Shore, Ha! I guess gardening can get you into more than one 'sticky' situation? And thanks for the Bday wishes! If anyone is really planning on growing all of these, well, lets just say there better be some pictures forthcoming this summer. :)

Hello, My name is Hijole and I'm a cacti and succulent addict, my succulent of choice is Echeverias but I will stop to look at any type of species. I thought when I saw this "Succulents Anonymous" thread THATS it!!! I'm an addict and my habbit is way... out of control. It is to the point that I'm out of space to collect more or propagate but still find myself on a hunt for the next batch of cuttings, purchases and yes sometimes I pinch a piece off here and there. Sometimes I even come home with new ones and have to hide them so that no one notices what I came home with. I realize this addiction has taken a hold of my life especially when every pay check I ALWAYS seem to find a reason to pick up another Succlent or two or three... What is it with these plants that would make a man go out of his way to buy a plant, or spend his entire day off planting and repotting his collection of succulents. At first I wrote it off saying, I could quit anytime I wanted to but the truth was obvious, I'm hooked. And this thing is in my blood, I found some pictures of when I was little and my Mother used to have quite a collection herself until my father practically had most of them removed from her garden. "Thats right!!! Cold turkey". fortunately for me my wife is very supportive and is standing next to me durring this moment of my life. In the past she would tell me that I was obsessed with my yard which of course I denied until one day the City where I Live awarded me an award for beautifying the city of Corona, ca. That was it, BUSTED!!! My wife sat me down and said, you see hijole No one wins an award like that unless there obsessed with their yard. I was still in denial and shook it off but soon there after I found myself thinking about where I would get my next fix, and I started looking for organizations that were having meetings for cacti and succulent shows in my area where I eventually found a collection I never saw before, I thought WOW!!! a whole new world of differents types of succulents Aloes and OMG no more room to put them what am I doing here! This was completely out of control... Well here I am and I'm still collecting thank God my wife is still next to me and actually helping me and it was while reading this site that I finally realized, They're discribing me here. I'm hook, I'm an adict, So where are you guys holding meetings if any and will there be succulents on site to view ( just to look at ) Lol this is funny but it's a confession of a true addict who loves succulents and can't stop buying these plants no matter if I have room for them or not I'll find somewhere for them. Hijole

Mitzi - I'm not an expert on epiphyllums by any means, but I remember reading that they don't much care for extremely high temperatures. How about moving them outside, under a tree during this really hot weather and then back into the greenhouse for the winter? All of mine are grown outside under oak trees and seem to do well. Cindee - here's a picture for you of the "momma plant" I sent cuttings from (the white flowering one.) It's totally out of control. I know I should trim some of the growth back but there's just something about a plant with 4' long tentacles that appeals to me :)

I will definitely try to get you some seeds if I can Skybird! They are nice large flowered ones, the color ranges from pink to purpleish sometimes with just a little touch of blue on them. I have noticed some slight differences in flower shape among the population and I want to get a native plant master out there to look at them. Same with that light blue larkspur. None of my cameras pick up blue/purple very well. It's always washed out. I have some really nice violas in the front yard that are deep purple with a hit of red along the margins but my cameras always wash them out to just plain blue. Yours could definitely be P. virens, but, I would look at P. linarioides var. coloradoensis, AKA Silverton Bluemat Penstemon, a Plant Select variety that is pretty widely available (and one I'm going to try and get my grubby little hands on since I saw them at the garden ceter last week but told myself "no more penstemons!!") I agree, "true blue" is nearly impossible to find...unless you want penstemons, and even then the color from plant to plant is so variable, even among the same species. I have seen P. mensarum, which is supposed to be straight cobalt blue, but it flowers looked the same purple color as P. strictus! The P. virens I was looking at work range from sky blue to dark blue some with purple/pink blush some without! You never know what your going to get with penstemons I guess, lol! As for your red one, there is FOUR I have in mind, and I'll have to go take a closer look at the picture. It could be either P. eatonii or P. utahensis like you said, or, P. barbatus or P. rostiflorius which are very similar to eatonii and utahensis. ALL 4 of these guys are native to southern Utah desert! Course, we could also take a look at it at the swap! Regardless, I might as well reserve myself to fact I'm a collector of penstemons so YES I'm interested! NOID- No I.D. lol! P.S. I will be bringing a large flowered penstemon to the swap, the winter sown seeds just recently germinated, not many, but about 8, and they are just wee-tiny babies yet (not even any true leaves). It's P. palmeri, another desert one that is supposed to get HUGE with light pink flowers AND it is scented! I wanted to grow it out just to see what it smells like LOL! I don't even have a home for one but by God I'm gonna find a spot. I have a couple that are potted up that I'm bringing to the swap... if your interested.