Wow, that's a lot of questions. I suggest going to the library or bookstore and getting a basic houseplant care book if you're in this for the long haul. (Try to get one written in the U.S. - I have a lot of respect for British gardeners, but their books use a lot of different product names than we do.) Look at the drainage holes at the bottom of the pots. If there are roots sticking out the holes, it's time for a bigger pot. If not, turn the plant upside down and knock it out of its pot. If the rootball is full of roots and stays stuck together in the shape of the pot, it needs a bigger pot. If it falls apart or there is lots of soil without roots, stick it back and wait a year. When moving to a bigger pot, DO NOT overdo it. If you put a plant into too big of a pot, the soil stays soggy, the roots rot, and the plant dies. For plants your size, go up 2", from an 8" to a 10", for example. Then next time you repot (in a year or two or three), go up another size. (Unless you want to keep the plant small, then you can rootprune and keep the same size pot, but we'll save that for Houseplants 201!) Use a good soilless potting mix - ProMix is ideal. DO NOT use topsoil, or garden soil, or cheap discount brand soil. Plastic pots are fine. Make sure they have holes in the bottom so extra water can drain - you can use the ones with attached saucers or just stick whatever kind of tray, bowl, etc. you have under it. If you're putting them outside, move them gradually from a shady spot to a sunnier one. I wouldn't recommend putting any of them into full Texas sun, but maybe a Texan can give you better advice about that! If you move them from indoors to outdoors suddenly, the leaves will get sunburned (whitish tan scorch marks). Start in a very shady spot and gradually increase the light. 100 degrees is hotter than ideal - most plants start to stress at around 90 to 95 degrees. A rare day at 100 is OK, but I wouldn't do it if you have many of them. The spathiphyllum in particular will not like a lot of sun and will need LOTS of water in the heat - I suggest keeping it indoors all year. The cyclamen prefers shade and cool temperatures too. I skip the pebbles altogether but some people use them. Most of your plants should get dry to the touch on top before you water again. They will not do well if kept soggy. Once a week may or may not be enough, depending on how potbound they are and how bright and warm your home is. They will need less water in the winter than during the rest of the year. The spathiphyllum likes more water - water it when the top is just barely damp. If it gets too dry, it will wilt dramatically and look dead, but give it water and it will bounce back. The cyclamen also should be watered similarly, when the top is barely damp.

Hi Jodie, First, though Petunia is a beautiful, sweet-smelling plant, it's an annual..They do best outdoors. If you decide to grow it as a house plant, keep in the sunniest window, in a cool room. If you can place outside until autumn, do so. Otherwise, place in a south or west window. How many stems do your cuttings have? For instance, are each one stem or several? Once they root, pot in a small container. Though most ppl do not have peat pots around the house, what I been doing is placing cuttings into these pots, then settting into a 4" pot. Depending on the amount of roots makes a difference, but I wouldn't repot larger than a 4" pot. In fact, if roots are small, a 2 or 3" would work best..at least until roots fill container, then increase pot size. Do some of these plants do best potbound? Are you taking after roots are established? If so, I find the Peace Lily does best when a bit potbound. But, don't overpot any plant..When you need to repot a house plant, the normal range is 1-2 sizes up. So, if you have a plant in a 4" pot, and 'need' to repot, go to a 5 or 6".. Spider plant babies..it depends..I have a tiny spider plant attached to the wall on the side of a west window..it has about 12 leaves, yet it shoots out babies. The larger the plant, the more babies it'll get. Watering...the best time to water is when soil feels a bit dry..Not bone dry, but crumbly dry. Plants usually need more water in summer but it depends on your house..if your home is air conditioned, kept cold, soil will take longer than it would in a warm/hot house. The best way to tell is by sticking your finger into the soil. If your finger comes out wet/moist, wait a couple days and recheck. If it comes out dry, then water..Another way to tell is by lifting the pot..When soil is dry pot will be light in weight..when wet it's heavier. Since you're new at growing plants, it's a good idea practicing lifting pots when dry and wet to distinguish the difference. After you get the hang of basics, you'll need to learn about fertilizing..This should be done during growing season from spring till autumn. But I'm jumping the guy..lol..sorry..Good Luck, Jodie.... Toni

Suzie, It is a sad story about the firefighter. They haven't released a lot of details, but I think he was involved in a fire truck burnover, which is when a wind-driven wildfire overtakes a firetruck and literally burns right over it/through it/around it. My husband and our Asst. Chief survived one of those a couple of years ago and it happened while I was watching. The only "good" thing about it was that the fire moved so fast that by the time it registered in my brain that fire had overtaken his truck, he'd driven out of the fire safely and the fire was running towards the interstate and he turned and 'chased' it from behind. I hope to never see anything like that again. The big fire west of Fort Worth is near Possum Kingdom Lake in very rough and rugged terrain. The last I heard, about 30 homes there had burned and over 200 more were at risk and had been evacuated. Possum Kingdom State Park had been closed, and some roads were closed. There's also a huge complex of fires in the Wichita Falls area that involves at least 3 separate very large, major wildfires. Homes have burned there and evacuations have occurred. Some Love County firefighters are in the county next to Wichita Falls helping fight a different fire complex near Henrietta, TX. Before today's fires, Texas had had about a half-million acres burn just in the last 7 or 8 days. There's no telling what that number will be after they total up all the acreage today. Our VFD only had two brief fire calls today so I consider us very fortuante indeed because it could have been so much worse. Our county's burn ban expires next week and I hope the commissioners renew it (though I don't think they will because burn bans are very unpopular with some of their constituents). Carol, Our mesonet station goes out every time the wind gusts over 20 mph. It is out even when no one else's stations are malfunctioning. It drives me up the wall. Our wind was like a ocean today....choppy and full of big waves interspersed with periods of calm. As sundown approached, it seemed to calm down a lot...then began gusting really hard again. It can't seem to make up its mind what to do. The little wildlife puddle in our driveway had little choppy whitecaps. The birds bathed in it anyway. There was a big wreck on I35 in Gainesville this afternoon caused by the wind blowing tractor-trailer trucks around. Gainesville's highest recorded gust was 53 and ours was 54. Our weather is very similar to theirs, so when the Burneyville mesonet station malfunctions, I just check the station at the Gainesville Airport. I'm watching the 10 p.m. newscast and Steve LaNore just said we'll have near-record lows here tonight. Oh good, just what we needed. Also, he said the wind returns Sunday, so I'll try to get a lot done tomorrow in case Sunday's weather is yucky. Dawn

Here's another post similar to yours. It does look promising. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/is-this-a-monstera-pic-dsvw-vd~1465470