PG: I live in the low desert area of So Cal. It routinely gets 110+ degrees in the summer (big emphasis on the +). We've had quite a few days of 115 already, even back in May. Today was a "cooler" day, only 104! Being as dry as it is, many people here use evaporative coolers instead of AC. I have a traditional central AC system and it's never gotten higher than 40% humidity inside my home, and usually much lower. I leave little cups of water around my houseplants to increase humidity and have to refill them every two days. My outside garden plants are watered twice a day by automatic sprinklers--even the agave--a desert plant, has it's own sprinkler and would die without it because it's still only a year old. I have to water my houseplants 3 times as often as my friends in L.A. They can get away with watering once a week; I water mine every day-and-a-half. (If I water in the morning today, it'll need it again in the late afternoon tomorrow.) If I have time I'll try to post up some pictures of the area. The elevation not too far from here is 100 ft below sea level. Maybe this is more information than you asked for? About my potting mix, I do make my own. It's equal portions sphagnum, perlite, vermiculite with some horticultural charcoal and a tiny bit of trace elements and pH checked at the end. In the past when I've used store-bought mix it just didn't work right for me because it would get dried-out too fast and became too hard. Because of the looseness of my mix I was able to check the development of the tubers without disturbing the roots. I can also easily stick my finger down into this mix to check whether it needs water, not just feeling the surface. PG, I'd love to see pictures of the ZZ's you grew from leaflets!

Pictures would help. Also keep dry. Sounds like water did the damage already. May be too late. What type is it?

I found an absolutely beautiful Jade in a dumpster when I was tossing my trash. I pulled it out and after trimming a bit it was absolutely fantastic. I proceeded to over water it and practically kill it. It got so bad that I thought it was a goner...and then I did the unthinkable. I cut off the entire matted and ruined root ball. The whole thing. I let it air a few days and stuck it in an awful mixture of street dirt. 6-months later, it is making a huge comeback. I barely water it now and give it a shower every six weeks or so to blow away any mites or whatever crawlies happen on it. It is doing fine. I happened on another specimen with an 8-inch trunk and I broke it up to make about 5 new plants with 4-inch trunks (the 8-inch was rotting). I'm hoping to get at least 3 of those rooted using the same method. Re-rooting a 4-inch trunk gave me some confidence with Jades. They seem to be really resilient if you sorta be a little mean to them ;-)

Thank you Embothrium! This is not a forest region - just a single tree in the middle of my yard. I planted an elderberry on the other side of the stump at about the same distance this spring, and it seems to be doing fine (although I didn't come across any roots of this size when planting that one). The weeds seem to like the area as well. :) Is honey fungus a problem outside of thickly forested areas?