Well, I know the point of homegrown produce is to have things that are better tasting than at the grocery store, but by and large IMO commercially picked apricots are at the the right stage when put into cold storage. I try to pick my homegrown ones when they look like the ones coming out of cold storage at the grocery stores -- still firm and with greenish cast but overall orange. They need to ripen further inside. But, if I leave them on the tree any longer I will lose them unless it's a rare, bumper crop. Picked at this stage they develop great flavor and generally get really sweet when fully ripe.

You might want to look into one of the Spinosad products. When applied properly, it has little effect on non-target insects and arachnids, even if the product comes into contact with them. Spinosad had shown to be quite helpful in the fight against grasshopper nymphs, much more so than the adults. Spinosad, a biological agent, needs to be ingested for it to be effective. Use it to cover the foliage, not the flowers.

I understand, Seil. More than 25 years ago, I would leave an overhead, oscillating sprinkler going over large areas of my Newhall garden, requesting the community gardening staff to turn them off when they left for the day, on triple digit days. The horse manure mulch disappeared quickly. The foliage was huge, plants even more so, and they flowered amazingly. Water was cheap and plentiful, so not an issue there and then. There were no disease or insect issues. The plants were fully clothed in very dense, durable foliage and there was no such thing as sun scald nor Flat Headed Apple Borers which became great issues once that type of watering had to be discontinued due to availability and cost. Black spot and mites were frequent issues with the own root plants we propagated as volunteers at The Huntington. I learned early when bringing home any new plant such as those to pull off all of the foliage before bringing it into the garden. I had an area in filtered sun under a tree where I kept a pile of horse manure. I'd clump the newly arrived own roots in their pots together, surround and fill between them with the manure, often inside them as mulch, then overhead water until new foliage began developing. No mites, no diseases and the plants exploded into growth quickly. A bit of hardening them off in larger cans and higher levels of heat and light and they were ready for planting once they'd filled the five gallon cans. Growing them up in larger cans also permitted me to move them around to see what position was best to their liking. It often made quite a difference. At the beach, I had a number of customers who regularly used my "proprietary blend" of Ultra Fine and Miracle Grow sprayed every two weeks except between the middle of July through the middle of October. In the Perma Fog, it prevented disease, eliminated the constant aphids and saw flies and kept really terrible things there, like one lady's beloved and hated Paul Neyron, viable. He caught her heart in books and she was determined to grow him. He languished until I suggested the Ultra Fine and MG foliar application. She had severe bronchitis, but made sure she brought me a bouquet of beautiful Paul Neyron from her bush! Used during the heat, that mixture did burn, but when there weren't heat and light intensities to contend with, it worked wonders. NO way I could have ever used it in any garden at home! I tried it once, learned my lesson the hard way right there and then! Anything presented as being even slightly phytotoxic WILL burn here. I am in total agreement with your walking the roses daily. I can't imagine having them unless I wanted to walk them every chance I got. Each has its own personality, likes, dislikes, needs and will quickly let you know if you don't provide them. It's the best way not only to head off problems early, but also to detect sports. They can happen so quickly right in front of you and seemingly behind your back. A big part of the serendipity for me! Kim

Thank you for replies. It really is a minefield picking the right colour. If I go more yellow downstairs, then it plays up green undertones upstairs in hallways etc. - yet if I go more yellow upstairs it plays up a hint of apricot in the yellow downstairs!! So I either have a paint that appears (i) yellow or yellow with hint of apricot depending on the part of the house (ii) yellow or yellow with greeny/acid undertones. I have to give somewhere. I think with the look I want to create, it is better to err on the side of no green undertones anywhere. Here is a link to a house that used Ivoire in almost every room. Pretty fancy house. Even though the paint is mainly yellow, I can see a slight apricot undertone in some of the photos and it actually looks pretty nice. My downstairs would play out a bit like the more apricot versions of Ivoire such as the photo with the yellow chair and some walls in the guest bedroom. The link: http://www.houzz.com/projects/7796/3--Pebble-Beach-Traditional---French-Country-Estate/ls=2 p.s. Below is a photo of the ceramic tile flooring I have in my kitchen (not a photo of my kitchen, just the same floor in a promo photo). It is a pinky-orange lightish terra cotta. I think green undertones in a yellow paint would not look right with this floor and it is a centerpiece of my house and visible from the living room - you can see they have apricot undertones in this photo and it looks nice.