Episode 207: festive plant Q&A
Transcript
Episode 207
[music]
Jane: Verily, I say unto thee, this is the On The Ledge festive Q&A special! Hello and welcome to On The Ledge episode 206! I am your host, Jane Perrone, and - you know what? - it's getting festive around here! I'm wearing a sparkly spider brooch - I know, very christmassy! - I also have a cup of tea by my side that might transmogrify into a glass of mulled wine as the afternoon slips inexorably towards evening, I'm going to be answering your festive plant-related questions and we'll also be hearing from listener, Sally, in a welcome return for Meet The Listener.
[music]
Jane: Thanks for all the lovely feedback about my interview with Ulrich Haage in last week's episode. Lots of people enjoyed the Opuntia story and if you want to read more about why Opuntia glochids are particularly lethal, well, you'll have to wait until my book Legends of The Leaf comes out because there's a whole chapter on Opuntia microdasys, the Bunny Ears cactus, in that book! Speaking of which, a bit of housekeeping here, this is the last episode of On The Ledge for the year 2021. I know - we really should be going around in flying cars by now, shouldn't we!? Well, that's what I remember thinking back in the 80s, when I thought about the year 2021! Anyway, last episode is this one for 2021 and I will be back in 2022.
When, Jane!? When will you be back? Well, I'm afraid right now, I can't precisely answer that. I have still not finished my book. It is close, it's getting there, but I'm not finished yet and I've got to get this book - I'll leave a space there for a swear word that would have been inserted had this not been a swear-free show - finished because I know there's hundreds of people waiting for it! So I've got to put the podcast on pause. I'm planning that that will mean that the show will be back at the beginning of February. I know, boohoo, it's really bad news, but if you are a Patreon subscriber, I will pause Patreon, it'll either be the month of January or the month of February, but one month will be paused, so you will not be paying when there's not content coming out, as we did last August, same thing. Your payment will be paused if you're a monthly, if you're on annual, an extra month will be added to the end of your payment. Questions? Do drop me a line, but, hopefully, that's clear. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get the book done and if I get it done quicker than I imagine I'm going to, then I will be back sooner, but I desperately, desperately need to get this book done. The only way to do that is just to focus the time that I have solely on it because you know what, making a podcast is quite time-consuming! I may end up putting out some old episodes on the feed just to keep you going during that month but, yes, no new episodes during the month of January until the book is done. I will try to give you plenty of notice as to when the show would be back and, obviously, I hope you stick around.
Thank you to Jen0928 who sent me a lovely, lovely review for On The Ledge, well they didn't send it to me, but it appeared in my inbox via the magic of a website called chartable.com Jen0928 you really did cheer me up with this review! It was a lovely thing that you said about the show and how much you enjoyed it and how much I make you laugh. Really lovely to hear, so thank you for that. Thank you to Ben and Dara, who've both become Patreons this week. You are awesome. Dara sent me a question about a Hoya. I'm going to get on to that question very shortly, Dara. I will send you a response soon. Julia got in touch about the Leca episode, with thoughts about a fungus gnat experience and saying that mosquito dunks, or BTI, work as a tea and you can drench your plants in that and that's how Julia deals with fungus gnats, just chucking a dunk into a 55 gallon rain barrel every couple of months and that's what is used for watering and feeding and Julia hasn't seen a fungus gnat for nine months, what a great idea. I've got some of the grains, the granules, not the dunks. Maybe that's a good idea? Maybe I should put them in my water butts? You've given me food for thought - thank you, Julia! Fungus gnats, as ever, are an ongoing problem. One of these days, once I finish this book, I shall be writing a giant blog post covering everything to do with fungus gnats, for your one-stop shop, but until that time, that's a little bit of advice from Julia.
[music]
Jane: Righty-ho, let's crack on with the first question and it comes from Robin and it concerns reusing an old Christmas tree for a live plant display. Hmm, I'm liking the sound of this already, Robin! I'm just reading through the email now. I've forgotten where this tree came from. Robin asks, "Can I use the trunk of an old live Christmas tree to, in some way, house living plants?" Now, I guess when you're saying 'live', you're meaning as opposed to a plastic tree, rather than one that's still alive in a pot? That's what I'm assuming anyway. I mean, you could use a plastic one, as well, but let's think about this in terms of it being a wooden trunk structure. Robin was thinking of growing Ivy up this trunk but has been cautioned that "conifers are toxic and the wood will be vulnerable to rot with waterings". So he's wondering whether that's a possibility, or if there's something else that can grow happily on this ivy.
Now, this is a problem that I face pretty much every year: the trunk of the Christmas tree. I usually cut off the branches and chop them up and they go as a rough mulch at the back of the garden and slowly break down there. The trunk, though, is a bit thicker and bigger and I never quite know what to do with it. Sometimes it ends up in the council dump wood skip, hopefully to be recycled. Sometimes it ends up chucked in my dead hedge wood pile and, occasionally, it's been collected by the green waste collectors when I've had a smaller tree. I don't have the problem this year because we, for various reasons, decided not to have a real Christmas tree. Instead I just went out into the garden with my hacksaw and hacked a couple of branches off a very dead pear tree which I haven't taken down because I can't quite bear to do it. I took some branches off there, a couple of sturdy branches, and I put them in a heavy terracotta pot and that's our Christmas tree this year. It actually looks surprisingly good. So I've avoided the problem of the conifer-trunk-after-Christmas-is-over because it's always a bit of a depressing thing, isn't it, when you've got that left and you're not sure what to do with it?
I'm slightly sceptical about whether the Ivy would have any problem with this plant in terms of chemically causing any allelopathy, as it's called, which is basically chemicals that stop other plants from growing. I do understand what you're saying though, about it not being rot-resistant. I imagine that, yes, the tree will start to decompose relatively quickly if it's continuously watered for the benefit of your Ivy. If you've got any outside space, what I'd usually recommend is just chopping it up and putting it in a pile for wildlife. They're just going to use it as anchorage and I don't think that it would cause any major problems. To play it really safe, I would just say if you've got anywhere outside you can put it, I would just either chop or saw it up into little pieces and make a little nature pile with the pieces and that will be colonised by insects and thoroughly enjoyed by them.
I'm going to be a bit brutally honest here, Robin, and I hope you appreciate this is said with love, but I think it's going to be a challenge to make this ex-Christmas tree look good. While I'm fully on board with the idea of recycling stuff to use on your houseplants, I'm just not sure this is the best way to make use of this particular piece of wood. If you ever see anyone cutting down an old grape vine, dried out grapevines make fantastic supports for houseplants and displays for air plants, so do keep your eye out for that. I think your Christmas tree may be better off slowly rotting away outside. Oh my gosh, I just have to stop for a minute because my husband has come in, he knows I'm a bit tired today and feeling a bit stressed, he's come in with a mug of mint tea but what he's brought, that's very exciting, is a chocolate éclair! Oh my gosh, I'm a happy woman! So I'm going to pause now while I eat my chocolate éclair and you can listen to Meet The Listener with Sally.
[music]
Sally: Hi everyone, my name is Sally! I live in the south east United States.
Jane: When did you get into houseplants and why?
Sally: I think I was influenced early on by a couple of neighbours who had home greenhouses. I used to love to go and see what was growing and all the little nooks and crannies and mysteries of those greenhouses. I've been collecting houseplants probably for 40 years now, so I have a pretty extensive and varied collection and I just love it.
Jane: What's the latest addition to your houseplant collection?
Sally: I just got a little snip of a Selaginella Frosty at a plant shop where I frequently go. They were selling it in a four-inch pot for about $10 and I really didn't want a big plant like that, I just wanted a little slip and asked the gal if I could pay the two-inch price for it and she handed me a pair of scissors and said "Go for it!" So I'm really excited to have that to add to my terrarium.
Jane: Complete the sentence: "I love my houseplants because..."
Sally: I love my houseplants because they give me diversion from the worries of the world. I love the challenge of finding new ones and caring for them and I love sharing them when I have the opportunity.
Jane: Who is your houseplant hero?
Sally: I would definitely say my houseplant hero is my husband Jim. Not only does he chauffeur me around to different plant shops, if I come out with just a two-inch pot, he'll say, "Is that all you bought?" and he gave me a really nice gift card to one of my favourite nurseries for our anniversary.
Jane: Name your plantagonist; the plant you simply cannot get along with!
Sally: Well, that's a toss-up between Maidenhair Ferns and African Violets. I think it's African Violets because I just cannot get them growing or blooming and it's weird because I can grow a lot of other Gesneriads, but not African Violets, so I'm doing something wrong and a lot of people are doing something right and I'm really jealous!
[music]
Jane: Thank you, Sally, and if you want to take part in Meet The Listener, do drop a line to ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com Don't be shy! I know hearing the sound of your own voice can be a bit disconcerting but, honestly, you don't sound as bad as you think you do! That's what I've learned in five years of making podcasts. I'm back in the office, it's now evening and I do have... it's not mulled wine because I couldn't quite be bothered to make any but I do have a small shot glass full of Stone's Ginger Wine, which is another lovely... well, I think it's a Christmassy drink, anyway, I don't know if officially it is, but I've got a little Stones Ginger Wine to enjoy. I hope you have your drink of choice at your side, be that an eggnog, a cup of tea or, heaven forfend, one of those fancy coffees that people are into these days.
Right, let's get on with the next question. I have two Hippeastrum, aka Amaryllis, questions to answer. So if you've listened to my episode where I talk about these - again link in the show notes - in more detail, you'll know that these are these giant bulbs that tend to flower in the run-up to Christmas and are often, unfortunately, marketed in various, weirder different ways. We'll get onto that in a minute, but first, the question from Peter says that Peter has put a Hippeastrum bulb into a clear pot. Peter writes, "I'm guessing this was dumb?" I think this must be in reference to the episode where I talked about clear pots and Peter's worried that this might not help his plant.
I don't think it's going to be a massive problem because - you know what? - Hippeastrums are grown in all kinds of weird ways, sometimes without even any growing media whatsoever around them. The plants rely only on its roots as anchors, at this stage of the game, rather than as something to draw up a lot of nutrients, so I don't think putting it in a clear pot is a problem at all, generally. Lots of bulbs like Paperwhite Narcissi and the like are raised in either clear glass or clear plastic, it doesn't seem to cause them a problem. Those bulbs are just repositories for amazing amounts of nutrients and resources, the stuff the plant needs to get going, so the fact that the roots might be getting a bit of light probably won't do them any harm.
Which brings me on to Isabelle who has a waxed Hippeastrum. Have you seen this? Have you seen it? Do you know what I'm talking about? These are these bulbs you can get that have been dipped in wax. The outer layer of that bulb, rather than looking all papery and bulby - that's not really a word! - rather than looking like a natural bulb, they've been covered in a wax. Now, I mean neat-freak or what!? Please! I just don't know! Why, why, why, why? Madness! So this happens, I guess, because people think it looks cool? Because it's neater? Really, I can't understand the reasons, but this is what happens: the whole of the bulb, including the root plate at the bottom, is encased in wax. I've seen glittery ones, I've seen ones covered in fake snow, I've seen ones that have, like, a furry green coating on them - velvety! Oh yeah, bizarre! Apparently it gives them a "chic atmosphere"! God help us! Again, it's just an example of plant sellers thinking that plants aren't enough in themselves to sell. The other selling point of these things is that you don't have to do anything with them, you don't have to plant them or water them, you just sit there and they will produce a stem and then a flower or two. That is true; the plant will be able to put out its flower because it can draw on the resources within the bulb and it will just flower anyway. Now, I did come across a blog post from somebody who specialises in these plants, who did try growing one of these and it did seem to work, in terms of, yes, the plant has flowered, but their observation was that it didn't last as long as it would normally last and the flowers weren't as good as they would be if you actually potted them up properly because the roots are drawing up moisture, they are there for a reason and the plant is never going to achieve quite the heights that it could if it's waxed and those roots can't spread out.
So this website emaryllis.com has actually done a bit of surgery on one of these waxed bulbs and cut away with a scalpel to reveal the bulb within. So you can do that at the end of the season, you can liberate them from the wax coating and then you should be able to re-plant it properly and get it to flower again next year. Obviously, the bulb will be weakened by having been wrapped in wax and, indeed, Emaryllis reports that they got this plant potted up properly and it flowered beautifully the following year, so what amazing things these bulbs are! If you've got one, I would recommend either, if you've got it already growing, I would just leave it, but if it's just fresh and it hasn't started growing yet, you could try to cut it out of the wax coating or let it do its thing with the wax coating on and then at the end of the season take that wax off and treat as normal. Do consult the episode I did on Hippeastrum for more details about how to do that. Other people have melted off the plastic, I know, but given the bulb is papery like an onion, the plastic should come off fairly easily if you can carefully cut it away.
Another final Hippeastrum message, this one comes from Vilde and yes, it's confession time for Vilde and for myself! Vilde writes: "I love Amaryllis. I mean, who doesn't? But I've never managed to keep them alive for more than one season. When Christmas is over, they tend to get fungus gnats and get hit by different kinds of pests. When that happens, they tend to look rather sad, so I just give up." Yes, well, I have to say I have two Hippeastrum bulbs sitting outside that I have not repotted or brought in. Now, my brain is trying to tell me that I'm an evil, bad person because I haven't done anything about these bulbs, but the truth is, I'm just a person who's been very, very busy. I'm not going to beat myself up. If I get time this weekend, I might go and check them out, pot them up and see if I can get them going. Let's have no plant-shaming here! Vilde goes on: "I would love to buy one of those beautiful, larger bulbs, but it feels like a waste to buy one and then kill it. I live in Sweden, so it's rather dark here in the winters and I like to water. Maybe that's my problem, LMAO!? Just writing to you is like plant therapy." I'm glad to provide that service, Vilde! Well, it's been tough, the last few weeks, for me, trying to get this book written and neglecting my houseplants, quite frankly, and among those neglected plants are some Hippeastrum but, you know, life can serve you some strange things. Do not feel bad about the fact that you've given up on the odd Amaryllis. In an ideal world, yes, we will all make all of our plants thrive, but I can imagine it's not that easy to keep these things going, especially in Sweden, where your lack of light will be severe. I would say don't feel too bad about it, not that many people keep them going for various reasons, lack of space, lack of knowledge and just general problems that you get with these bulbs. They need that dormant period, which can be a pain, so don't feel too bad. That said, I mean, we're all concerned about sustainability now. What I would say is, if you're going to buy a plant, maybe avoid those one-hit wonders that don't go on past one year and look for things that are going to give you many years of joy instead.
That brings us on, actually, neatly to the next question, which comes from Joyce and concerns Paperwhite Narcissus bulbs. Joyce is a Patreon and an even longer time listener - thank you, Joyce, for your support. Narcissus papyraceus, this is a plant that's native to warm, delightful places that British people like to go to on holiday in the summer, like Greece and Portugal, also into North Africa - we're talking Morocco and Algeria - so a bulb that likes a bit of heat. Of course, that is why they are very successful as indoor bulbs because they like those warmer temperatures. So they are often bought around autumn-time, to be planted indoors for flowering around the Christmas/festive season. They never seem to flower exactly at Christmas, as far as I'm concerned, but perhaps you've had better luck with your timing?
Joyce is a bit worried that the advice is always just to put them in the compost heap once they've flowered once. Lots of online advice is basically saying, "Well, they won't survive being grown again indoors or outdoors" and Joyce is convinced there has to be a way to carry these over. Joyce is in New York City, so not a temperate climate, and wants some advice on making these bulbs survive to see another holiday season. PS, at the end of this message, says that Joyce has named an Aspidistra after me! I am so honoured! I think Jane is a great name for an Aspidistra, so thank you for that, Joyce, but let's get back to your question!
Paperwhites can be grown outside, the official advice is that they will be okay in USDA zone 8 and above. Now, that means places where the minimum temperature gets between -12C and -6C, which is 10F to 20F, which is roughly the same as the zone I am in, here in the UK. You will need a sheltered place for these plants if you're going to have them outside. They won't mind the cold but they don't want to be frozen solid. So your most sheltered, sunniest spot would be ideal. If you're lucky enough to have a sunny cold frame or a greenhouse, I think, in a pot, they would do very nicely in those kind of conditions and should come into flower, as they do in nature, around December, January, February, although they don't actually need a cold period enforced to produce flowering, so they can flower quite early in the autumn. New York is anything from Zone 3 to Zone 7, so probably it's going to be too cold to grow Paperwhite Narcissi outside but, as I say, if you've got some kind of outside space with a place that's a little bit protected from the coldest extremes I think it could work in a pot, you've just got to protect them from the worst extremes of that cold and make sure they don't freeze solid.
Can you grow them again indoors? Well, I don't see that there's any harm in trying. Yes, they might not grow quite as well as they do the first year 'round, but I just don't see there's any risk in experimenting with these things. I would love to hear from any listeners who have succeeded with Paperwhites in subsequent years. Because the bulbs don't have to be given this cold period... they've been forced, yes, but they still should... provided that you let them die down and let all the nutrients from the leaves go back into the bulbs, stored for the following year, and you let them dry out properly, I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work again, but I'd love to hear from anyone who has had success with this. You're right, Joyce, all the advice online is it's a "one-time deal".
If you want to grow some indoor narcissi in the winter for the festive season and you want to then plant them outside, but you're in a place where it gets that little bit colder, like New York, what you can do is have a look in the bold merchants for the hardier Tazetta Narcissus types - and this is what Paperwhites are, they're called the Tazetta group of Narcissi - and I think there are some that are considered tougher than others. There's one called Geranium, which I think is one of the toughest, which has got us an orange, bright orange cup, a bit different from the regular, bone-white Paperwhite narcissi that we're used to, but still very beautiful, and if you use a decent bulb merchant they should be able to advise you on this. I know it's tempting just to pick them up in the garden centre, but if you look a bit deeper you might be able to find one that suits your needs. I hope that is helpful, Joyce! Personally, I don't grow them because my husband finds the smell of them just way too intense! Some people love the scent, others find it a bit too much, so if you enjoy them, it's a wonderful thing to enjoy that scent, but it's something that is a bit overwhelming for my husband's nose, I'm afraid!
The final question comes from Jeffrey, who is feeling bad about bringing cut-down pine trees into the house every Christmas to celebrate the festive season and wants to find a houseplant alternative that looks a bit conifery, has that shape, but will be happy inside all year round. So far, Jeffrey's ideas are the Norfolk Island Pine, or Araucaria heterophylla, a couple of Osmanthusspecies and Jeffrey is even thinking about growing a giant, shrubby Poinsettia for this purpose. Now, I can immediately rule out the latter I think, Jeffrey, unless you live in the sort of giant Bond villain lair, where you've got floor-to-ceiling windows and huge amounts of light, or maybe you live in Mexico!? I don't think you do, but if you live in Mexico, maybe, but other than that I don't think the Poinsettia idea is going to work. Apart from anything else, those bracts will not really support any decos!
So your other options, I think the Osmanthus, yes, I actually had to look this up because I wasn't entirely sure that you could grow Osmanthus inside but, indeed, my various houseplant books of the 80s do suggest that this is possible, but they all say that Osmanthus likes to be in a cool, unheated porch or conservatory. So if this is for your front room, that may not work, but Osmanthus - are they called False Holly? I think they might be - they do have that evergreeny, festive-type feel to them, so maybe, for a porch, that would work. If you're looking for something for your front room, I think the best option is that Norfolk Island Pine, Araucaria heterophylla; not that hard a plant, aside from needing quite high humidity, Jeffrey, so that's going to be your struggle to keep humidity up on that plant. They can grow huge, I've seen pictures of enormous ones touching ten foot ceilings, so do bear that in mind as well!
Two things: you could consider getting a potted Christmas tree that you bring in for a few weeks in the festive season and then put outside the rest of the year. That can work tremendously well. People have had great success with that over the years. Do speak to your local garden centre about what possible species would be best for your climate, to work both inside for a few weeks and outside the rest of the year. The other thing you could do, is what I did, what I explained at the beginning of the show, just cutting down some branches from outside and bringing them in. Yes, they're not going to be green but you can make an interesting display with these and have some fun with it. It's zero carbon and it costs you absolutely zilch, so that's also an option worth looking at. I hope that helps, Jeffrey, and do send me a photo of whatever you decide to do!
That very much rounds up the questions for this week's episode. I do hope you've enjoyed it. My glass of ginger wine is now empty and I've got a warm feeling in my tummy from that lovely drink and the mint tea that preceded it. I do hope that you have enjoyed the show and thank you to everyone who has listened and contributed this year; you are all absolutely blooming marvellous!
I will be back in 2022, don't you worry about that! I'll try to keep you posted on the old socials as to what's happening, but thank you all for your fantastic support over this year and I will see you in the new year. Have a safe, ideally healthy and peaceful festive season. Bye!
[music]
Jane: The music you heard in this episode was Roll Jordan Roll, by The Joy Drops, The Road We Used To Travel When We Were Kids, by Komiku and Chiefs, by Jahzzarand Part VIII, by Jahzzar. All tracks are licensed under Creative Commons; visit the show notes for details.
Subscribe to On The Ledge via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Player FM, Stitcher, Overcast, RadioPublic and YouTube.
In the last episode of 2021, I answer a raft of festive plant queries from listeners, and we hear from listener Sally.
Check out the notes below as you listen…
Robin asked whether I had any clever ideas for what to do with the trunk of a real Christmas tree from last year that had been “debranched”…
I don’t think there will be much of a problem with growing Hedera helix up the trunk indoors - ivy can clamber over pretty much anything - but I do fear the trunk will start to rot away rather quickly. And aesthetically, I am having trouble thinking how it could work, although feel free to prove me wrong!
Check this useful piece on ways to recycle real Christmas trees.
I tend to add the trunk to my ‘dead hedge’ pile of rough wood next to my compost bins, which is the perfect invertebrate hangout.
I think you can probably guess my opinion about waxed Hippeastrum bulbs. It’s a no from me!
Yes they can bloom, but it’s not the best way for your plant, and will probably lead to many more bulbs being discarded after Christmas.
There’s a useful blogpost about waxed Hippeastrum on emaryllis.com.
Check out On The Ledge episode 106 for more on these bulbs.
Can paperwhite Narcissi - Narcissus papyraceus, pictured right - be kept for more than one season, asks Joyce from New York?
These bulbs are native to Algeria and Morocco as well as Mediterranean countries including Spain and Portugal.
They are meant to be suitable for growing outside in sheltered spots in USDA zones 8+ which sadly doesn’t include New York. (USDA zones are explained here: we don’t use this system in the UK, instead we have RHS hardiness zones).
It’s worth trying to grow them indoors for another year: after flowering, let the leaves dry out completely, then store in the dry pot somewhere cool until autumn the following year. It may not work, but is worth a try!
There are some Narcissi from the same Tazzetta group as paperwhites that are reportedly more hardy, such as Narcissus ‘Geranium’.
Jeffrey wanted suggestions for houseplants that could be used as an alternative to a cut pine tree for Christmas.
I think the best bet is a Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria heterophylla) or a potted conifer/pine tree that spends the majority of the year outside.
Osmanthus would also work, but only in a cool, ideally unheated porch or conservatory.
If you have endless light and warmth you could try getting a Poinsettia to grow really big and shrubby as they do in their native Mexico, but not sure where you would hang the decorations from?
HOW TO SUPPORT ON THE LEDGE
Contributions from On The Ledge listeners help to pay for all the things that have made the show possible over the last few years: equipment, travel expenses, editing, admin support and transcription.
Want to make a one-off donation? You can do that through my ko-fi.com page, or via Paypal.
Want to make a regular donation? Join the On The Ledge community on Patreon! Whether you can only spare a dollar or a pound, or want to make a bigger commitment, there’s something for you: see all the tiers and sign up for Patreon here.
The Crazy Plant Person tier just gives you a warm fuzzy feeling of supporting the show you love.
The Ledge End tier gives you access to two extra episodes a month, known as An Extra Leaf, as well as ad-free versions of the main podcast on weeks where there’s a paid advertising spot, and access to occasional patron-only Zoom sessions.
My Superfan tier earns you a personal greeting from me in the mail including a limited edition postcard, as well as ad-free episodes.
If you like the idea of supporting On The Ledge on a regular basis but don't know what Patreon's all about, check out the FAQ here: if you still have questions, leave a comment or email me - ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com. If you're already supporting others via Patreon, just click here to set up your rewards!
If you prefer to support the show in other ways, please do go and rate and review On The Ledge on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen. It's lovely to read your kind comments, and it really helps new listeners to find the show. You can also tweet or post about the show on social media - use #OnTheLedgePodcast so I’ll pick up on it!
CREDITS
This week's show featured the tracks Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, The Road We Use To Travel When We Were Kids by Komiku, Chiefs by Jahzzar and Part VIII by Jahzzar.