Thanks for the kind words, B&C. In Mississippi, Memorial day would be a good target date for repotting the fig. Hibiscus need an annual repot. Do that toward the end of March, before it starts growing in earnest. Apple and most deciduous trees should be repotted just before or at the onset of spring budswell. Cactus - ask the cactus experts at the cacti/succulents forum. Desert rose - in Mississippi - June Umbrella plant - June There are ways to mechanically limit the amount of perched water a planting will hold, even if you're using a very water-retentive medium. Eliminating all or most of the perched water allows the grower to use media that would otherwise be or border on the edge of unusable. This outlines ways to cope with heavy (water-retentive) media Another effective way of dealing with media that hold too much water is through the use of ballast. You can read more about that technique here: Ballast ..... For now, checking your planting's moisture level regularly with a 'tell' will make a difference in your plant's appearance and level of vitality. Here's something I wrote about that: Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al

If, like me, you are a fan of the Atlas gloves discussed above, you will love the new Atlas NT370s. If you are not a fan, you may find that you also like them. They are made of Nitrile, the same substance of which many surgical gloves are made. At 20 years of age, I was a bare-hands gardener. For one, I loved the feel of the dirt on my hands; plus, gloves were so awkward that I invariably ended up taking them off. As the years have progressed, however, I have tired of the ailments and incidents that come with bare hands. So, over the years, I have gone from rubber to cotton to heavy leather to goatskin to latex surgical to Nitrile surgical, the latter of which I was very content with. Then, in the spring of last year, a booth at a local gardening event was selling nothing but this one model of glove. I put one on my hand and that was it, I was sold, it was sooo comfortable. Not only were they thin and light, but the nylon knit backs were very soothing and supportive of my hands. No, I don't work for Atlas nor any other business which sells these gloves. I am just a happy customer who wants to give the company credit for a really great product. Cathy

I've already posted on this thread on the houseplants forum where it is also posted. But, reading the followups here I wanted to add that the two sources listed above are way over priced. Why pay three to ten times the price for seeds. I just looked at Mesa Gardens list of aloe seeds and ferox, for example, is listed at 65 cents. They list about 13 species at 85 cents or less and dozens at a dollar a packet. They also sell larger quantities for much less than the above offering. Mesa has a very good reputation. The url to their succulents seed list is linked below. By the way, the reason why A. vera is not offered as seed is that it, like almost all aloe sps, is self incompatible, so seed set requires two different clones. A. vera is largely available as a single clone, mass produced throughout the world and not found in nature. Even the native habitat of vera is uncertain. It is an ancient plant. So, to produce seed one would have to find two separate clones, which may or may not exist. Then they would need to flower in unison and be cross pollinated. Why bother when this plant is so readily available. I would be suspect of any "Aloe vera" seed being offered by anyone not expert in succulents. It could easily be some other species or hybrid. Jon Here is a link that might be useful: Mesa

They are readily available here in the San Francisco Bay Area, where they thrive as landscape plants in our cool, maritime mediterranean climate. The plants can take winter cold, but should be tipped on their side in winter if left out unprotected, as they do not get lots of precipitation in winter in habitat, as Lesotho is a summer rainfall climate. The other key growing concern is that as a container plant, the roots do not like to get hot or dry, and black plastic nursery pots can cook the roots in summer. It is probably best to grow them in glazed ceramic or wood containers, to keep the roots cooler. A fantastically beautiful Aloe species that can certainly handle the cold of a Seattle winter, but will need careful management to avoid rotting out from too much winter rains. Also remember that this grows at altitude, with summer thundershowers, and will not like it hot and dry in summer. I'd suggest that growing it as a container plant with a cactus mix soil and time release fertilizer in an acidic mix, and keeping it cool and out of the rain in winter is best. The roots on this are extensive, so I would also suggest not trying to keep it in too small a pot as it gets bigger, especially when it can get almost 2.5 feet across when mature. If you are down here in the San Francisco Bay Area, this plant is regularly available as one or five gallon sized plants at either The Dry Garden Nursery in Oakland on Shattuck Ave, or at Flora Grub Nursery in San Francisco in the Bayview District. There is also a grower in Santa Cruz who first made this locally available in California, as he was the first to have local seed, and does ship mail order if I am not mistaken. In any case, this Aloe is still abit pricey, and 1 gallon sized plants will be $25 to $45 retail, but good sized and filling the pot. A 5 gallon plant can cost about $100. Still, these local prices will be cheaper than buying a small 2"/4" from Plant Delights Nursery and shipping to Washington state, especially if you will be coming to the SF Bay Area anyway...