Hi Don, Several years ago, I adapted instructions from the link below. Phaius can be vegetatively propagated by cutting the flowering stem, into several pieces, above a stem internode, the dormant growth "eye" is covered with a triangular sheath. Cut, with a hot knife or shears, through the flower stem after the last flower has fallen. Dust the cuts with Rootone® . Place the cut stem pieces on damp sphagnum moss in diffused light. Pot the plantlets after the roots are several inches long. simple way (I did this successfully, several yrs ago) is to cut the 4' spike into manageable pieces and partially bury in wet sand and lightly cover with saran wrap or whatever to keep moist; I kept it in the laundry room. Be prepared to treat for "damping off" fungus!! When/if it strikes, you need to have the material at hand for immediate treatment. A day or two later will be too late. After a while, you'll be amazed at all the little plantlets that form, one at each node. Pick the best ones and pot in loose media that will tolerate fat roots and allow penetration. Once the temp increases in spring, plantlets will really start to take off. You now have more Phaius than you know what to do with, unless youÂre planning a large scale experiment!! Good Luck!! --Stitz-- Here is a link that might be useful: Vegetative Propagation of Phaius

Like most Drosera, you can leave the flowers on Drosera binata without much if any set back. In my experience the T form of binata does not self pollenate (neither on it's own or with your help). Drosera binata propagate so readily by root and leaf cuttings that you're not missing out on anything by not being able to collect seed. A quick clarification about VFT flowering. While flowering does slow down vegetative growth in flytraps, they are quite unlikely to die from flowering. If a VFT is not longed for this world, flowering can tip it over the edge but that's more of an reflection of the health of the plant rather than the detrimental effect of flowering. If your plant is healthy and you want seed don't be afraid of letting it flower. Of course we grow VFT's for their traps not their flowers so, if you don't want seed, cut the flowers off and let the plant redirect its energy into more vegetative growth.

The "Vancouver Centennial" pelargonium often grows small leaves at the base of the flower cluster, right at the tip of the flowering stalk. Do they grow into plantlets which I can take and root? They look very small for the time being and I don't know how long do I have to wait, if that is the case.

I agree about Amity Estate. I planted it in 2003 and in 2004 had no blooms whatsoever. This year I thought it wasn't going to bloom again, then all of the sudden it had more blooms and bloom stalks than I had on any of my other irises! The bloom period wasn't as long as some others and it bloomed later than the others,- but boy when it started blooming it was throwing up stalks right and left. Really looks pretty from a distance in the garden because of the dark color and because its very tall. This picture was taken when Amity first started to bloom. The tallest iris you see is Amity Estate. The shorter ones on the right that look similar to Amity (from a distance) are Armageddon.