Hi! Let me show you what happened when I allowed the below flower, a red scabious zinnia, cross randomly with other zinnias in the garden (we will presume pollination carried out by insects). The mother flower, or at least, one similar example from the same plant, shown below: The offspring (shown at different scale): This one above has full, orange scabious flowers, about 1 1/2 inches across. This one above not a good flower at all, but it may be damaged by the weather conditions we've had, too. Not like it's mother.... This flower above looks like it may have had a whirligig dad...has a good supply of disc flowers. This above flower seems to me to be most like the mother flower, but the florets are a shorter red, and there are guard petals (damaged, I think) of a shade of fuscia. This is the only plant that has inherited the relatively narrower leaves of its maternal parent, too. The above flower seems uncertain of what to do--funny florets in the center, somewhat curly petals here and there, but keeping the red color for the most part. Last, but not least: This might be an interesting one. Daisy-like, some of the central florets turning brown due to too much rain, and more to come! I couldn't believe what sorts of flowers came from that red scabious mother! It's kind as if anything goes when there are random crosses. I have four or five plants that resulted from planned crosses with the red scabious and a red cactus. Will see what happens.... But I sure would like to get another red scabious like the one I had last summer.... ZM, when you said "recombinant" flower I thought you probably meant home-bred, but I asked anyway. I think what you're doing is the right thing. I am going to eliminate those plants that produce mediocre flowers to get better lines going here. For now, though, I am nipping off the undesirable first flowers without destroying the plants. I think some ugly flowers may be resulting from poor environmental conditions! I wonder if we should move to Part 11? ZM? JG

nancy_pnwzone8(OR zone 8) ps here are some links if you're interested. Wolverton Environmental Services http://www.wolvertonenvironmental.com/ Plant Air Purifier http://www.plantairpurifier.com/ Andrea http://www.andreaair.com/ Inside Urban Green - What did Bill Really Say? http://www.insideurbangreen.org/2009/11/my-entry-1.html Phytophilter Technologies http://www.phytofilter.com/ Plants are the Strangest People - Indoor Plants as Air Purifiers http://plantsarethestrangestpeople.blogspot.com/2008/04/indoor-plants-as-air-purifiers.html Kamal Meattle: How to grow fresh air http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmn7tjSNyAA (i would be remiss for posting this link without providing more info. in this TED talk, it sounds like they just added some plants to a big office building, like you would see in a typical cubicle farm, and - shebang - the air was cleaned. what he doesn't show is that they have a full on indoor grow op with high intensity lighting and full hydroponic plumbing. the grow rooms are tied into the building's HVAC. there was another video that showed the set up but i can't find it now.) I would add these links: 1. Wikipedia Houseplants together with the medium in which they are grown can reduce components of indoor air pollution, particularly volatile organic compounds (VOC) such as benzene, toluene, and xylene. Plants remove CO2 and release oxygen and water, although the quantitative impact for house plants is small. Most of the effect is attributed to the growing medium alone, but even this effect has finite limits associated with the type and quantity of medium and the flow of air through the medium.[25] The effect of house plants on VOC concentrations was investigated in one study, done in a static chamber, by NASA for possible use in space colonies.[26] The results showed that the removal of the challenge chemicals was roughly equivalent to that provided by the ventilation that occurred in a very energy efficient dwelling with a very low ventilation rate, an air exchange rate of about 1/10 per hour. Therefore, air leakage in most homes, and in non-residential buildings too, will generally remove the chemicals faster than the researchers reported for the plants tested by NASA. The most effective household plants reportedly included aloe vera, English ivy, and Boston fern for removing chemicals and biological compounds. Plants also appear to reduce airborne microbes, molds, and increase humidity.[27] However, the increased humidity can itself lead to increased levels of mold and even VOCs.[28] When CO2 concentrations are elevated indoors relative to outdoor concentrations, it is only an indicator that ventilation is inadequate to remove metabolic products associated with human occupancy. Plants require CO2 to grow and release oxygen when they consume CO2. A study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology considered uptake rates of ketones and aldehydes by the peace lily (Spathiphyllum clevelandii) and golden pothos (Epipremnum aureum.) Akira Tani and C. Nicholas Hewitt found "Longer-term fumigation results revealed that the total uptake amounts were 30−100 times as much as the amounts dissolved in the leaf, suggesting that volatile organic carbons are metabolized in the leaf and/or translocated through the petiole."[29] It is worth noting the researchers sealed the plants in Teflon bags. "No VOC loss was detected from the bag when the plants were absent. However, when the plants were in the bag, the levels of aldehydes and ketones both decreased slowly but continuously, indicating removal by the plants".[30] Studies done in sealed bags do not faithfully reproduce the conditions in the indoor environments of interest. Dynamic conditions with outdoor air ventilation and the processes related to the surfaces of the building itself and its contents as well as the occupants need to be studied. While results do indicate house plants may be effective at removing some VOCs from air supplies, a review of studies between 1989 and 2006 on the performance of houseplants as air cleaners, presented at the Healthy Buildings 2009 conference in Syracuse, NY, concluded "...indoor plants have little, if any, benefit for removing indoor air of VOC in residential and commercial buildings."[31] Since high humidity is associated with increased mold growth, allergic responses, and respiratory responses, the presence of additional moisture from houseplants may not be desirable in all indoor settings.[32] sourse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indoor_air_quality#Effect_of_indoor_plants 2.Critical Review: How Well Do House Plants Perform as Indoor Air Cleaners? Dingle et al. (2000) reported on a field study of three portable office buildings in Perth, Australia to test removal of formaldehyde by plants. Five plants (five species) were added to each room every two days to a maximum of 20 plants (at 2.44 plants per m2) after nine days. Two adjacent portable office buildings were used as controls with no plants. The mean formaldehyde concentrations were about 850 ppb, except with 20 plants. The authors state that the results show “no change in formaldehyde concentrations with the addition of 5 or 10 plants in the rooms and only an 11% reduction in formaldehyde concentrations with 20 plants in the room.” They did not indicate that this reduction was statistically significant.... With this caveat firmly in mind, it is hardly surprising that the HBI study failed to find any effect on pollutant removal by plants, despite a reasonably strong study design in terms of using controls. The study by Dingle et al. found only an 11% reduction in formaldehyde with the highest loading of plants (20 plants in a room or a loading of 2.44 plants per m2), which is not feasible in the real world and is probably not statistically significant. ... Sourse: http://www.buildingecology.com/articles/critical-review-how-well-do-house-plants-perform-as-indoor-air-cleaners/ I think people overestimate the ability of plants to clean the air. That's why EPA don't write about plants as cleaner at all: Epa wrote about Mechanical air filters, Electronic air cleaners, Gas-phase air filters, UVGI cleaners , PCO cleaners, Ozone generators , Portable air cleaners but EPA don't write about plants as cleaner at all.Sourse: http://www.epa.gov/iedweb00/pubs/residair.html If you use plants as cleaner You need to test air inside your house or flats. You need to use complex devices to test air otherwise you may find that you don't have any benefit from plants at all. And this is only placebo. You can spend your time for nothing. Only complex devices to test air inside your houses or flats can help you. Please don't trust so much NASA or Wolverton. Be critical. To read Critical Reviews too. Сheck the air in your homes with complex devices.

Nice blueberries bushes Sam! he he on the good luck rocks...lol Straw, here's a pic of our largest and best D. Ko bush that we have in our yard. I planted it directly after I took out another rose that was in that spot for 30+ years. No ill effects at all...Only positive results in this case... If Thomas Affleck itself is capable of blooming well in that spot out front he will when he is ready. If not he will get replaced by a rose bush that will bloom better without having to change soil......(My grandpap god rest his soul would turn over in his grave if I ever changed our native soil for a rose bush or any other plant/shrub..) I can still here him saying for every plant that doesn't work there is one that will...lol... He would also say NEVER change your native soil unless you plan on veggie gardening the rest of your life...lol.. (Referring to our soil here).... Come to think of it I had Zinnias in Thomas Affleck spot last year. After seeing these Zinnia pics again and remembering we got the most compliments ever from them out front. Thomas Affleck will be surrounded next year by a few Marigolds but tons of Zinnias! A bit smaller ones though as we can't block the sun from Thomas...I'll get 2ft high Zinnias for the back and 15 inch Zinnias for the front...

Fascinating topic :). I have never been interested in make up, and so never got into much of it. Daily routine is, after washing face, to apply an SPF 30 moisturizer, brow pencil since I plucked most of mine as a teenager and they never grew back, and a dot of Dermablend cover on a small but very pale and noticeable circular scar above one eye where I had a skin cancer removed. Quit bothering with eye shadow and blush years ago, ditto with foundation which is also nasty to wear in the Miami subtropical weather; feels to me like wearing a greasy mask, yuck. Actually the climate here strongly mitigates against the multilayer face 'painting' I read about; cannot imagine plastering on primer/foundation/powder and then leaving it to bake all day especially during what I call our double 90 season (heat and humidity). Have never used lipstick, rarely mascara and never tried eye liner. Have never had an interest in Botox or any other type of intervention or surgical options and probably never will. I did Invisalign orthodontia several years ago; had lived with crooked teeth until I was 50+ YO and the feeling about my improved appearance/smile, along with the greater ease in keeping up with dental hygiene due to straight teeth has been immeasurably positive. I have my hair professionally cut and highlighted every 10-12 weeks. Wash and blow dry it every other day, use a straightening iron too often--as I'm aging my hair is developing that brittle overprocessed look that I hate to see. I need to up my use of hair treatments but just haven't bothered. What else--do my own pedicures, no manicures or nail polish on my hands. Did fingernail polish for years on my own but didn't like how it discolored the nails and prefer natural. I am in major stall on exercise; was doing Pilates regularly with a trainer but she closed her studio and I haven't found a group class with a good instructor on a schedule that works for me. At 58, I badly need to get myself into a regular schedule of cardio, stretching and weight training. Have never had to worry about weight but the tone and fitness lack is worrisome. I'd call myself diligent in keeping clean, tidy and looking reasonable but in many ways I like being in the stage of life at which I've become 'invisible'. It's very freeing in a lot of ways not to worry about trying to live up to whatever i social acceptability standard for appearance is out there for women these days :).