At a quilt shop you can find something called crushed walnut shells, I believe?
I will check out my Christmas Cacti & see if the leaves are different. Thanks, Dwina. We're taping Downton Abbey so don't give anything away! Hubby gets up very early in the morning so we record all our shows & watch them as we can.
JuneBillie, Mother's-in-law-tongue is the sanseveria I mentioned earlier. It's a great plant -- can't kill it! Mine keep having babies so I have tons of them. If you need any cuttings of anything, let me know. Or baby plantlings. You mentioned sand -- you can get the proper soil mix for African violets from Lowe's or any place that sells soil, but when I don't have the right soil, I use what I have. Transplanting is a big job. I meant to plant something someone gave me on Friday called a Prayer plant. Never saw one before, but I meant to put it in a pot -- it's still in a plastic bag.