Oh floral paint... I have a (pro) florist friend who is BONKERS for floral paint. At least he was during school when he had unlimited access to it! The staff at the school still talk about it! Does it lose that beautiful flowy appearance when you use paint on it? I love making wreathes with the leaf stalks, and it would be great to incorporate the blooms as well! I planted little thumb sized clumps three years ago and now they're 2 feet across and the tallest blooms are about 8 feet tall! I'm in love with that grass, can't wait to see it get BIGGER! Thanks! For both the inspiration and ideas!

Some people don't know this, but cuttings taken from older or woody growth are not the best, they can take a very very long time to take off. It is possible that that is what you started with here. Ideally, cuttings should come from neither old nor very new growth, but somewhere in between. I was in a round robin last fall and two of the varieties I took from the selection were obviously older growth. I hesitated because I knew they probably wouldn't be good, but I really wanted them so took them anyway. It has been about 8 months now and compared to the other cuttings I planted at the same time, one of them has just now sent out a vine, the other has grown maybe two leaves. So, for anyone that does not know, if buying, selling, or trading, old growth cuttings are not desirable!

You most likely have Fragrant Blue or something very like it. This was probably a batch of Blue Fame tissue culture that was labeled and grown... and this is one that went to all blue. It should have been culled. For the retailer, this means a loss, so either from ignorance or greed it was left on the counter. I did have one batch of either Blue Flame or Secret Love (more later) where about a third of them went all blue by the second year. Most folks call this a reversion, assuming the plant "reverted" to the original set of genes in the parent plant of Blue Flame - Fragrant Blue. Though the plant is likely to be Fragrant Blue, I've seen too many cases where the solid color plant turns out bigger or smaller or different in some way, so I never use the term reversion. Nonetheless - Fragrant Blue is an old, inexpensive variety while Blue Flame is newer and more costly. Blue Flame has about a quarter inch margin that goes from yellowish to cream through the season. btw - Secret Love is, as far as I can tell, identical to Blue Flame... BF came out of Shady Oaks tissue culture and was released by Naylor Creek... SL came from Europe. I'd get my money back - or at least get a parial refund. Fragrant Blue is a very nice blue hosta and well worth growing. Good powdery blue and surprising sun tolerance for a blue. The name has been controversial for decades. The plant is not fragrant - and to most of us, the flowers are not fragrant. This plant has none of the plantaginea genes that produce the lovely fragranced (usually large and white) flowers in hostas. The originator, Paul Aden, registered it in 1988. I think I've had it about that long and have never been able to detect any fragrance in the flowers. Sometimes... maybe... a hint... if I stick my nose in until there is pollen on my nostril hairs... maybe a hint. Some folks say it is there, but very mild. Most of us say... nawwwwww.... Nobody seems to claim any fragrance for Secret Love or Blue Flame.

I needed additional dishes before the holidays and bought these in Nov, description said fired hotter and more resistant to breakage...sent for three 24-piece services (6 place settings x 3 for 18 place settings). The mugs at 10 oz might have been a better size if they'd been 12 oz, but I have many larger clear glass coffee mugs from a restaurant supply for those times people want a man sized cuppa coffee. They seem to fit the description (workhorses :)) although I haven't had them that many weeks, but I have to tell you I didn't pay the $208.80, or the $129.95 either. They were $69.95 per service and shipping was free. I don't know how often they are discounted that deeply. We'd moved and I had room finally for my table with all its leaves in place, much more kitchen cabinetry, and was on the hunt for several things - signed up for their email notices. These were one of the first email sale offers I received. Here is a link that might be useful: Sur la Table Bistro dinnerware