Will these work indoors in a hanging basket or as a potted plant indoors also??? or do they need to be outside and have more space to grow and the outdoor light???...I'd love to have some of those for both inside and out if they will work that way...however i need to repot some things and see what i have to send in trade...are you in a hurry to get them moved and gone?...if not I can probably get organized and find something to trade that you'd like after this 4th of July week...I wouldn't want to mail it out til monday anyways...sorry for being so unorganized...have a good and safe 4th of July holiday :)

My mom has the R.b., as well as the 'Chi Chi' cultivar, growing up in Redding. They both survived the below freezing temps they had last winter. I've also seen that many folks have them in their ponds over on that forum, since they like ample water. Brenda

Okay, no problems :-) You're watering well through, so that's really great. I'm thinking your potting soil may be a wee bit too heavy. Citrus like very well draining soil, so you might want to re-pot with a cactus mix. I like to use EB Stone's Cactus Mix. If you can't find that, go to a very good quality gardening center/nursery, as pick up their best Cactus Mix. Also, what fertilizer are you using? With container citrus, you're better off using a 1/2 strength liquid fertilizer, and apply with every watering or at least every other watering. Many folks (as well as me), like to use Dyna Gro Foliage Pro. I do every other watering, but I also supplement with Osmocote Plus (must be the Plus formulation as it also has micros and the best NPK ratio for citrus) time release fertilizer. About every 2 to 3 months, I do a good flushing to rinse out any salt build up from the fertilizer. Let's try re-potting with a better draining mix, check the roots to make sure they're not circling the pot, and trim carefully to straighten out, and then apply the fertilizer and see if your little lime tree greens up for you and starts to flush. In order to set and hold fruit, your tree needs a large enough leaf canopy to support fruit development. Patty S.

Cherryjet, welcome to the forum and congratulations on being a stay at home mom. Against my own better judgement I planted two gallon size Mexican honeysuckles yesterday. I say that because it's hard to successfully move things this time of year from the enclosed environment of their pot into the hot dry ground, in full sun no less, where the dry ground around the plant wicks the moisture away. However, the one I planted this spring looks so nice among several Henry Duelberg salvias that I wanted to continue the color scheme so I took a chance. It's a risk because planted in cooler weather the roots have a chance to spread widely and get settled in before hot weather when most growth stops. To help them along I laid the hose at their base after planting and let the water dribble to get the whole area well beyond the roots well wetted. Then I covered the area with a thick mulch of ground tree limbs which some tree trimmer left to keep the moisture from evaporating away too quickly. I'll be watching them and let more water drip on them if they show signs of wilting. The main task is to keep the roots cool and damp, but not so wet as to rot. Mex. firebush and Mex. honeysuckle are similar in that they are very drought and heat tolerant and how the established plant manages to stay looking fresh in this heat is beyond me. Their roots probably roam deep and wide. Another trick you can use to plant things now is to prop a box up on sticks to shade them during the heat of the day for two or three weeks. I'll do that if I see what I planted wilting. If your firebush looks like it's dying try cutting it back by about half and cover it with a propped up box to give light and air, but no sun. Not having so much top growth to support might give the roots a chance to recover. I never had much luck with lavender, but I know they like very well drained soil so the elevated position they have in the tires helps a lot, and as bjb said above the variety makes a lot of difference too. Planting anything out in this heat is not the greatest of ideas, but even the experienced gardeners among us keep trying anyway. So we'll wish each other lots of luck and if stuff doesn't make it we can plant again in the fall. One mistake all new gardeners make is not watering shrubs deeply enough. Once I alerted my next door neighbor that an established shrub was wilting and needed water. She ran over and watered the foliage and ground for a few seconds with the hose full blast. Most of the water ran off and I dug down a bit to show her and only the top inch of soil had gotten wet which did the roots no good. Keep us posted!