No worst of times for me, except I wish Spring would get here. Best of times> A great breakfast with good friends and then the young man I met in the parking lot of the hardware store came by and he's great. I will have a 400sq.ft fenced and tilled, sod free, area to put my raised beds in by early next week ! Now to get a good dirt guy. By the way, who knows roughly how much a bed 12" deep by 6'6" x 3'6" might be when translated into cubic feet of dirt? Sheila

Melissa, I am happy as long as the plants are thriving as well. Flowers will come and go. Spring was great....until that awful hot wind came and cut my flush short. But that was amazing having it all inside for a week! I never would have done that if I didn't know the wind was coming so thanks Jeri for the warning this spring. Hoovb escaped it, she was just south enough to be spared. After that, I had some nice blooms and then the heat came and cooked everything. I had a few pots get sunburnt and some leaves were so pale they were almost white when they formed. After the heatwave went by the leaves were beautiful and deep green again. Fall came in a trumpet of glory. The best fall flush ever. The Bourbons were loaded and DA roses were in their glory. It seemed to go on and on. I had roses like Jack's Beanstalk with giant blooms on top. Now there is a period of nice warm weather with cool nights. Almost every HT and Fl has something and the fragrance is very good. I haven't seen any rain since a teeny weeny sprinkle a few weeks ago so the plants are all clean with no disease except some mildew on SdlM buds from overcast/ coastal foggy mornings. This year's Halloween show Chrysanthemum crop was so good. I had the big pom-pom showy ones. They hid in part shade during the heatwave and watering them twice a day was worth it when the buds finally arrived. Thanks also to my folks who watered bands and other pots in the June-July heat for me while I was in Gettysburg for the 150th. Just now I am getting mulch and sifting the great soil I got from the neighbor who had some concrete poured. Why do people want to send their best topsoil to the dump? I have enough to make a raised planting and fill in the low spot on my corner where I want to put Perle d'Or (Perle the Great). The bands from Vintage in 1 gal pots now are growing very fast and all need a larger pot or to go in the ground. Actually, everything is still growing fast and I'm trying to keep up. Bulbs are up too early and I have some blloms on the plum tree. But the apple that I nearly lost has grown well and all it's spring grafts survived and are big fat branches full of leaves. The worst was the brutal heatwave of late summer. It killed many of my delicate plants that have been on the edge of growing here. My Japanese maples had all the leaves fry so that there is nothing left to turn colors but I think the trees themselves are fine and will grow nicely next year. The heat didn't bother my Camellias and fall temps have given me a great bunch of buds. Already, the Sasanquas look good and a few early Japonicas have begun to open. Ingrid, I think you would like Camellias because they can hide in the shade and give you pretty flowers through the winter. While they are small, you can move them around and enjoy them wherever you like and move them into the garage or in deep shade during a heat wave. If we get some rain in these upcoming months to wash the soil of irrigation deposits, I will call this year a good year for my roses.

Hi bonechickchris, I agree with Mike's advice in the thread linked to below (last post). Now is a good time, if you can provide it a good home during the winter. It might be less risky in the spring though - removing the soil and shipping are stressful. It is easier to recover in the spring outside than in the winter inside. Here is a link that might be useful: Mike's advice

curious what recommendations you have for meyer lemon fertilizer composition once fruits have established, I have a densely fruited bushy tree purchased from a warm but diffusely lit greenhoused (I would guess it was old stock by its dense and woody maturity, but who's to tell?) I live in upstate NY and am limited to indoor only gardening, fortunately, I have loads of natural light all day long,though I suppliment with a full spectrum grow light. I have had the tree for 5 days and have seen slight growth in the fruits and 1 new leaf. only lost a few tiny immature fruits and 1 preexisting yellow leaf with I noticed had be nicked at the stem upon purchase, I assume the fruits which fell incurred some minor trauma during transport. I don't plan to repot until spring, roots seem pretty dense, noted some superficial hairs which I re-covered. I topped the soil with river pebbles and some big rocks (I can lift, don't mind some weight) as a preventative measure because I am fending off some pesky fungus gnats thanks to a poor soil choice on a concurrent budding veggie project), bonus- it looks nice, unlike the black plastic planter I can't wait to replace. . Any suggestions on getting these fruits to develop as well as possible? And what's the deal on red and blue light and what are there specific wavelengths I need to provide? *greenhouse employee advised me NOT to feed it..