Well anyhow I am starting to think they are Stapelia and that the cutting I took from Tom is also Stapelia. I was in the dark about this genus at the time of the theft but did notice his were about to bloom. Damn. So anyway I also bought one that looks like Tom's at Armstrong and decided that what I have are Stapelia, not Huernica. My buds are bigger and darker than they were before. Four of them in one cluster. Oh hell what if I am out of town when they bloom? This feels like it has happened before. Darn.

The photo in the upper left of this update is of my supposed Brahea armata while it was in its box at Home Depot.

What else? Jero adheres to the bury the root flare school of tree planting and I do not.

I can't really get chocolate ice cream off my mind right now; it will be the first night without in months if I don't get any. The Dunns aren't answering.

Marcella and I broke up that clumpy Agave I'd got at Armstrong and planted the chunks in right-sized containers for growing on. Some were quite tiny; nearly all had roots.

We brutalized the various Dianthus, all having been chosen for fragrance and therefore meriting drastic measures to insure their vigor. Is it typical of them to have lousy root systems, or were mine started badly by the growers? It seems they just stop growing at some point, and no amount of watering or not watering makes a difference. I dug one up from its pot and the roots were fine, flimsy, and seemed inadequate to steady and fuel the growth of the plant. I have a yellow carnation that's down (due to irrigular watering) to a twig with very little foliage, and which has taken several weeks to show any sign of leafing out after I gave it a jarhead cut. But it has begun to make little green nubs offs its papery limbs.

What else. My gourds still thrive; the morning glories seem less than robust, though markedly better than those transplanted at an early age into Marcella's garden.

I foolishly checked the grape cuttings for roots--there were none. I became curious after noticing one of them wilting.

I got a tiny white mini-Cyclamen with a pink stripe on one petal of one blossom; I'll plant the seeds and see what I get. Big surprise: it is fragrant, and in a really nice way. It's the first time I had any inkling they had a scent. I have no idea what species it is, even after a lot of googling and goggling.

I forgot to re-plant the nodocactus (sp?). I went upstairs for the spray bottle so I could make a lemon juice solution and spray it on the stained parts of the old picture frames and have them bleach in the sun. A few hours after going up I remembered about the lemon juice. Anyway the frames are dry and quite usable; I guess I hope it is not too damp tonight. Well if they are damp maybe I will spray them with lemon juice solution; it'll soak in well and dry tomorrow. And I must plant the little gent.

Two of Hammer's Conos have bloomed, one in orange and the other in baby pink. Other of his plants are giving me the finger and making faces at me. Various Haworthia are blooming with their big frog tongues swaying in the breeze. I mean to ask him about the weird Crassula thingie that came in the pot with an Aloe from Altman's I got at Armstrong, but haven't got a picture of it yet. I doubt it is a repeat-bloomer so the opportunity to ID it passed for the year. I also must send him the old Cactus and Succulent magazine.

Well, I can't seem to focus on plants tonight, and there's the ice cream truck. Writing's on the wall.