Random plant event: Ficus elastica roots

Not feeling well for the last day or so; between the heat (in the greenhouse), physical labor (lots of lifting and bending and walking), and mental stress (of trying to keep things under control at work despite not really knowing what I'm doing), I seem to have maybe gotten sick: I was at work for about an hour yesterday and then started having dizzy / nauseous spells. I don't know what this signifies, but I'm hoping that I'm going to be throwing up or something soonish, because if I'm not really sick then that means I was just exhausted, and everybody assures me that we haven't gotten to the exhausting part of the year yet.

So everybody keep your fingers crossed that I vomit.

Last fall, I had an off-site job pruning back a Ficus elastica plant in a lawyer's office here in town: the plant didn't really need it, but the stems were bending under their own weight, and for whatever reason mere staking wasn't considered adequate. So I cut back all the stems, and then wasn't sure what to do with the stuff I'd cut off, so I wound up bringing the tips home and planting five of them. Just a growing tip with one leaf, in the mini-greenhouse, and then I waited. And waited. And waited. More than once I've considered throwing them out: what do I want with another Ficus elastica anyway? But I didn't, and they've all held onto their leaves, and now the first one has grown a new leaf:



Which I guess means I have to keep it for a while. I suppose if the other four also sprout, I might have a reasonable multi-stem plant by the end of the summer.

In other news, I've joined the group at blotanical.com, which I'm sure has a number of other plant-and-garden-related blogs worth checking out, if you're interested. I find the way the place is laid out kind of frustrating and awkward, but friends of PATSP Water When Dry and Wicked Gardener are there, and I expect to be adding more links to the sidebar if and when I have time to check some of the other blogs out.

Lastly, a completely gratuitous flower picture:

Osteospermum hybrid; I'm not sure about the cultivar name but I want to say 'Orange Symphony?'