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

I will take the advice and add eyebolts to strategic places on the uprights for tying the canes instead of doing much weaving. If canes get as big as broomsticks, they won't bend much to create horizontals for flowering. Will they form secondary horizontal canes that will flower? Will long canes be limber enough to bend over the top of the arbor without kinking? Thanks again for the advice and compliments on the arbor. It took a fair amount of thought and design but I enjoyed it.

My last bloom on APPLE TART just dropped off. I would have had 12 weeks of blooms if it had stayed on, but maybe the storm or cool weather caused it to drop off. As it is, I got 11 weeks of blooms off of this gem. RED VOLUNTEER is putting up a rebloom scape... certainly didn't expect that. KING OF SWING, PURPLE DE ORO, and PLATINUM PALETTE CALYPSO CORAL are also still blooming as well as the ones below. Not too bad for this area in the second week in September. Just hope the fall stays warm enough to produce blooms. BUTTERED POPCORN is reblooming and is sending up another scape just to the lower left of the bloom. WITCH STITCHERY... also wasn't expecting this rebloom scape. The blooms have been subjected to cool weather lately, so they aren't laying as nicely as usual, but hey, I'll take it! SEA GOLD... really growing to love the layers of color on this one. Vickie

DTD: I see I spelled Epigaea wrong again - I keep doing that (aea, not aia). I bought 2 of them last Saturday and then went back Monday after calling them and bought 4 more. Frankly, I got all the blooming ones, and the ones I left looked kind of straggly. There's a good thread on the Natives forum which explains their care. One poster, northeastwisc, quotes: "An acid to moderately acid sandy loam soil, rich in humus to a shallow depth, and with a sandy soil below providing good drainage. I use a soil with a pH of 6." "... grows well in a cool open woods where it is protected from the hot summer sun but where early spring sunshine filters through leafless branches. Choose a spot where the forest floor is covered with decaying leaves or evergreen needles. Also, woodland soil contains the mycorhizal fungi that are beneficial to the plant." "Except for the taproot, the plant feeds on the first few inches of soil. Feeder roots develope where the vines are covered with damp humus." "... mulch by scattering a mixture of evergreen needles, birch leaves and soft maple leaves. Keep the plants moist until they are well established." "... thrives best in association with mycorrhizal fungi. Including soil that was collected near healthy wild plants in soil mixtures will introduce the necessary fungus ..." Obviously not a plant for an immaculate, well manicured garden, but if you don't mind a nice casual setting of pine needles and decaying leaves, they may do well for you. The indigenous mycorrhizal fungi seem to be essential. Southern Plymouth is pine barren country and they belong here. Claire Here is a link that might be useful: Epigaea repens