well, just keep some of the sport on the host plant. It's not very serious to you yet but that's such a beautiful throw-off that it shouldn't be lost. I hate to repeat what you've said, but in all seriousness, it is serious to someone like me. I live and breathe conifer gardening and grow myself. Thanks for understanding. What you have there is like me finding a rose that's unlike any other and I just happen to work for Jackson and Perkins... Maybe you'd be willing to send me just a few cuttings next spring. That would be excellent. Thanks, Dax

I think the Undulatas are sterile by themselves, as they never set a seed pod, but I wonder if that doesn't mean that their pollen could not fertilize another plant that is not sterile? Don't know much about hybridizing or plant breeding, but is that possible? If it is, could be the seedling came from your greenie with Undulata pollen. Sandy

I feel certain it came about because math textbook series about 10 -15 years ago started doing what was called calendar math. It was a way of introducing concepts and revisiting them on a daily basis, usually done at the beginning of the day. One of the big things to do was to count the number of days in school. Everyday, a straw or something used that would visually count that day would be put in a cup (usually part of the calendar display). There would be 3 cups: one for the units or ones (1-9), another for the 10's (10-90) and a third for the hundreds. For example on the 10th day of school, you would already have 9 straws in the units cup. On the 10th day you would add another but now you would band the 10 straws into one group of ten and move it to the tens cup. Ten means "1 ten and 0 units. As the year progresses, you would have say for the 75th day, 7groups in the 10's cup and 5 in the units. On the 100th day, you would already have 99 days in school; 9 groups of 10 in the 10s cup and 9 in the units cup. When you add the 1 straw for the 100th day, you would have 9 groups of 10 in the 10's cup and now 10 straws in the units cup. That means you move the 10 units into a group of 10. Now you have 10 groups in the 10s cup but that makes 100 straws so you band them and move it over to the 100's cup. So now there is one big group of 100, 0 ten's and 0 units. Schools would plan big celebrations about the 100th day of school, all centered around math, like measuring and comparing the length of 100 new crayons to 100 new pencils. Really it all was about math concepts and in this case PLACE VALUE. I loved calendar math in my kindergarten class. It really helped the children. One year I had an average student raise his hand on the 100th day of school when we were talking about what "100" means and he said "if there are 10 tens in 100 then there must be 100 tens in 1000. WOW! Sorry this is probably way more than you wanted to know!

I think it starts from viewing the kitchen as a work area. Rich people didn't go in there, so whatever the builder-architect specified was fine. Looking at Thomas Jefferson's kitchen is interesting - partly because it was advanced for its time and partly because its stripped of the affectations of the main house. Even though its spread across multiple rooms - it matches. The woods, the flooring, the simplicity of having only enough to do the job at hand, etc. So, I think the matchiness comes from the builders vision of what a kitchen is, with a little practicality sprinkled on. Plus, who has ever wanted to go 15 different places for their "work area" storage. Right now, I see two things. Other than matchiness has a long, long history - particularly in dining rooms. The first is that the matchiness can be soothing to the eye. It looks better in small environments where a collected look can quickly turn into a jumble. It can visually expand space by simplifying line and color and unifying the presentation of a small space. Sometimes, I think people who choose monochromatic color schemes are drawn to the almost zen feel that matchiness in monochrome can produce. The second is that two colors is fashionable right now. As anyone who has ever seen pics of 1970's decorating can attest, fashion is a strong force. I like some matchiness. That's partly cultural - I grew up in a time when matchiness was prized (I'm sure it will be again). And part is the touch of the ocd fairy - my eyes try to sort jumble - which is how a table for 12 where every chair is different and all the place settings are different appears to me. In a kitchen, I think matchiness (or unity) is the background for the focal points where you are directing people's attention.