I like your questions Toni-even if I don't answer all of them. Yes it was a photo op with the plants on my entertainment center. It sits in the corner of a room with 2 double hung windows on the north and two on the east. It is a very bright room and lot's of my plants take turns sitting there. The arailia is in an antique chamber pot. I have 2 african violets that flower non stop year round. They are in a plastic pot within another pot-cups or cute bowls. I water from the bottom and fertilize with every watering and they flower and flower. I seriously do like looking at that moonshine pup. I recently had huge problem with my 22 year old baby boy. I never imagined parenting could be so hard. Fortunately, he seems to be on the right road again. But my plants were my salvation thru it all and this little pup made my day brighter as did the garden web. My sans starting growing in January this year. I do have one sans that has flowered twice for me-the flowers smell nice but they don't look like much. The first picture is moonshine and the second is pearl young I think. It does stay that color. It is a shorter leaved sans. I now have 5 pots of the cylindrical sans. The reason why I separated them was in another post someone said theygot rid of this plant because it grew to big to fast. I am tempted to do some trading with my extra plants or else give them away as christmas presents The zz plant has been a challenge. It had aphids and I did not figure out what had happened until it was almost mushed to death. So now I have 3 pots-the original pot and another one that looks like the one in the picture. I am an underwaterer. So you can imagine how little water my zz got. The plant that is in the original pot is putting out a new leaf. The 2 other pots need chopsticks to hold the plant in place. Quite truthfully, I would like to pitch them but maybe they will put out new leaves too. The moonshine in the first picture did need to be staked for a while because it tipped over once while being watered-another reason for clay pots. I am thinking about getting a mongo sans from one of the sites listed in the post on the sans forum. Diane

M3, you're the second person, (this week) who mentioned their 'kitty' feared T-storms. Rub her head, talk softly, explain, 'mom' won't allow anything to happen to you. Does ME get a lot of rain? Nina, It's actually more than 20 yrs. LOL...aside from sowing seeds in my family outdoor garden at age 11, w/o knowing what the heck I was doing, I purchased my first houseplant at 18 yrs old..that was 37 yrs ago. So, add 17 years to the 20..LOL..How embarrassing! In the beginning most plants died from too much TLC..in other words, overwatering. I can't begin to tell you the number of AV's I killed. Not intentionally of course. One time, (late 70's) I assumed potting an Av in a super large container would grow 4' or taller..LOL. You can figure out the results. After reading and rereading every book I got my hands on, I learned the tricks of the trade. But still have a zillion questions that need answering. Nina, you have 8 children??? Wow, no wonder you gave up plants..when would you find time? LOL I'm assuming they're grown, which means you now have time to pursue a wonderful, relaxing hobby. Yes, it'd be great having a neighbor who shares our love of plants..My friends/family either don't give a hoot or live far/out of state. We send each other cuttings though. Nina, are you going to sell your plants in hopes of finding someone who shares your interest? Good luck..I truly hope you meet someone. There's a man down the street who dotes on all plants..His wife doesnt' share his interest.LOL..Isn't that the way it goes? Other than him it's hopeless. We've lived here 20 yrs. Our front and back yard was covered in dead grass, (temps were in the 100's and no one watered) totally dead bushes, and weeds over 4' out back. It took time and work, but eventually looked decent. Little by little (when hubby was at work) I'd dig sections of grass and add perrenials..LOL..now the entire front side has flowers. In fact, most of the front, and part of the back is the same..grass is getting scarcer and scarcer..LOL..Most house plants are in back, some in front. Every so often, ppl ring our bell, asking the name of a plant. We notice, more and more people are doing the same. Digging grass and planting flowers. Still, during the last 20 yrs, we haven't befriended anyone who grows house plants..in fact, most ppl buy plants in spring, like tropial Hibiscus/Azaleas and toss in the alley in autumn. What a waste!! I KNOW what you mean about going to the store and buying a plant/s..you are talking to a mirror image of yourself..LOL How many plants do you have? Are you now collecting AVs? Other plants? At least you live in a nice, warm climate..that sure helps. Wish I could say the same; soon plants will be coming indoors. sigh. Let us know how your sale goes. You never know, someone might come along, in which you'll find your kindred spirit. Begonias aren't the easiest plants to grow..they need humidity, but don't like wet feet. If possible, try Wax begonia..this way you'll get a feel for their care. Keep us posted, Nina. Lucille, you did it!!! Congrats..Now that the hard part is over, all you have to worry about, (at least until they need larger pots) is water and fertilizer. Of course there's always clipping faded flowers and inspecting for pests, but that's trivial to what you've accomplished. How did you test go? Larry, I researched Alsobia..the Dianthiflora is gorgeous..the white flowers are adorable. I love their flower texture and shape. Do they require a lot of humidity? One thing that confused me was, while researching, Wikipedia said, dianthiflora and punctata are succulents..Is that correct? Like most other sites discussing Alsobia, they all stated Alsobia were once related to Episica. Is Episcia tropical or succulent? I'd love to get hold of Ember Lace, but it's almsot impossible. They're bought before the seller posts..LOL. Have a great wkend. Toni

Hi Toni-- No apology necessary! I know sometimes we have to do silly things like eat and sleep and take care of our families--and plants! Last time you asked some questions I forgot to answer--if I go back to check if I left something out I lose the message. Always feel like I lost some of my brain when I've written a bunch of stuff and it zooms off into outer space or wherever lonely messages go. One thing you asked was about raising houses. Lucy's house isn't a mansion or anything, but it's not a mobile home--kinda typical suburban ranch-style I guess, with some changes through the years. I happened to turn on the TV in the middle of a program I think was about the hurricane that pretty much wiped out Galveston (Texas) I think in 1912, and they were talking about raising houses there. Some were nice Victorian houses with I maybe three stories, and they were raising them using horses. Don't think they do it that way now, but I don't really know how they do it. Too expensive I think for a lot of people, but you can't get insurance without it now if you live in a low area, or maybe just have to get a very large deductible. Really hard for people, but the ones who can't afford to do it can't afford to move either. Life isn't easy when you're on those lower rungs of the ladder. Another thing you asked was about the orange cleaner-stuff I add to the water I use on my plants. On one of these forums probably six months or a year ago, somebody said he went to Home Depot and got a gallon jug of an orange cleaner-degreaser called Zep I think, and added a splash to a bucket of water and watered fire-ant hills with it. I tried it and it worked beautifully. Don't know whether it kills 'em or just chases 'em away, but I don't really care. They have their place in the 'web of life', I guess, but I'd rather not have them around here. You probably don't know about fire-ants, hm? Lucky you! They're little things, but they swarm all over you, and they have this clever ability to bite and sting at the same time. I have built up an immunity--from exposure--and don't get the nasty reaction I used to get, but they still don't feel good--the 'fire' in their name comes from how the bite feels. So anyway, I thought if it worked for that what else would it work for? Started using it various ways--in the mop bucket to chase away the various bugs we have in such generous supply ('cause it never gets cold enough to kill much of anything, including bugs!) Not the very best cleaner I've ever used, but not bad, and when I use it in a spray bottle on my plant stands not only does it clean them, the bugs died when they flew in even after I was through cleaning. Started adding just a little to the water, and I don't know what all it kills but I do know it killed the scale on a chirita species that I'd tried just about anything I could think of and couldn't get rid of it. Funny thing--that chirita was on a shelf with other chiritas and other plants and nothing else got it. It was a different kind of scale from anything I'd ever seen before and I didn't recognize it at first--almost lost the plant before I watered it with that. Okay--now for today! I think any time you have anything organic, for instance peat moss, as time goes by it begins to break down and becomes increasingly acid. The dolomite keeps it from getting so acid it damages the plants. I think the eggshells do about the same thing--but the real reason is my mother, who usually had a scientific explanation for what she did with her plants, said she didn't know what they did, but she always found the plants had attached their roots to any bits of eggshell they found. I have a good-growin' friend who goes to all sorts of trouble with her egg-shells--boils 'em and puts 'em in the blender so they're really fine--but I just drop shells from anything I'm cooking, or just my breakfast eggs, in an oatmeal box, and when there are quite a few and I need some I smash 'em up a bit and add a handful or three, 'til it looks right to me. Now that's scientific! Of course it lightens the mix some, which I always think is important. The mix I buy is very light and the postage isn't much--but I suppose it is fairly expensive, tho' it lasts very well, and sometimes I add it to something like the mix at the big box store to lighten that. I did some reading on the net about salvia so I could do a better job of answering you--but of course it would have taken hours or even days to do a good job! I think before I got here I thought there was only one kind of salvia, the bright red one that everybody uses for bedding--and which comes in many more colors now. But according to what I was reading there are something like 700 species of salvia, and they come in annual, biennial, perennial, and shrub or sub-shrub varieties. A lot of the ones I grow are tender perennials and make it through most winters here, but sometimes they don't. Sometimes I take cuttings so I'll still have 'em if we get a little chilly weather. Most years it doesn't get much below 30F here but occasionally it'll get a little colder, and the worst is when things get all spring-like and everything starts growing, and then we get quite likely the coldest weather of the 'winter'. (I think I may have said, I moved here from Nebraska, and I know what winter is, and I just can't bring myself to say 'winter' without the quotes for what we have here. The coldest weather we had in Nebraska was the January before we moved here, and we knew we were coming and were back and forth on the phone a lot. Bill would ask 'what's the temperature there today?' and they'd sound kind of bored, he said, and then say, oh, maybe 68 or so. For almost the entire month of January it never got up to zero for the 'high'! It did get to 35 below one winter, but that was only down and back up to regular cold again. That was practically a whole month. The pipes under the streets froze.) Just never gets really cold here. Fine with me! There are a lot of tropicals that have to come in--like the plumerias--and I take cuttings of some in case they don't make it. Have a new banana this year I'm kind of worried about, and I don't think I can take a piece off it. Good mulch and maybe I'll wrap the trunk or something, and I think it'll do--my other bananas are either hardy or come back from the roots (all three, if you count Musella! Read that back and it sounded like I had a plantation out there!) Boy, the people that label plants must take some kinda special training all right! Aeschynanthus labeled deer fern is some kinda prize winner though! Can't think of anything I've seen quite that bad. Guess it's better not to have a name at all than one that leads you that far astray. Sometimes I get something I'm sure I'll be able to identify it, and then can't. I have one really cute little bitty succ like that. But I must say, I haven't worked at it as hard as I should have. So much to learn! One of the things I do is look at the websites of various nurseries that have a pretty good reputation for names and that have pictures--Rob's Violet Barn, Kartuz Greenhouses, Logee's--many others of course--and look at the pictures and check the names, and stick things in my brain (or at least try to!) Those three are good for various gesneriads like Aeschynanthus. I think these nurseries do a great public service just in putting those pictures and names on the web. Obviously, they sell more plants with pictures, so it's to their advantage, but you don't have to buy to learn a lot. Back before the web I used to send for catalogs a lot--we moved frequently, and often we lived in places that didn't have much in the way of nurseries, or gardening clubs or plant societies either, and I learned an awful lot from catalogs. (And sometimes spent money too, tho' nowhere near as much as I wanted to!) I'm ahead of myself a little in taking things in this year, but not because it's either cold or wet. Too dry--officially we've had .20 inches of rain this month. I think it was 86 or 87 today, very, very humid, and got clear down to 72 I think this morning. Supposed to get a cool front through tonite or tomorrow, maybe 70s high and lows in the fifties, and less humid. Less humid will be nice. I get tired of being wet and sticky all the time sometimes, but then I think how much the plants like it. My waistbands are always wet. My nightgown's always wet. But the plants love it! so I try to! Nancy

I'm going to give both Erica and Heidi a point. They each had 2 correct words and posted so close together that I doubt they saw the other guess. Great effort, ladies! Adding words: _ i _ _ _ i _ _ (8) Posted on first list _ _ _ _ i _ (6) _ _ _ i _ _ _ (7) _ _ _ i _ _ _ _ _ _ (10) _ _ _ i _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (12) _ _ _ _ i _ _ i _ _ (10) I have a long meeting to attend in the morning so I may not be drawing letters and posting them until after lunch, but I won't forget! Jeanne