I trusted two of my prize and expensive rhododendrons to half whiskey barrels, both died even though ithey were planted inbest quality ericaceous compost with loads of drainage holes The barrels are charred., In hindsight I should have lined the barrels as there is an obviously an adverse reaction in the charring that killed the plants

The pictures are so lovely! Speedy recovery Joyce. You are incredible. So this site is not only about lotus, also about survival-? The lotus seems so full of life maybe there is a connection-?:)) I am looking for advice and tips too - being a novice lotus grower or wannabe. The lotus out on my balcony, which are all in containers, are struggling but haven't given up yet. I planted them in regular potting soil, so perhaps not enough nutrients, and they are getting half a days worth of sun? Should I replant them in early spring with compost? I have six from seeds, but I haven't seen an aerial yet... still they are trying but the leaf browns out of water... one grown from root has a few floating ones... which is probably Momo Botan, the seedlings I don't know. So they are not dormant yet, with Mediterranean climate. I really don't need seven lotuses, but who knows if they make it! Other question... the seedlings are in jugs, like big juice jugs, should they go into bigger pots packed with compost even now they are struggling? Thanks... Tarja

My brugmansia came back after the summer heat. Here it is right now and it's getting quite big. It does very well in the shade and it's been giving me quite a lot of flowers lately. Yes, elephant ears work here. I'd suggest getting some from the alocasia family, not colocasias. I've tried colocasias, they grow well in the spring and fall but they just cannot take the heat at all in the summer, in my experience. Here's one of my Borneo Giants in full shade They will die back when it hit below freezing for more than a couple hours, but if that happens, don't water them again for the rest of the winter or else the bulb will rot. Just wait for them to pop back up in spring. Same thing with Cannas. If you're going for tropical, get some Cannas, since they LOVE being in full sun here. another one I'd recommend is the Chinese Parasol Tree. Big foliage and can take some sun. I have mine in morning sun/full shade in the afternoon. The plant loses its leave in the winter and goes dormant. Here's mine now after a week from coming back from dormancy. It's already grown about 6+ inches! Birds of paradise are great as well here in Phoenix. They're frost hardy down to 25-26f I believe. Split-leaf Philodendron are great as well. Just plant them in the shade. Plus you can find these easily at HD or Lowes. I wouldn't risk planting a castor bean though since you have pets. They drop a lot of those red spiny bean pods all over, and from what I've read are very poisonous. I'm not sure about the brug's toxicity though. Their flowers might be poisonous?

Yeah, I know, I'm bad. No pics yet, I'm technically challenged, what can I say. It is definitely Antioch though, I remember putting the poor thing in the woods and then short term memory loss until it started growing and then seeing your pic... I have to figure the picture thing out. Would love to share pics of 2 beautiful slow and steady GE's, 3 Fire and Ice loving the afternoon sun, and Rainforest Sunrise smiling pretty in front of Dress Blues. Would also love to have what I thought was Paradigm id'd. It also gets a lot of sun so the margin is almost nonexistent. It's very chartreuse right now, was thinking I may have picked up Piedmont gold instead?? It's 4 years old and has never been moved. With no pic it's hard to say. Thanks for your pics though, I have truly enjoyed them as well as all the others. Here's to June! WW