After a little searching I suspect the Ceanothus might be Ceanothus 'Dark Star'. If anyone agrees/disagrees please let me know. I've seen indications that it does like cooler (coastal California) summers. 'Dark Star' is really spectacular in full bloom, by the way. Here is a link that might be useful: Ceanothus 'Dark Star' Google image search

mike, i'm surprised, like you, that you seem to be getting pinker growth in the winter. the only plants i have with pink variegation are some aglaonemas and they get pinker during the summer when the light is brighter. new leaves in the winter have more plain green on them. as for hydroculture, i've been learning and experimenting for at least 4 or 5 years now. i mostly grow aglaonemas. in oregon, where i live, it is pretty dark for half the year and these plants manage to grow well in spite of the dark. i also like that they're not particularly prone to bugs, though they can suffer infestations like most any plant. as i said, i feel like i'm still learning. early on i had trouble with my hydroton getting salted up so i have started flushing the plants at least quarterly by putting in them in the shower for a bath and completely cleaning their reservoir saucer. i also began covering the surface of the hydroton with decorative gravel to cut down on surface evaporation which concentrates salts. i also like the look of the gravel. this last year, i've had a few leaves come in that were 'watery' looking and the variegation was lacking or indistinct. at the time, the plants were sitting in larger than normal reservoirs (the water height was the same, but the volume was much larger) so that they could go much longer between waterings when we travelled. i'm not sure if this didn't allow enough oxygen into the root zone, or if i was having some sort of temperature or nutrient problem. i've switched them all back to their smaller water reservoirs and am waiting to see if the problem corrects itself. i'm glad to hear that you are having good luck with this method so far. it has really helped me to grow my plants better. i have about 30 plants in hydroculture and am running out of window space :-) cheers, nancy

treehugger, I use pebble trays for many of my plants. Strangely, my orchids do fine without pebble trays, but I do use them for my croton, espicia, ferns, and bird of paradise (all grown indoors). I was shocked that so many so called humidity lovers don't look any different after trying them without pebble trays! And I do group them together when I can to get that extra bit of humidity too. I have my plants in the 2 back bedrooms, far from the kitchen, so that's not an option. I received several baby Saturn crotons yesterday, and posted about them. Since crotons root so easily, maybe I can keep them going if I have trouble. Thank you!

Actually, it looks like it needs to be in a bigger pot. And perhaps it is drying out in between because it is requiring so much water compared to what is held in the pot. If you lift up the pot and look underneath, are there roots coming out the drain hole? If yes, then move it to the bigger pot that it's sitting in. Edit: skip the misting. It does not help the plant much and can cause fungus to grow on the leaves.