Ima, Thanks! I envy you! I wish my small Lychee tree is big enough to hang some hoyas on the branches...probably two more years before it gets there(unless we have another killer frost). Mike, Thanks also...I actually don't have a standard Carnosa,. I've never seen the reg. carnosa for sale in any of our big box stores. I bought the KP and KQ both at lowe's and h.depot(EA) plants. I do however have (moteskei?speckled leaves) rooted cuttings, got it as a trade last spring. Growing well,But no peduncles as of yet.

I love Fort Worth! I have been to Texas many times, my grandmother lived there when her family first came to the US and I have some relatives there. My son just got a job in Austin, he's 23 and it is a great place for someone his age to live. I was there a few years ago, going to visit again in the fall... When I lived in TX in the early 80's, I got a job working in a greenhouse at a maternity hospital, I believe it was a place where the patients were all unwed mothers. Anyway, they had this little greenhouse where they grew all kinds of stuff both for office bulidings and to sell, I worked part time with the owner, just taking care of all the plants. I already knew alot about plants from my mom, but I learned alot more at that job. She had 2 big hanging hoyas, a tricolor and the plain green carnosa, for me it was love at first sight! When I left TX, I went to Florida first where I gave my aunt the tricolor cuttings and kept the green for me. A few years later here in NJ I bought an unlabeled Pubicalyx Pink Silver...It was years before any of them bloomed, I never thought they would unless kept in a greenhouse, but I love the way they look even with no flowers so I didn't care. Then I was dusting one day and found a whole peduncle cluster about to open on my Pink Silver, which was in a pot on top of the TV...I screamed, I was so excited! My boyfriend came running to see what was the matter, of course he did not understand but I know you all do. And then, of course, when I got a computer, I went crazy with the hoyas!

I have the following saved from a site called Evergreen Garden Works, which is a bonsai site, but it goes into some detail about the physics of soil, what goes on under the surface, the importance of pot size and of the type of soil we use - dense vs aerated. I hope it is ok to paste this here, as long as I have stated where it came from. Sight has provided drainage in her pot, and some people, like Sara, overpot successfully, but this is good info to be aware of. I also thought the info about shallow vs deeper pots was interesting, it is the opposite of what I originally thought. A Pot Isn't Like the Earth The major difference between a pot and the earth is that a pot has impermeable sides and bottom. This reduces air exchange in two ways. First is the obvious, air cannot pass through the plastic, thus we have a contained volume of soil encased 75% with air tight plastic (or high fired ceramic (low fire ceramic will breathe). This is why I design my soil mixes and other environmental factors to 'dry out' the pot once a day during the growing season. Each time the plant is thoroughly watered, it pulls a new charge of air in behind it as the water drains. Secondly, we have to visit our old pot size argument again. When a downward moving table of water reaches an impermeable layer (in this case the plastic pot bottom) it will not drain until the layer just above the impermeable layer (pot bottom) is saturated. Once this lower layer of soil is saturated, excess water will drain out, but a column of saturated soil will remain since the moving table of water has stopped at the impermeable layer. This means that the soil in the bottom of the pot remains saturated at this lowest level after watering, and stays saturated until something happens to change that condition. That 'something' is primarily absorption from the roots in the bottom of the pot, the secondary factor is (or should be) evaporation. You will probably want to read this paragraph again, and perhaps a third time, it is not obvious. Overpotting Most of the water in the pot is removed from the pot by absorption by the roots and not by evaporation. If you overpot, it will take a long time for roots to colonize the bottom of the container and consequently it will take much longer for the saturated layer to become fully aerated (the only factor at work is evaporation). Overpotting will generally lead to too wet conditions and eventually root rot. What About that Saturated Column Thing? Ok, just how high a column of saturated soil do you get in a container? The height of the column of water retained in the soil by an impermeable layer is related to size of the particles. Sound familiar? The denser the soil, the higher the column will be and the more water will be retained. Large particle, highly aerated soils will not support a large saturated volume. This is what we mean by 'well drained'. You can test this for yourself. Take a regular sponge, soak it with water. Rest it in your hand horizontally until the water stops running out. Then tilt the spronge upright. You are now increasing the saturated column. The sponge density won't support a column that high and water will drain out. This experiment also shows that pot shape is related to water retention. A broad shallow pot will retain more water than a tall narrow pot of equal volume. Although it is counterintuitive, a shallow pot will retain more water and 'dry out' more slowly than a tall narrow one (of equal volume).

Cattleya, Hi there. Yeah, I haven't been on the C+S forum in a long time! Thanks for the compliment :) Speaking of which, your pics are gorgeous!! No such thing as irrelevant - speaking for myself, I love to see pics...and you have trees/plants in all your pics...so that's pretty relevant to me! By the way, when you see your fingerprints in a picture, you KNOW you can take a good pic! Congrats. Blackwyld, Got 2 questions for ya. First, what is the difference b/w SLR and a regular digital camera? I know that SLR is much better (and I can probably look up what SLR means and why it's better..but I thought I'd just ask you). Too bad I just bought a new camera before I saw your gorgeous pics! But it would be much too expensive for me right now anyway, which X-mas coming up. Second, what setting do you use to take those gorgeous flower pics? I like the in-focus flower pic and out-of-focus background. Thanks :) On a side note - it's funny that when I look back at my full jade plant pics, part of me actually likes the dark green foliage (in comparison to the light foliage it has changed into since being in the sun). I wish I could keep that dark green foliage with the added red tinge - oh well, not gonna complain! Gabi