I laugh loudly at your suggestion, Mike - and all in good fun of course. You speak like a true zone 8er, where broadleaf evergreens leap and frolic in the benign surrounds of the Puget Sound and general Pacific northwest climatic passivity. The subject of our discussion apparently resides in zone 4 - not the home to a plethora of broadleaf evergreens, though certainly coniferous choices can be happy there. Winters can be brutal to all ranges of flora, but especially so to those plants which retain live foliage. As a landscape architect, I'll also call you out about the presumptive statement that foundation plants must hide the foundation. If you had a handsome house made of patterned brick, marble, cut stone, or - perish the thought - all heart western redcedar - would you be so quick to cover it up? The term "foundation plantings" is almost an archaic term which dates back to an era of construction where cheaply constructed structures brought the cement block "foundation walls" up above grade, and then built the more attractive walls of the structure above that. Shrubs were used in a utilitarian fashion to cover up the cement block, which was sometimes "exposed" up to five feet high. Today, that's a relatively rare condition, but not altogether gone. Much more, houses are built with all the attractive exterior elements dressed to ground level - negating the need for foundation, base, makeup, blush, powder, or any other cosmetic requirement from plants. You can plant what you want, where you want - suit yourself. In fact, a deciduous plant that provides a long berry-laden show through winter months is a stellar choice for light colored exterior treatments of homes. If I had a house clad in white or cream siding (which could include other materials like light toned sandstone or gray limestone), plants like Winterberry Holly - with bright red fruit sparkling in the most wanton fashion - would be the absolute talk of the town! This is not a new idea. I - long ago - worked for an enterprise that had limestone veneer on the walls of their buildings. I personally planted hundreds of 'Winter Red' winterberry holly as masses gracing the front of these buildings. After each winter snowfall, shutterbugs could not engorge themselves with enough images. So, basilno: grace us with some images of the sites where you are making these decisions. We can talk about plants till the bovines return to domiciles, and we can talk about the relative merits of generational design choices accordant with architectural styles - all with no real meaning unless we know a bit more about what you will be living with, AND WHERE YOU LIVE.

Yes, tomato blossoms self pollenize about 95% of the time so no bees are needed. But, If you're going to save seeds you might want to consider some other options since bees can cross pollinate varieties, meaning they take pollen from one variety and put it on the stigma of another variety. other options include bagging blossoms and growing varieties very far apart. But it also depends on whether you're saving seed just for home use, or listing in the SSE YEarbook, for instance, or trading seeds. If you go to the top of this first page and click on the FAQ linik, scroll down to the article about How to Prevent Cross pollination and you'll find lots of information about pollination and X pollination, with pictures. Carolyn

Similar issue here! I planted my "hula berry" plants and the Sonata next to my home last year while trying to figure where to put them permanently. They subsequently sent out tons of runners and have completely taken over the side of my home. However, only the sonata has produced any fruit. The pineberries flowered vigorously but produced no fruit. This is because the pineberries recieved no cross-pollination. I witnessed almost no pollinators around my strawberries while they were in bloom. I suspect this is the same problem you had. Your Quinaults in theory can provide cross-pollination but only if they bloom at the same time and the bees are interested in them. From what I have read, bees are not very attracted to strawberry flowers. We may have to hand pollinate or replace the "hulu berry" with a self fertile pineberry variety.

Hi Ben, Welcome to the forum & nice to meet another collector from Brisbane. Which area of Brisbane are you from? (Eg:- South, east, northern suburbs etc). As Rick has said, your best bet for seeds is Orient Adenium & Mr Ko (although Mr Ko has been busy lately & is mainly filling orders from his eBay store. We have grown seed from Mr Ko & have had some beautiful doubles/triples from seed, some similar to the mother plant & some more different. You will also get some singles as well. We have been very happy with the variety we get from seed. We have also ordered some seed from Rinoa (Orient Adenium) that we will grow once Spring gets here. Many growers in Australia have grown seed from Rinoa with some beautiful results. As Pete has mentioned, Rare Imports (Western Australia) sells grafted plants (true to colour) if you want a guaranteed colour/pattern - just realise that these will come bare rooted & I would recommend you wait to order till Spring as Winter is not a good time to start a bare rooted plant. 'Sandys Adeniums' is also a good supplier of grafted plants that are true to colour & alot of her flowers/plants were also grown from seed from Orient Adenium & Mr Ko. (Her plants will also come bare rooted, so I would wait till Spring) Costs will vary between suppliers based on demand, size of plant/rarity & the time involved in growing a plant from seed & then grafting time and the fact that these varieties are unavailable from our regular nurseries. When you see two different seed varieties crossed together, that just means one is the mother plant(seed parent) and the other is the father plant(pollen supplier). The point of these crosses is to try and get a plant/flower with some traits of the mother mixed with traits of the father. This can sometimes result in an exciting new cross....Your best bet with hand pollinating for yourself - is to breed 'like to like' eg: breeding two different yellows together that may have a thin stripe, to try and make a deeper yellow colour/with a bolder stripe.... or......breeding two different reds that have some black in them together, to try and make a flower that is more black. Hope this answers some of your questions. :)