I love this mushroom! I have a Christmas ornament that looks like this, but I just thought it was an inspired design and not a resemblance to anything real. Speaking of inspiration--thanks for giving me an idea for another pot painting design! All I get are the white ones, but they do get quite large sometimes. I see an occasional deer munching on them.

GGG -- That's a really good idea! I have a notebook with those plastic, looseleaf sheets for organizing 3x5 or 4x6 photos. They are about the right size for storing plant tags. (Although Monrovia ones have to be cut off at the bottom a little to fit.) If I get a lousy tag with very little detail from wherever, I still put it in there (so I can remember where I bought the plant), but I try to go online and print out whatever details I find there. Then, I fold it and put it behind the tag in the plastic sheet. It's not very pretty, but for most of the plants in my yard, I have some info. I also have a section for fertilizers I've used in the past. It is hard to remember the formula I like for a particular kind of plant (and I can never remember which number of the three is which). Walter Reeves has some kind of Saturday Night Fever dance that he uses to show people how to remember the numbers, but I still can't recall it when I need to! :)

My plumaria expert says that blossom booster or anything with such a high middle number is useless. In fact some of the threads by Al will agree. I use "Dynamite" 13 13 13...Even numbers right across the board. In fact most plants don't like such a high middle number, because your throwing the abilty off for the whole plant to be healthy, even the colors of the leaves by forcing flowers on your plants when you don't have to. How come plumies flower from the ground outdoors withou someone throwing so much middle number on them? In the ground, they are getting an even amount of nutriets to sustain over look, vigour, and health. I will send you an excert of why the middle number is useless. The "dynamite" has worked wonders for me. It is slow release along with micro nutrients and a well balanced fert. Just some excerts... "Whatever nutrients are available in excess, will be absorbed by the plant to a certain degree, and in some cases, this may lead to toxicity or even symptoms of shortages of other nutrients as toxicity levels block a plant's ability to take up other nutrients. Too much nitrogen will lead to excessive foliage production and less flowering. Too much potassium or phosphorus will not lead to ill effect, but will show up as a deficiency of other nutrients as it blocks uptake". "What about the "Bloom Booster" fertilizers you might ask? To induce more prolific flowering, a reduced N supply will have more and better effect than the high P bloom formulas. When N is reduced, it slows vegetative growth without reducing photosynthesis. Since vegetative growth is limited by a lack of N, and the photosynthetic machinery continues to turn out food, it leaves an expendable surplus for the plant to spend on flowers and fruit". "The fact that different species of plants grow in different types of soil where they are naturally found, does not mean that one needs more of a certain nutrient than the other. It just means that the plants have developed strategies to adapt to certain conditions, like excesses and deficiencies of particular nutrients.." "Most greenhouse operations will follow pretty closely to a 2-1-2 ratio of the primary macro-nutrients on most greenhouse crops with minor deviations based on tissue analysis and the effect of the growing medium. Most post-greenhouse fertilization will follow fairly closely to a 3-1-2 ratio, with some deviation. Again, this very closely mimics the range of the primary macros found in plant tissues". Read the thread......type in search.... "Fertilizer Program - Containerized Plants (Long Post) very imformative article". I never use blosson booster, and all my plants flower Profusely.... Hope this helps and greens up the leaves along with giving you nice flowers next time around..:-) Mike

Thank you so much for letting us know, Patricia. I love the talented Mr. Peacock! :o) I might be mistaken, but I believe Ms. Edna was in her 70s when they met, bumblebeez. I've read in interviews that she was a much beloved mentor & friend. He's said that he found comfort in caring for her in her later age. She passed away a couple of years ago at the age of 89.