Yes it is kinda scarey to think that food coloring would kill them, but it did. :( Too many of our foods are dyed unnecessarily. Nothing is "good" for you anymore unless you grow it yourself or buy organic. And to think how much food coloring I have used in baking over the years..all the desserts & cakes that I have decorated with so many dif colors. Oh well, it won't stop me, lol. The only other sprouts that bit the dust were my hibs, ALL my hibs..but I think that was my fault because I moved them into bigger containers too soon, but I needed the room. I'm so upset I don't have any hibs left. They were the only ones I started in a styrofoam egg container..I knew it wouldn't be deep enough but I was itchin too bad to get them started, and it was all I had that day. Could kick myself for that one. I am wondering if maybe next time I will try natural dyes..beet juice, etc, to inject the stems.

tjicken~ I had no clue which one you were talking about and had to go look it up. LOL! (tags have been lost over the years.) Wow! It will be great if it ever blooms. He's had it about 5 yrs now with no blooms. He liked it because of the color and shape of the needles. Thank you for sharing the name. Oh and I found today the comon name is Arizona hedge hog..lol! I'm in Tucson, Arizona. :) puglvr1 and emerald.. Thank you! Yes he is proud and has to take care of his plants on his own when he asks me to buy them! He grows sunflowers and a few others types in the summer, and helps with all garden chores in general. It started when he was 3. What little boy doesn't like dirt! LOL! But I think mom got more excited over finding worms than he did. LOL! And now that he's older, I have to keep them a secret or his dad and him would be heading to the lake. :) Emerald~ thank you! I tried that and the glue just didnt want to give... it ended up taking all the needles with it. It was on pretty thick. The plant is o.k. though. I do have one small fish hook type that blooms each summer. Just showed up in my yard next to my barrel cactus.

Hi Sharon, Definitely poinsettia, and usually the "classic red" ones (though any color is pretty). I usually keep my plant around, put it outside in summer, then forget to water it and just chuck it(even though usually it can be revived and sprout new leaves). My Christmas cactus doesn't bloom because it's in the computer room where there is alot of artificial light. One year, when I was living in an apartment (and had a great windowsill for plants) I did an experiment. If I put my Christmas cactus in the middle of the room where it got some natural light and lots of artificial light, it didn't bloom. If I put my Christmas Cactus on the windowsill where it got some natural sunlight during the day, it would bloom even though at night it got some artificial light. I think the natural sunlight it got during the day helped it determine that day lengths were getting shorter. I really have to "revive" one of my cactus, however. It's from a cutting from a plant that my grandma had (sort of passed down through the family through the years) but very rootbound and never blooms. Glen

Oh, Brenda, those dianthus are such a soft pretty color! And you have them potted so beautifully. Thanks for posting them. ~Betsy