Hi all, My first plant was an African violet. My grandmother was at fault. It was 1979 and I was about 23 years old and in college. I decided I would like to have a house plant and went over to her place to get some pothos cuttings. She grew wonderful looking pothos like nobody I've ever seen since. Anyway she was really thrilled that I was interested in having of houseplant and cut me several good lengths of pothos stems. When we were done with that she took me over to the window and showed me an African violet. She told me that I could take one of those leaves, put it in a glass of water, and that it would grow new plants from the base of the stem. I thought to myself, "no way", but I took a couple of those leaves home, stuck them in a glass of water as she instructed and indeed after couple months little plantlets started to grow from the bottom of the stems. I then planted them in African violet soil and had two plants. I soon took more leaves and started even more African violets. I thought it was such a coup how I was able to produce these "free" plants. Although by the time I bought the pots and soil those plants were not free. lol I then started propagating other plants. I even grew a lemon tree from a lemon seed I had harvested when making lemonade one time. My surprise was that the thing had thorns. Even though I liked my plants I can say that I was really in love with them. That would come later. I graduated from college and married a girl who was in ROTC and went into the army six months later. She was immediately sent to different schools and we traveled around the country to three different places in less than a year. Keeping plants going under those conditions was not very good and I lost a lot of plants, but not my African violets. I wound up in Washington, DC and worked for what was pretty much a white collar "sweat shop". It wasn't uncommon for me to work 60 to 70 hours a week. I needed somewhat of a diversion occasionally though and I found that diversion to be houseplants. I was very lucky to share a corner office with a couple of other people. The sunlight was incredible, and the windows were tinted so that the sun was not too harsh. I bought several starter plants and had them around my desk. To make a long story short I had a spider plant that was just magnificent and I had a Swedish Ivy that was to die for. The Swedish Ivy hung from a 9 foot ceiling and was basically a pillar all the way to the floor. I could not get my arms around the circumference of the plant. Anyway that's when my love of plants really blossomed. I continued to purchase and propagate African violets and had several to give away. My wife, who would eventually become my ex wife, and I moved to Denver. I then became acquainted with other gesneriad cousins of African violets. I went to African violet and gesneriad shows annually and met several people who grew these plants. I love all of my plants but my first love is African violets and their gesneriad cousins. Larry

Eileen: When I moved to Florida from Texas I had to get an agricultural certificate to present to the moving company before they would load the first plant. This is a Florida requirement and the movers don't want to get fined so they are picky. All trucks must be inspected at the border, even the U-Hauls. It wasn't a hassle to get the certificate, I just contacted the Texas Department of Agriculture and they sent an inspector to my house (it cost $5) and she looked over my plants for bugs and disease and gave me the form. She also gave me some good advice on moving the plants. She told me to water them very well and then wrap the pots in trash bags to hold in the moisture. I moved in August of 1992 and those plants were on the truck for about 3 or 4 days but they all made it. I am so plant crazy that I even dug up plants out of my yard and put them in pots so I could bring them to Florida. All these years later and those iris I brought have spread and are currently in bloom. It was easier to bring the plants on a truck than it was to bring the parrots on the airplane...but that is another story. Good Luck on the move

It's Ficus lyrata (commonly: fiddle-leaf fig). The spoiled foliage is not a disease and is almost certainly the result of over-watering and an accompanying malady called oedema. Oedema is a physiological disorder that can affect all plants. It occurs when the plant takes up more water than it can rid itself of via the process of transpiration. In afflicted plants, internal water pressure (turgidity) can become so high that some leaf cells rupture or cell contents leak into inter-cellular spaces in leaf tissue. Oedema is most often driven by excessive water retention in the soil, but cool temperatures, high humidity levels, low light conditions, or partial defoliation can individually or collectively be additional contributors, as can anything else that slows transpiration. As well, nutritional deficiencies of Ca and Mg are known contributors to the malady. Symptoms vary by plant, but can include wet or weepy areas on the foliage, blisters that turn from white or tan to dark brown or black, then gradually turn corky/ scaly/ ridged, and wart-like or gall-like bumpy growth. Al

It would be extremely unusual for an Epipremnum aureum (pothos) to flower or set seed on a potted plant. If you can post the photo someone might be able to identify the seedlings.