I have "Strawberry Crush", "Paprika" and "Cherry Pie". They were purchased in late June as the end of season sale this year. They were in 4-inch pots and I planted them in 10-inch pots. They grow very quick and big. Just like you said, long stems with glossy healthy leaves. But there were only two flowers on "strawberry crush" and three on "Paprika" so far. And they didn't last for three days under the hot sun!There isn't any bud in those two plants now. Only long stems with nice looking leaves. "Cherry pie" is better, nice flowers last more than a week. But this is the first "wave" of flowering. I don't see any new buds yet. Compared to "Flower carpet", these OSO Easy are a bit disappointing. Our "flower carpet" are always in flowers, even the one I started from a stick early this year. Maybe you can try pegging to see if they will rebloom better? I was hoping they might rebloom better after they got mature. Probably not.

aachenelf, no offense taken on my part. I'm a little ticked that I chose to live in the city, partly to take advantage of things like convenient mass transit, only to find that, for where I want/need to go, it is little more convenient than it was when I lived in a third-tier suburb here. :-( As for why industry cannot do better, there are many many reasons. One is that, with gasoline at historically-low prices ($2.35/gallon this morning), it's not hard to sell excessively-large, heavy vehicles with large engines. People like the room to spread out, believe they are safer (they're not, but they think they are), and are led by marketing to believe that their choice of vehicle will address shortcomings in their anatomy or personality. So many people have bought into this that the car companies which catered to this desire are feeling the whip when the price of gasoline spikes. It does not help to have a federal government that is very much pro-business and anti-consumer. And, in fairness, that high-school-student-modified car cannot easily be matched by "Detroit" because cars have to endure far more extreme conditions than the mileage competition provided. We expect our cars to start and keep us reasonably comfortable at temperatures from -30F to 130F, to carry four-to-six adults with enough room for cargo, to be able to accelerate onto a rush-hour freeway without drama. All of these things are enemies of fuel mileage. No doubt, car manufacturers can do better. Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen -- all provide a starting point with their current efficient vehicles. Chrysler, Ford, and GM claiming they can't do this may start with a grain of truth. But they "can't" do this because it would cost them far too much in research & development and would sacrifice their high-margin vehicles -- making them even less attractive to their stockholders, most of whom don't care that much about our kind of "green".

I haven't been able to attend the Permaculture Society's swap yet, but someone picked up a few plants for me last year. I received an assortment of both veggies and perennial herbs (which are basically what I asked her to look out for). There's also an upstate garden trade group on Facebook, though it's not overly active. Upstate SC Garden Trade

I know blueberries are for the most part very easy to grow For a beginner like me. What would you say about paw paw trees? Are they about as easy? I'm grateful for Any and all advice except I don't care to hear that you don't like the taste lol thanks