The box came back today- I LOVE all the varieties in the box! I did a quick count and there were 30 varieties! Mostly all of them have a few leaves! Every one of them traveled well and look great! Thanks to all of you- that participated! I'll post tomorrow the list of what I received. It's been such a long day-- and I'm exhausted! A few minutes ago a few birds were screaming by my window, I went out there with a flashlight and found a baby bird. I just picked up a basket of petunias so picked up the baby robin- placed him in the center of the basket- hung him In the tree by the mom- and now she's happy. It's a myth about handling a baby bird, birds have no scense of smell, so will continue taking care of the baby even after handling. I'll post more tomorrow and list all the box contents! This round robin turned out really good... I'm so happy to have some new varieties to grow! Deb

Does anyone have a description for Mardigra that was included in the RR box? Pat packed a wonderful selection of variegates off of my want list and I can't thank her enough for such beautiful and healthy leaves. Optimara Hawaii, Violet Trail (which I was very sad about) and a couple others were just translucent and just too far gone to even take anything from and I tried everything to save a few of the others and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they make it. Thanks again for a great first RR. Looking forward to Spring already.

Well, our Round Robin has finished its rounds and I got some great stuff! I got: Mac's Just Jeff LE Chato Brion Perfect Harmony Lillian Sparkler Aly's Key Lime Pie Irish Lullaby Louisiana Lullaby Imp's Beta Blocker Jolly Maiden Country Romance Neptune Winter Smiles Broadway Star Trail Tiger Trail Harmony's Blue Frills Aca's Coral Beauty Optimara Hiroshige Cherokee Trail Rob's Slap Happy Foxwood Trail Deep Sky Jolly Orchid Cajun's McKenna Trail Episcia Lil Lemon Episcia Pink Panther Kohleria Bogotensis Strep. Sioned Strep.Neil's Envious Strep. Ruby Primulina 'Kazu' LIK Nobleman Everything looked good, except for one or two leaves. Thanks, Susan for the one-day delivery! I got a great variety of standards, minis and semis as well as several plantlets. I have had Episcias in the past and am eager to try them again. I haven't grown Primulina or Kohleria so I have something new to grow which is fun. I look forward to doing this again in the spring. We have a good group who sent out great varieties. By spring, you all should have lots of plantlets for our RR! Thanks everyone! Linda

You are a bunch of swap addicts! And I'm not! Really! Anyway, I was looking if there was a subcategory on GW for medicinals because I have a whole book on Tropical medicinals written by a Tahitien (wow I'm reading his biography-here all the Tahitiens consider him their own , looks like one too, but he's French all the way, not even half!), an awsome pharmacist(who travelled extensively throughout the world as a French naval officer), who learned and recorded many of the ancient remedies of all of Polynesia (and from other parts of the world), from the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, and the windward and leeward islands, which include your more familiar Tahiti and Borabora respectively. So even when our old medicine men and women have mostly left this world, because of his efforts, we have many recorded for our posterity. And the plants he has highlighted are ones that you guys have been trading forever, and I want to leave a record somewhere , accessible to all about what treasures of pharmacology you are growing. For example, would you not want to know that your: Sesbanian grandiflora: .In India the leaves are used for head colds and migraines, but mashing them and inserting them in the nostrils. At first profuse secretion drainage, then the sinuses will fell better and the migraine is gone quickly. Hig in Vit A B1, C, young bugs are cooked and eaten by them and the Burmese, Vietnamese. Cassia alata: A paste made of dried leaves and water or fresh lime juice are rubbed vigourously on snake(cobra) bites in Malaysia, at the tikme the book was written it was among the promising plants that proved to retard cancerous tumors in rats. Cassia occidentalis: Decoction of leaves for fever, add some roots it also becomes a diuretic. The fresh seeds are poisonous but roasted become a caffeine free coffee. Tamarindus indica:boiled fruit pulp for fever and constipation. the decoction of leaves are applied topically for rectocilitis, enteritis. an infusion of leaves for conjontivitis, anticancer properties as the other cassias in mice. Averrhoa carambola(Star fruit) The juice of the green fruit rich in potassium oxalate is used to shine metal surfaces. Ficus prolixa (Banian):Chinese tradition says that leprosy is a boold disease activated by hot and humid climate where banians trees multiply, from their roots a poison is exuded to the soil, then to the water, and passes to humans. To diagnose leprosy, Chinese from the Yunan province would then confirm this diagnosis by making the afflicted with a decoction of its roots and wait for 10m days for the telling signs on the person's face. In polynesia the white tips of aerial roots are used for bronchitis ( I remember my mother sending me in the neigborhood to get some for my brother),gingivitis, for yeast infections,and anthrax! The subterean roots , a diuretic used especially for tuberculous persons Phyllanthus urinarius (red /puple), or amarus(white): considered the plant for ear problems, the whole plant is mashed and strained thru a coth the suc is then mixed with coconut oil(mono'i)heated over a lamp and applied around the ears nad sometimes on the calix (on the head)too. Shoot, I thought this is what you girls called the 'sensitive plant, but one of my seed packet called that mimosa pudica, so i' don't know if the two are the same, all i remember is that my mom would send me to get the former especially making sure it was mature enough to have the round nodes on the underside of each leaves and she even justused those little round nodes to make the remedy for my borthers ear infection, but she mixed the juice from them mixed with coconut oils and heated over a lamp then put the drops right in the affted ears and around the ears too. I am quite interested to draw the parallels between the uses of these tropicals with their uses here. Am I wasting my time for wanting to put this on GW?