Chimeras have two layers of cells in the production points, one of one color, then a second color or hue of the same color. Most plants have only one layer of cells. Chimeras can be reproduced ONLY by suckers from a chimera plant or bloomstalks. Seeds will not produce chimeras. Chimeras are surprises and are produced sometimes from suckers of normal plants. You may also take a leaf from a normal plant and see it produce up to six babies. When those six babies are grown out to bloom, one may be a chimera. All a matter of Mother Nature taking over. You can not force a violet to produce a chimera; in fact people are trying many ways to get these things to develop through tissue culture and other techniques with very little success. One way you MAY be able to get chimeras is to have many, many plants--especially fantasy plants. I have discovered at least two chimeras in my growing room. One developed as a baby from a leaf of Ness' Midnight Fantasy. Buy a lot of fantasies and grow out to flowering every single baby. You may find one that way. But they are getting less expensive on ebay. You could go that route, too. Nancy

My understanding of Av genetics is more than a bit fuzzy, but I'll give it a shot. Chimera AVs have two sets of DNA, and they express this through stripes on the flowers (more rarely through the foliage); they're always 'pinwheel' -- stripes down the middle of the petals, and the main color on the sides. One set of DNA is in the 'skin' of the plant, and the other is in the inside tissues. When you grow babies from leaves, the new plants grow from the external tissue, which means it only gets one set of DNA, and therefore one color. When you grow plants from suckers and the crown, obviously it gets both sets. This whole arrangement is pretty unstable, and plants can revert to one or the other color, especially when stressed (you forget to water, bug attack, etc.). Got it? Korina the Konfused ~embrace the confusion~ ÂNever trust anything that can think for itself if you canÂt see *where it keeps its brain*! ~Arthur Weasley

Karin, I think you will find that different trailers behave differently. I have probably linked before to a page that explains a little about the various types. Rob's varieties are what most instructions are written for, but some like Pixie Blue are semi-shrub (I think that's it) or upright and don't react the same way. Now this is just me, but how does a trailer get to be a trailer? The hybridizer decides to register or call it a trailer, right? I suspect some of them could go either way and are just as happy being grown as standards. You run into this more with the older standard trailers, I believe. If you don't show and it doesn't want to conform, either get rid of it or let it grow the other way. Why knock yourself out. I have no idea how Violet Barn got Ramblin' Lassie to grow into a real trailer because it's really not inclined to ramble. I just put 3 in the pot. Diana

Hi Everybody, Hey Cena, everything looks beautiful as usual. I thought Chimera meant sport, I thought I've seen it in an AV context or maybe a Gesneriad conversation. Cena's correct, I germinated seeds from her Stephanotis last summer, August actually. My 3 remaining seedlings are abt to be 1 yr. old, they're 6" tall & cute, live in a west window here in NYC. Hey Denise, Am working on an EM too you, so sorry; been a bit crazy here; hope things are good. As to the H. fresno & Norma, I thought I heard/read her say she quit growing Hoyas, a while back. Mine's actually died back some over 4 yrs., if I can get it to get growing again I'll give you a piece. Please permit a digression: Just now to the right of this thread, there is an advertisement of a scantily clad Vegas showgirl; I find this VERY offensive. It appeared last night on the Quilting Forum (under That Home Site). I posted about this & my displeasure at it there on a thread called "OT but on This Forum Tonight". I asked folks to join me & chime in w/ their comments & if felt that it was inappropriate, to voice their protest & complaints to GW/IV at their "Letters & Comments" or "Suggestions" area, reachable by scrolling down below. Very offensive stuff, especially at the Quilting Forum where it's virtually ALL women participants. Incredibly bad marketing & insensivity towards women -- clearly decided by men. Opinions please??? (we can start a seperate thread if Cena prefers, sorry Old Gal!)