I practice bonsai, so that pursuit in and of itself is an exercise in patience. I think I'm very patient with plants and pets, but I'm not always as patient with people as I'd like to be. Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. ~Ralph Waldo Emersonsize> I make mention of the difference in tissue types between plants rooted in water and plants rooted in a solid, well-aerated medium in the recent thread the embedded link takes you to. Roots and shoots on cuttings arise completely independent of each other. In some cuttings, cells in the vascular cambium or other branch parts must also dedifferentiate and redifferentiate to form roots. If I had to make a broad generalization, I would say that most leaves with at least partially lignified (woody) leaf petioles (stems) (ficus, the sages/salvia, schefflera, etc.) will not have meristematic tissues associated with the leaves, while plants with more herbaceous stems (coleus, begonia, Impatiens, etc.), will. When rooting the former, it is best to take anvil/nodal/leaf-bud cuttings of these plants, or stem cuttings with multiple nodes, which almost guarantees predifferentiated tissues in the leaf axils (crotch between the leaf and stem). Some plant's natural growth rhythm appears to be in spurts. Actually, growth spurts may not be as pronounced as you might think. Plants like Citrus, for example, seem to put on lots of canopy growth, which then slows while root growth takes place - and of course you cannot see roots grow, so it's somewhat natural to believe growth has stalled. The reasons why are not all clearly understood, but we know that during the root growth phase, roots grow rapidly while the top of the plant seems quiet. This is the plants strategy for building nutrients to a 'threshold' level. Once the threshold level has been reached, plants enter a vegetative growth phase in which the nutrients are used in growing and maturing leaves and stems while root growth slows dramatically until a 'lag' phase is reached and the process starts all over again. Important is the fact that if any one or multiple nutrients are in short supply (deficient) it increases the time it takes to reach the 'threshold level'. Hormonal (growth regulators), metabolic, and cultural conditions are all players in determining when and how often the spurts occur. I'm sleepy now. Good night. ;o) Al

It may yet reward you with a nice plant, keep it in clean water for now till the roots grow past the stem anyway. Try to keep it 70 degrees or higher if you can. Keep checking it. The leaves at their base look healthy. Fred when Rooted the tops in Florida (so long ago now), I cut the top row of fruit off and plunked it down in the water. The fruit always rotted away, you had to change the putrid water every day, which usually was so bad it would start to foam slightly. That is the way you did it back then, of course it was always 80 degrees or higher with 80% humidity. But it worked! The only trouble I ever had was with the dratted squirrels eating chunks out of the ripening fruit! 3 years of waiting and then some scurvy grey squirrel eats the very first spot to ripen and the whole fruit then rots!

I think with climate change, Atlanta is now considered z8 but we still have six months of possible freezing weather which I hate. Rex is overused in the begonia world. There are some growers (big growers) that must've had a million tags printed that simply say Rex Begonia and so they elect to use them in any pot of begonias so they won't lose their investment. The original rex Putzey may be in the genetics of a lot of modern "rex begonias" but then again it may not. Often a begonia with very colorful leaves is considered a rex. Rexes are all rhizomatous but not all rhizomatous are rexes. Kind of like saying all cacti are succulents but not all succulents are cacti. If you have a plant that looks a bit sickly, has yellowing leaves, is going downhill; then I would use a small dab of fertilizer just to see if it needs some food. One of two things will happen - it will just check out or it will perk up and start growing. On another forum for begonias, we've had a commercial grower (or two) jump into the fray about propagating patented begonias. They pay a royalty fee for every patented begonia they grow for sale so I get their point. They (or he) gave in and said that no one will object to you multiplying your own stock. It could backfire on them as they would seem to be bullies on the block. If you on the other hand sold hundreds (or thousands) of patented plants, then you are open for a lawsuit. I grow 99% of mine outdoors six months out of the year. I am running around 85 shop lights in the basement for winter care and still need a bigger space and more lights. It is a labor of love. I have too many to really take the best care of each and every one but I try to test as many as I can. Begonias and other "houseplants" can be acclimated to lower light levels. From the store, I would say they were treated in the best of light and humidity though. So love low light? I doubt that but they can eventually put up with low light if forced to survive. My youngest daughter had a rex I gave her many years ago, that stayed on a pantry in their kitchenette - very low light and every time I checked the soil for moisture, it seemed to be quite dry. It held on for at least 3 years and I was amazed at it (and her). Here are some of the rexes I started from leaf cuttings in late Feb. This photo was about two months later. some growing outdoors with partial shade from a big beech tree. 3 red rexes I bought at our local nursery in May, filled this 10 inch pot nicely (this is late September) Beware of rexes (and Escargot) of mildew attacks. These are very mildew prone and can kill the plant if not kept under control. Walmart and Lowe's starts getting in some smaller rexes in March/April and is always a good addition to your color palette. another rex from Walmart that was already starting to show signs of mildew attack. I pulled the worst leaves off and started new plants. more Lowe's and WM early spring plants. They range from $3.50 to $5. These are from Exotic Angels (Costa Farms) Even mixed in with green leaf begonias adds a splash of color. this bowl is sitting in deeper shade than most but the silver shines

Thanks, Mark! Probably the best way to go about getting you my snail mail address is via email. You can contact me at paulX.lauXtenschXlagerX@yahXoo.com --- just remove the capital "X"s from the address. D. paleacea, from the images I have seen, has rather unique flower spikes. Drosera callistos is one I'd like to obtain someday. Looks like it gets orange flowers. My scorpiodes haven't produced any gemmae yet. Have had them a little over a year now.) Talking to an online acquaintance about that, I was told it is likely due to my growing it under lights. Because in doing so it isn't getting the change in daylight cues which would trigger production, I may not get gemmae forming until next month or later. Not horribly broken up about that. Would like to use them as trade fodder and shipping in the winter would not be a great idea.