Hey - There is a food bank off of Thousand Oaks Blvd in thousand Oaks. There are probably others around as well, but this is the one I donate to, and know about. If you have extra garden veggies, you can drop them off on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays (hours vary - I think they are open Tuesday afternoon, Saturday morning, and all day Friday.) I thought I'd mention it in case anyone here has too much produce - There is a thread about food banks on the vegetable forum and I thought that was a good idea.

I bought Phyton 35 (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BGE65VM/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00BGE65VM&linkCode=as2&tag=evefalonquean-20&linkId=GIFMGQ7664FV3WM3"> but there's no way I paid $105 for it. There's a substitute, Phyton 27 for which it's a substitute. (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VKPL8FU/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00VKPL8FU&linkCode=as2&tag=evefalonquean-20&linkId=AGWPFBVS7AVO56NX"> My Bonsai specialist guy suggested either. It looked like the 35 had more to it, but I don't know yet. I repotted probably 30 JMs last fall, and just put two into the ground today. I did a root soak with them all, so I guess we'll see if there's any difference. Might not be visible, since they didn't have any symptoms of ... well, bad stuff happening before hand. Preventative, I guess. (These might be affiliate links, from where I bought them, but I don't care. If you do, just search the product. The person I bought them from could use a few pennies. )

There is good news, of course - NO ONE has died, at least not from the actual smoke or fires. That is remarkable. In the Northern CA fires, the death toll is I think up to 44. That is because the fire storm started in the middle of the night, and the authorities (unlike those in Southern CA, who used it immediately) decided not to use the emergency cell phone alert system which was in place, not wanting to "spread panic". (I have noticed that government agencies frequently use this excuse to not share bad news with the public, who could have used a little panic, i.e. fight or flight reaction, in this situation). So, no one knew what was happening, and unless people were awakened by phone calls from friends or relatives, or fire fighters or neighbors actually banging on their doors, they slept until the fires were right on top of them. Some cities in the region are digging their old fashioned fire/aerial attack warning sirens out of mothballs and setting them up again. At least they would wake people up! Jackie

The thrips seem to flourish where it is HOT. The locations of reported outbreaks are from areas where it has been extremely hot in the past few months. They are at The Huntington. They are in Old Orchard, Valencia in the Santa Clarita Valley, but reportedly not in Newhall, the eastern side of the same valley. I've spent several days this summer in the San Fernando Valley, all over the SFV, driving around my old haunts and visiting nurseries. I have deliberately observed municipal and home plantings of roses out of curiosity to see if I could see Chilli Thrip damage. None. No where. Even in a nursery I've dealt with for years who I know does NOT spray anything and they do have some roses, no thrip evidence. A medium sized grower in the Newhall Pass, between the Santa Clarita and San Fernando Valleys, who sells many roses, has not heard of them and doesn't spray. He propagates many of his own roses. There are many Iceberg roses planted down the center median along Sherman Way, where the old Pacific Electric Car trolley rails are buried underneath. Most look pretty good for the extreme heat they've endured. The ones planted in too narrow strips in intersections where there are many lanes of asphalt on either side so they get fried all day long for weeks on end, appear to be dying from being cooked, but they are trying to put out growth and flower. But, nothing resembling Chilli Thrip damage. All the Icebergs planted in parking lots, convenience stores, peoples' front yards with other roses look heat and water stressed, but none of them have expressed the "torched" look of Chill Thrip damage. You can pretty much guaranty those planted by the city are not sprayed and I honestly doubt if many, if any, of the home gardens are, either. Why don't they have Chilli Thrips? I am developing the theory that, even though they do blow on the wind, just as the mites which spread RRD do, it's very likely PEOPLE who are transporting them elsewhere. The gardens I know of in Valencia which have Chilli Thrips primarily belong to rose society members, several of whom visit The Huntington Gardens relatively frequently. They are also people who bring in quite a few plants from other areas from sales and nurseries. And, they visit each others' gardens. I would love to find out the particulars of the Fillmore outbreak. If this was simply wind driven, you would expect them to be wide spread. It's California and the winds and heat are constant. I seriously doubt the wind is responsible for moving them from San Marino where The Huntington is to the Valencia area, with no reported infestations between them. How did they miss the eastern side of the Santa Clarita Valley and skip over to the west? I think there may be a lesson in there. If you are going to visit a garden where there are Chilli Thrips, launder your clothes and bathe before going out into your or any other gardens. If you must buy a rose plant from outside your area, be neurotic about asking about Chilli Thrips and any precautions taken against them. Self quarantine. Police what and who comes into your garden. Jeri added another element which may help explain the expanding outbreaks. "Gardeners". Bugs hitch rides on animals and people. If someone in your neighborhood brings in an infected plant, or the thrips on their clothes, then infects their garden with them, perhaps the buy who cleans their yards and mows their grass is helping to spread them from garden to garden? Heaven knows weed seeds hitch rides on the bottoms of lawn mowers and work boots. Why not Chilli Thrips? Sound plausible?