Yeah, sometimes nurseries care more about the cutting taking off to sell than they do the finished product. I have the same trouble with the 100% peat that they plant in. It gets hard as a rock and the roots go nowhere.

I had two nice troughs of geraniums for about 3 seasons. They always looked so great in front of the window in the spring. All colorful-like. They looked horrible all summer despite my care but not bad enough to toss them out. Then came back but never flowered in the fall. So that made me responsible to overwinter them. They were a lot of work for a short time of pretty.

Looking at pictures, the closest I can find is Pedilanthus Tithymaloides which has a number of common names. One site called it Jacob's Ladder although most did not. And when I googled Jacob's Ladder I don't think this plant came up. Anyway, it does have interesting blooms although I don't know if I ever saw any. One site says that if kept indoors, the plant doesn't flower.

I really don't know if this is Plant #10. And also don't really know if it's what my mother had. But I am giving up.

Bubbles said: we didn't leave them in the foam after they started growing roots. We carefully took the foam off and potted them up to larger pots.

The foam works for rooting, but you have to remember to take it off.

I can see how the florist foam would work. How on earth did you remove the foam without damaging the roots. In my experience, roots that have grown in water are far more fragile.

Cheryl those are pretty blooms on your plant. I noticed the Polemonium bloomed blue and wonder if number #10 photo has ever bloomed.

But now I'm more confused... notice how the leaves are staggered on the new growth at the base of suspect photo #10. Then look at the Monrovia photo where the leaves are neatly opposing on the stem.

Think I need more coffee...

All of the potential plants that I was seeing when googling had red flowers.
Also, one common name was 'zig zag' based on the the way the branches grew. Too bad I didn't pay much attention to my mother's plants.

@pod We stuck them in foam, then into small cell trays with some soil. We bumped them up to larger trays when we were seeing they were rooting. We didn't take the foam off until we were ready to put them into pots.

When I wrote "floral foam," I should have written Oasis, but I thought I'd have to explain what it was. Oasis floral foam will crumble in your fingers when it's damp/wet. Once it dries out, however, it doesn't absorb the water like it did in the beginning.

Interesting, I never heard of that type of foam but can see it would work best for removal of the plant. Is that also the type of foam you have found inside potted plants or was the florist foam?

Yes. Oasis is used to keep flower arrangements hydrated. I think we're hijacking this thread, so I'll try to take a pic of the Oasis tomorrow and tree mail it. Once you wet it, and it then dries, it isn't any good anymore. It will crumble.

@Pod that was a Google Image. Not my plant but I wish it was! The blooms are pretty.

I believe # 1 might be Devil's back bone, a Euphorbia I think (variegated)

@froggardener — when you said #1, I'm guessing that you're referring to #1 in the 'what is this' list. Correct? I've been referring it as #10 because when you enlarge the images it's #10.

So anyway, if we are talking about the same plant (the one that at least resembled one my mother had), when I was googling several of the botanical names, a common name of Devil's Backbone popped up now and then. But I don't remember if anything was a Euphorbia. You might be very well right. As I said earlier, I'm giving up on it. For now.