Hi Nancy! Thanks for thinking about my problems and responding! Of course everything new helps! I'll go over what you wrote in the order you wrote it so I don't miss anything...... :) No need to apologize, I understand the idea of these help forums and each of us have our own lives and duties which come first so I'm always appreciative of help... I noticed that this site does not have "awards" or "points" for successfully answering questions or having members voting on those answers, just a thought that people like to work for rewards as well.. maybe getting a "leaf" for a good/best answer??? just a thought.. (1) Yes, I put them in the same light as the mature plants, that was easy enough to do, but I did notice when I took the photo (thanks for the suggestion it pointed out several things to me that are not visible on photo, but one that is---is why did the little pot have lighter leaves than the bigger pot? Most of the plants have the beautiful dark and silver leaves while the little pot has lighter leaves..... my answer is that it is smaller so its up "higher" on the stand, closer to the source of light and more in sunlight more hours each day than the darker ones (which I guess in the plants tropical natural state), they love the floor of the jungle! not the upper reaches so the plant lightened it leaves in color versus the lower plants! Well, I certainly will keep most of them lower down, but limited space there, so I put the stems up higher for now until I see roots and leaves. (2) thanks, maybe I'll start a new posting with that photo now that I have it here on computer easily posted, so I can just ask: "can you identify this plant"? (3) Sorry about the quality of the photo I had to eventually throw out that plant as it became sickly and fell over, so I don't call that mineral deposits. It seems to come and hit a particular plant but not the surrounding plants, so if its mineral deposits then why is it doing it? (it appears on others and now I cut it out or discard early). (which is my hidden fear that what if it attacks one of the plants I can't easily replace or discard so easily?) About viewing it in person I looked at your page, I'm all the way East, approx. 2,900 miles, so visiting to view it could be quite a "road trip".... (4) Good thoughts and ideas.... Lots more information I could give you about the plants and their "history". I have had them for 30 years in same exact location (next to some of the "lighter" color aglaonemas plants (some of this refers to your comments later on as well)... I originally had lots of algae growing in those bottles. When I separated the plants after 30 years it was due to the appearance of the gelatin fungus----- I had originally had algae lots of it! in the water bottles with no Deco fertilizer ever! They just have plain water, left to air out and get to room temperature before its used--no chlorine here so none in tap water--- I used to wash out algae when it got too thick or made the bottles "ugly" as guests noticed it...and preferred the clear water. The gelatin mold came just to this species of plant--no where else....algae is either present or not in other bottles, they are all growing or not with or without the algae.. sigh.. that is why this geletanous fungus is so puzzling and they at the garden shop wanted to see a photo too... (4a) I never used 10% bleach, but if it does not harm the plant itself and I can clean out the algae too(??) as well as the gelatin stuff then I'm certainly willing to try it (I will only do "one" plant first as a test to see what happens as I don't want to lose both of them if I do it wrong. (4b) These corn plants have a tropical like stalk, more like Grandparents' pet huge "palm tree" which I wanted to bring back but no one would move it up north, so unfortunately I don't have a "potted palm" (remember old movie "Mr. Roberts"?) but I don't think a cutting will work on this style of plant as only one very slow growing stalk per plant. Still have the same number of plants as I took up here... so I don't know how they propagate, no flowers ever, no rootlets, so wondering what it is--species/name before I do anything like trying to cut it..... my own dividing up the plants was an emergency idea to save it from having all in one huge pot and losing it all to some disease.... (4c) about your "question" --yes in the photo, its not an official Deco pot. I have plenty of stones still in original bags, but what I have lost over the years is the pots as my collection expanded, but no more pots were available from stores/online (some people still sell rocks/fertlizer, but I got plenty of those, missing the pots) so of course I was "improvising" there with some of my smaller ones (and the cuttings I just did will end up in those "double" pots I created for the Deco plant mixture----So In the end when I took that photo last I had the water all the way up to "Drown" the fungus I thought, usually I keep it lower since the pot has no "little window" (4d) Didn't know I was doing "water culture". I just had them in water bottles. For years I used water with fertilizer (not Deco brand) to fill the water bottles. They grew and I was happy the plants were happy. But then I read about the mineral salts so I stopped all fertilizer as I saw other people I know, watering plants in water bottles/soil plants using tap water from the tap! and they were growing healthier than mine with fancy fertilizer! So I just switched one year a number of years ago and plants have been growing fine ever since.... (4e) Now about the algae suggestion....Yes my plants in regular glass bottles/pots, have algae! The Deco ones do not I guess due to stones/less sunlight entering the small window, etc--washing out with water for the pots I can lift up. So except for "Guests" who complain, I don't mind the algae...its green isn't it? Anything green is growing, better than brown or white or "gelatin" colored... So I guess with your words of advice, I'll wash out the algae a bit less often and let them help the plants grow. The Deco plant had fuzzy mold on it and also I get it if I transfer water plants (minus the algae---I'll try the 10% bleach next time) from water culture to soil. (4f) Sorry if I'm giving too much information, but serious problem of mosquitos here, and tiny tiny tiger mosquito gets through screening/flies and bites in the daytime and inhabits the smallest amount of water, so they can get inside the home and reproduce and bite all day/night! inside! I use "dunkins" Mosquito Control for the water plants to try and stop/control them, but with so many water plants I've been forced to move many over the years the old water plants into soil culture--- (I use "Bontone" rooting Powder and follow the instructions from the garden shop person who is retired now as I mentioned earlier) but the white fuzzy fungus/mold is killing off my attempts to move most or "all" of my plants out of water into soil. This does not effect the Deco plants as the water level is always below the stones so no mosquitos ever or need for "dunkins". Again the reason I must abandon water plants generally, is that "dunkins" have only about a month of useful life and when I hear the sounds of mosquitos flying around and know they can carry "West Nile" disease inside the home as well, Its time to get as many water plants out to soil but having difficulty making that transition!...Without that mysterious fuzzy white mold occurring!. Again, the monthly depots of "dunkins" is a real chore as I have a "forest_of_houseplants" of many kinds, many cuttings and propagations over the decades.... sigh... its a "jungle" out there! as a television song goes.... I hope I did not write too much for you and others who read this, just trying to give as much information so I get an accurate response to all my problems....probably should divide this posting into several as "Silver Arrow stem is turning brown" no longer really defines this thread, and the name is in error, but they don't let you change the name of a post once you start a thread.. Thanks again for all your suggestions and help Nancy! I will wait until you reply (no rush here or upon you) ---before I do anything in case you have suggestions depending upon what Information I just added.... Best wishes..... Forest....

I looked up stachys sylvatica, and while the seeds look the same, I still have not found anything with the unusually shaped foliage. On the plant that I got seeds from, the leaves were not particularly textured at all-- but all the photos I've seen online of various stachys species are quite bumpy/puckered/textured. And the leaves on my (well, not MY, but you know...) are not rounded- they are very arrow shaped. I am surprised, also, at how quickly this thread fell down to the bottom of the page! Thanks for the above suggestions, but I don't think it's quite the same. Any other ideas? Here is a link that might be useful: the seeds look like this one...

Welcome silvergirl. How exciting to watch and wait and see what pops up. My garden is mostly about to burst. Here's what's already blooming: Clematis H.F. Young (fading and falling in the rain - - it was prolific this year) Lupines fernleaf bleeding heart lady's mantle knockout roses (just started popping) wooly thyme hens & chicks (one sprouted a pink flower, prompting DS to disown it) azalea lonicera sempervirens 'manifich' columbine huechera (forgot the variety - - purple & silver) creeping phlox (pink) dianthus about to burst: Peonies styrax japonicus more lupines more knockout roses clematis 'Durandii' I'm going to the Cape this weekend and my dad is staying at the house. I hope it rains so I don't have to count on him to water, but I hope it doesn't rain hard enough to ruin the peony blossoms that are bound to pop while I'm gone.

Roses and irises and peonies! Oh my! With all that eye candy my eyes would burp if they knew how... The Zephirine Drouhin roses continue to grow up on the porch. They smell wonderful and have almost no thorns (important on a porch). This shot of irises was from a week ago. I like the change in levels - the siberian iris on top of the stone wall and Beverly Sills bearded iris on the bottom, with cotoneaster carpeting the wall. This morning I opened the shades and saw a hummingbird sitting on the Rugosa Yankee Lady. It didn't seem to be getting nectar from the rose, but the feeder is right next to it and the hummingbird was probably resting between snacks. Also in bloom: Dicentras one hellebore geraniums Biokovo and Macrorhizum one daylily Alchemilla Kalmia Leucothoe ajuga (ending) As for what's happening, I had to stake up a Carefree Beauty rose. The rose was stuffed between two big New England asters last year and refused to bloom, so I moved the asters a month or so ago. So now the rose decided to bloom, but to flop all over the irises. I made a tripod out of three 6 ft bamboo poles (on sale for 79c each at Ocean State Job Lot) and tied them together with twine. I then used a cable tie on top of the twine to make it more permanent. (Mindy might be interested). The poles are shoved into the ground a little bit which helps with stability. I don't know how well it will last, but the rose seems happy now. The tripod is lopsided, but I was working in the middle of a planting bed with a panicky rose flailing around (with thorns). Claire