Mary, I agree with Susan, you must be one great gardener! I discovered two more very tiny variegata sprouts. The good news is that the Purple MW that the gopher got last year and almost destroyed is coming back! I took the remnants of the plant that he had drug down into the soil and planted them in two pots. The two pots are sprouting. I was so nervous that I might lose this plant that was so beautiful last year. I will put window screening in a deep hole and replant the Purple MW. I saw Mary Ann at a sale here in Tulsa yesterday. She planted some more variegata this year, but apparently it has yet to sprout. So I'm on the list and will send her an email to keep in touch. I hope to get to go back this year. Susan, hooray for the clematitis returning!! Mine seems to be so hardy; however, it has yet to make an appearance this year. But, I'm sure it will. I have had a lot of seed pods the last two years. But, this is one of those plants that is tricky to germinate. It needs two cold periods - which makes me think it takes two years in the wild to germinate. I'll be putting the seeds back in the fridge in a couple of weeks. I have had success with germination and growing this plant. It just takes lots of patience. Wish I could say I'm successful at growing variegata! The gophers are already busy, as are the moles. So, I will be planting some Castor bean plants in the garden in hopes that it will repel them. Susan, we need to plan a trip to Pine Ridge to see Mary Ann this summer. Maybe we can meet up with others from the area. Sandy

The babies continue to grow stronger and I've even got some additional recruits waiting to join the ranks (2nd pic). I noticed a few of the stalks on my Kalanchoe were really top heavy so I decided to pull one off and replant the clippings. To my surprise I'm already getting new growth on the stalk (3rd pic) and the clipped and repotted flowers have continued to grow new leaves 4th pic. BTW I've noticed that after about a week with no water all of the larger flowers start to sag during warm weather (90+)...at one point they completely turned horizontal (which is why I clipped one off). Turns out with a little love and water the flowers brought themselves upright. So I guess I didnt need to clip the flowers after all...but I learned a few things and propagated flowers to share.

Wow, I really wasn't expecting anyone to comment b/c I figure my stuff probably doesn't come close to what most of you are probably used to seeing....Thanks so much for the compliments! Vikki, the calla blooms are white. I've been having it in that pot for about 4 or 5 years now! I have another one at my mom's house in the ground, which is actually the first plant I ever bought, and it's just starting to bloom right now. Funny that you should mention only getting leaves when yours is in the ground because the one in the pot didn't bloom AT ALL last year so I'm kinda praying that she shows me something this year. As for the Ivy Geranium I know what you mean about being too dry, I have to water it often and it's actually not as full as it could be. As a matter of fact, I posted a picture of it in the "Geranium" forum asking for tips to get more growth. However, she is doing good b/c she was worse off than that a few months ago. Try, too, using some of that water soluble soil maybe that'll help too..... FlowerLady...will do! : ) Thanks again to all of you!

Sand is not your friend - make a potting mix of 1/2 sifted C&S-specific soil (to get out the barky chunks) and 1/2 pumice (preferred) or perlite (acceptable), and this is just one of many soil recipes you can be successful with, and your plants should respond favourably, but if you feel you must use it, it shouldn't comprise much more than 3% of your potting mix recipe. Having grown Kals all my succulent life, in both one of the best places (San Diego, CA) and one less so (Kamloops), I find that they grow similarly in both places, as they're very avid to grow when it's not too hot (less than 90F) and not too cold (more than 50F), on average. Of course the growing season is longer in SD, less so here in BC, but if they get light and warmth and some water, they're growing now, and throughout most of the year. As you may know, they're opportunistic, so if you can give them good growing conditions, you'll see growth on them much/most of the year.