Just checked the stem/tuber. Mushy and gone. Originally I had the plant in an orchid bark (finer grade)/ African violet/ Perlite type mix. Rather quick draining. Everything was fine if I was able to water the thing daily. But daily watering does not fit my hectic schedule and also having to do that with over 100 other plants, forget it. I'm going insane. I tried to mix it in something similar minus the orchid bark and cut back on the perlite. It still dried up even in that mix, so I went to revive it. I likely overwatered it in reviving it. The plant was badly wilted before I watered. It seems like I am having a huge bout of root and crown rot with my African Violets as well. Perhaps there happened to be some kind of pathogen or contamination with the soil I used. After all some of it was a few months old Schultz type mixes. It seems I have horrible luck with schultz soil mixes. I don't know when I'll learn. It's the only stuff I can find locally and can obtain. That is unless I wish to pay high shipping costs and order online. Possiblities: - Overwatering in attempt to rehydrate dried caked soil? - plant was already dried up beyond saving??? - Not enough aeration in soil mix? - high salinity in soil mix and hard water causing burn? - I am beginning to strongly suspect the last one being a problem. I'm noticing a number of plants being girdled by orange stuff even if I don't fertilize. I suspect high mineral content in the city tap water is also harming my plants. That said: the Begonia is dead. ;( Leaves taken are still limp. Only one is showing life but rot took half of it, This post was edited by fieldofflowers on Fri, May 23, 14 at 4:50

Dana, I gave up veggies years ago and converted my small garden plots to a natural area. Ornamental cherry trees, azaleas (both native and exotic), Japanese maples, Kousa dogwood, redbuds, rhododendrons, viburnums, oakleaf hydrangeda, and other shrubs replaced the tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, and corn plots. Now that the trees and shrubs have matured I had to cut two Yoshino cherries (kept the Okame and Kwanzan) and the viburnums shaded out the daylilies, irises, and lilies. The azaleas are crowding the pathway and always need pruning after blooming. Now at our new house, I have the opportunity to have both a moderate veggie garden and a natural area since the lot is more than twice the size. As for seed growing under lights, that is what I used to do to get a jump on growing. My problem was I had "visions of sugar plums dancing in my head" so I had too many seeds and different types going on at the same time. I eventually started to plant only half of the seed since I learned from mistakes that sometimes things go wrong (Murphy's law) such as drying out, damping off, those pesky fungus gnats, dropping the tray, etc. Lotus and water lilies from seed do not take long at all to grow. The tropical water lilies will be blooming the same year. Lotus may take an extra year. Lotus is hardy even up in Tennessee. I don't know how hardy they are in your area. After they germinate and put out some leaves, you can put them in your pond. I would start them out on a shelf or bricks at the bottom to get them closer to the surface. Once the leaves reach the surface they grow very fast. Of course the weather has to be warm. After the leaves are floating on the surface you can put the pot on the bottom of the pond. The lotus does well in shallow water. A kiddy pool is excellent for lotus and Japanese iris as well. DO NOT put koi in a pond with plants. The koi will disturb the soil inside the potted plants making a big muddy mess. Instead have two ponds - one for plants and goldfish and snails, the other for koi. I think the best idea is to have two levels with the top pond being for plants and goldfish and letting the water fall to the bottom pond. You can mix koi and goldfish but if there is not enough food, I wonder if the koi would eat the goldfish? For apartments, I would stick with a conventional aquarium, unless you have space and a strong floor (or you are on a slab) to put in a pond. You are right on the plants mentioned not doing well in the south. It just gets too hot and sometimes drought makes you think of Arizona (not really). There are exceptions though. Primroses are treated as annuals here but I planted several in a spot of the front yard of the old house around a birch tree. Out of six (or more), one survived and continues to flourish. It is at the base of the tree as well. It has made it through 4 hot summers now. Also, for the people who are lucky enough to have a creek running through their property, they can have all kinds of primroses (makes me sick). My uncle in Alaska grows primroses for profit and for showing. I just don't want to live in Alaska even if primroses were the only flower in the world. I will stick to showy evening Mexican primroses (Oenothera speciosa) which are perennial, very showy, can be weedy, but blooms non-stop for about 4 weeks in May. There are several evening primroses but most are yellow. The Mexican one is pink and can go to white. I grew mine from seed and can fill a space in no time. I always wanted to grow the primula Japonica or the candlelabra types but never had much luck. (T&M is where I got these kinds of seed but germination was very poor). Lupines and dephiniums are treated like annuals as well here. I do not like to pay perennial prices for plants that are annual in nature. You should be able to buy a six pack of either plant for the same price as a 4 inch pot. Also lupines are very easy to grow from seed. Of course if you drive through Maine, they grow like weeds. Texas bluebonnets are pretty but not as pretty as the Russell types. Yes, clivia does take about 3 to 4 years to bloom from seed. A blooming clivia may cost anywhere from 15 to 25 dollars (shop around). I bought 5 seeds from Park's many years ago for $3.50. Six seeds actually were in the package. Four germinated (67% success) but I lost one (boo hoo). The remaining three grew to mature plants. I gave one to my mother which she has divided many times and passed them on. I did not divide mine like she did but did grow several from seed from the mother plants which I gave to my sisters, daughters, friends, and neighbors. Most people don't take care of them and soon lose them. Then they are amazed when they see mine in full bloom and want one. When I tell them I gave them one years ago, they suddenly develop amnesia. Now there are yellow ones, bi-colored ones, variegated leaves, and the breeding goes on. Butch Here is a picture of mine blooming:

we're tired of the gravel/rock/sand driveway. Last year I had an idea. while cutting lumber in the driveway, grass started growing up thru the little bit of sawdust there. so I mulched with anything available in the woods. bits of bark, moss, dried leaves, pine cone bits the squirrels left....anything. so now it looks just kinda like a 2 track road, and is sure better than it was. But.... MY QUESTION: will that no mow grass seed take root there? If not, anyone know what might? thanks!

Ron, I'm sorry your obsession with the faulty 1990 USDA zone map seems to impede your ability to make educated guesses about plant performance based on more specific climatic data available from the Western Regional Climate Center and other sources. Let's start with Leavenworth's all time low: -36F. Then consider that these maples occur at much higher altitudes (another factor that cannot possibly be considered by the map, since all the weather stations in that area are in the valleys), up to at least 4,000', so they can probably live through colder temperatures than what Leavenworth experiences. And then let's not forget that some plants have more vestigal cold hardiness than they need to survive where they are native, from a time when our climate was much colder. Considering all those factors together, I think it's a safe bet that bigleaf maples from central Washington can survive most, if not all winters in zone 5, and may be growable in parts of zone 4 as well.