortico website though, BTW. I ordered their climber collection because I really wanted to replace my Nahema and no one else had it in stock. Also, there were 5 climbers for $75 listed, none of which did I have (never happens usually). Well when the website rang up the $75 collection for $81, I figured there were some hidden shipping costs and didn't think any more about it. When I got the roses, the climbers were a totally random collection most of which I already had. Turns out the website linked to their "random collection" page rather than the special listed without telling you. Their service representative says she's been working on what to do about this (um, maybe send me what I ordered?), and so far no word yet all this week. At least she acknowledged that it was a website glitch and not my error. Good job making use of the discount for $6 each Zuzu - how did you manage that one? That makes a big difference in deciding to add to your 500+ roses. Hope they do well for you this time around. Cynthia