Hi Chris, Yes, those cold winds are no fun. We're on a hilltop, mile high elevation, so do get buffeted by them quite often this time of year. We had them this weekend and now again today, although today doesn't seem that cold. Maybe I'm getting used to it after 18 years. : ) I don't winter protect my roses but sometimes I don't get out to rake the last batch of fall leaves so they often accumulate under the roses, probably giving a bit of protection. I mainly concentrate on growing roses that I know will do well in my temps - winter night temps in the 20s-30s and quite often in the teens, days in the 40-60 range with some 20s-30s thrown in to keep my favorite swear words up to date. ; ) Summers are mild with mostly 80s, some 90s but never triple digits. Snow is common in the winter months but doesn't last long. The roses don't seem to mind it. My native soil is decomposed granite so it drains well. Are you on the southern slopes of the SBs, Arrowhead area? If so you get more snow usually but are often warmer in the summer. If you haven't been there, try Newell's in Yucaipa for roses and other plants, as well. It's a very nice nursery. Another place I like that has good prices is Sunshine Growers in Ontario. They both have websites and Newell's has a newsletter you can subscribe to. Diana A winter pic. This isn't that often but this year was the exception, especially Feb. Way more snow and cold than usual. I have Day Breaker, Lady Elsie May, Easy Going, Livin' Easy, Otta the Blue, Lillian Austin, Fair Bianca, Rhapsody in Blue, Top Notch, Honey Perfume, Elle, Graham Thomas in the front beds and BP Iceberg outside the fence. All come through the cold and snow just fine. So do th hollyhocks - they're about 3 feet already. : )

Hi, Toni. I know what you mean about not having enough space between shelves. Most shelf only can fit the pot not the pot+plant. The distance in between the shelves is not large enough. The shelf I bought comes with 6 shelves, but I only put 3 on to have a larger space about 2' in between each other. Although the top shelve will not get much sun. I can put some trailing plants on it so they hanging down to catch some sun ray, I hope. I am going to put a 4' long floracent light fixture right under each shelves to provid additional light. I will be careful when I work with electric. It is more dangerous than just put a wood stand together. The nails are for the wood light fixture stand. I originally was going to go with the PVC pipe. but it cost more to buy PVC pipes unless you have scraped PVC pipes on hand. To put one stand in each room, I need put together more than just one so it is more economical to buy those leftover wood to build them . Don't you love Menard? I go there almost every week... Check out their fall plants sale... their pots price is great... their cleaning suppliers... small applicance price is great after rebate... They start to carry food items now... I bought watermelon, apple, onion, potaotes there... strange , isn't it? Behind every visible color is the frequency of wave. The full Spectrum light is a light that is designed to provid full range or closer to full range of sun ray wave from warm color at lower end of freqency to whiter color at the end of higher frequency. It also extended into part of invisible wave such as UV which natural sun has. The plants growth, in general, responds to the light frequency they get, or requires certain light frequency to trigger either flower bud, fruiting, or just grow leaves. I am kind of lazy to figure out which plant needs which ( thinking about having to remember at end of the season and lable the light for next year before put in storage boxes... lot of works) so I just bought full spectrum to all the plants. But if you know what you want grow, just want grow foilage, or want grow fruits in the winter... a targeted color range grow light might work better. you can find most of common size and wattage lights at Menards. Again, I love Menards. I wish I could clean my plants before I bring them in. In reality, I just have too many pots to clean them all. I in general just inpsect the plants and outside the pots to make sure no slug hiding somewhere. I have a cat, so I can't put any ant poison out in the yard or inside house. The ant is a big problem for me. I do not mind spiders, especailly the jumping spider that doesn't wave web and it eat insects , It is very good at controling mites in winter time. I want them to come inside with the plants... My neighbor put his garbage can outside, and the rotten chicken smell draw quite few flies near and I saw the jumping spider got one of the flies in my citrus tree, amazing... I got the Fish Emulsion tip from one of your posting, thanks again for sharing this secrat. I spray my plants every week on schedule. squirrels seem dislike the fishy smell. I am going to pay closer attention to moth to see if moth likes the fish smell on my fruit tree leaves or not. Interestingly, I have never had mealybug problem, knock the wood. I have seen scale, aphis, mites, sometimes whitefly in the past but have never seen mealybug on my plants. I think I have parasitic wasps live somewhere nearby that takes care a lot of my bug problems. Yes, soap, garlic, hot pepper... all works or does not completely work ... neem oil also works for mealybug Toni, I must say that you grow your plants in much scientific way, no wonder your plants look so gorgeous, both yours and Mike's. I've never used a hygrometers just for plants. My plants get whatever the humidity I got in the house. I am probably lucky that I don't have a very humidity sensitive plant in my collection YET. Boiling some hot water certain a very good way to increas room humidity. It is a very cost effective and practical way. You are a such creative person. I hope you are willing to share more tips with me in the future. In general, I don't fertilize my plant, but my rule of the thumb is that if the plants are "sleeping", no need for food;If they are awake, actively growing, feed a little, water a little. Some of my plants are in and out now, but I am hoping I don't have to bring them all in for the winter till Oct./Nov. When are you going to move all your plants in? Mike, sounded like you and Toni is having a fun friendly competition. Frankly, you both grow beautifull, productive plants beyond the "zones". I certainly agree the FE is one of big secret for such lushes, healthy, pest free plants besides loving , tender care, fertilizer, and everything else ... I wish I could just toss my plant through the windows... The heavy ones might toss me through windows instead. How did you manage to keep people from steal your plants in your drive way while you are at work? My neighborhood is relative safe... we don't need to lock doors when we are out shipping. So far, I put some large , not attactive plants in my drive way but I am worried if I put nicer, blooming plants there, someone walks by and see the plants in the drive way, and might decide to take few pots with them home. As you mentioned the bug with a lot of legs, Do you know the bug called rolypoly, I thought this is its name, I might spelled it wrong...the gray bug lives under the pots. It curve into a ball when you touch it... is it a good bug, bad bug , or do-no-harm bug?

GG- thanks, I will try to remember to take a pic at the end of summer. Don't forget that is around November down here :) Denise - really, since I start all of the in S/H, they don't take much care. I just flush a couple times a week. Since I started this post 2 more cuttings have started rooting. Yes I keep track of how long it takes :) and I just checked on my order I am waiting on. It has been dispatched from Miami customs. Yay! No, I didn't do the pollination myself, so it could be selfed, or not. I'm not sure how cross species compatible Hoyas are, and I haven't checked into section compatibility. I did have a variety of other Hoyas in bloom at the time, especially the smaller flowered ones like memoria and lacunosa. I do get a decent amount of pods through the summer though, I just don't capture them all. I actually saw a butterfly with the pollinia on its leg last summer. Was pretty cool. Anyways, since I didn't do it myself I list it as ?, comes from my orchid background where parentage is extremely important, so you don't assume selfings. Also, you can't tell from the picture, but the baby leaves have a shimmer to them, like cagayanensis does. They are very pretty. Renee

Miss Amy, your box did arrive yesterday and I apologize for not posting sooner. My grandbaby just went home and I wasn't online. Anyways, Amy sent me a wonderful box. It has a bottle holder in shades of blue and off white, an awesome assortment of mixes to put in my water, a hummingbird feeder, a rose scented soap, and seeds :prairie coneflower, blazing stars, portulaca, blanket flower, purple spiderwort! Thanks so much Amy..I loved it!