Tessiess, thank you for your input. I used alfalfa pellets for the first time this spring, and upon closer observation, I have not noticed any major differences that I can definitely attribute to its use; unfortunately I continued to use my normal March cocktail which could account for a lot of what I saw in terms of growth etc. I research, research, research and many experts warn against the use of alfalfa as it is believed to raise the pH, which is the opposite of what I want for my high alkaline soil. Years ago, I attempted to grow Blanc Double de Coubert. I had just began rose gardening and I am sure its demise is gardener error. I am happy to learn that you have had luck with rugosas; with very little intervention, which is probably key to its success? Now if I can just find someone who has had success with Paul Neyron to discover what the issue is with as so many gardeners seem to despise it.... Lyn, you are so correct. Las Vegas has its name because it means the meadows. This land was once very fertile and wet. Generally, the soil in Las Vegas has inorganic minerals, but is very low in organic compounds . We aspire to have soil that is 5% organic compounds but have to amend a lot to get there. We also amend the soil to lower the pH.

California Hot Springs in Tulare County, up in Sequoia National Forest, it's about equal distance between Visalia and Bakersfield in the mountains east of there. The "town" is a post office and California Hot Springs Resort and that's it. All told there are 200 residents spread out in the little community that are ranchers and retired people and people who commute to Visalia, Porterville and Bakersfield and other places to work. Folks from LA like to come up and have cabins and vacation homes up there. We had a home up there for 13 years, we moved up there when my husband became the resident deputy for a couple of years. The night the trees came down it had rained heavy all day and then changed to snow, the weight of the snow I think was the last straw, they sounded like cannons going off as they fell. The next day I went for a walk with the dog through the woods and the roots of those trees were 10+' tall and more where they broke off out of the ground, unbelievable, they lay like match sticks, huge match sticks. If you like camping there's a really nice campground for RV's or tents a couple of miles below the Resort to stay at with a creek running by it. There is also an RV park across the street from the Resort but it's very basic. The Resort is is an old building with alot of history that has a giant swimming pool that they pipe the hot springs water into that they hold the water rights to and have year round swimming in with two hot tubs. They do charge to go swimming too, it's a business. The water comes in at 130 degrees and they cool it down to swimming temp, it's wonderful water. In the winter they keep it warmer and in the summer a little cooler. Inside the Resort is a deli, a gift shop and a little grocery store. They used to bottle and sell the water. About 20 miles up, I believe that's the distance, is where the Trail of 100 Giants is where President Clinton came and declared it a National Monument several years ago. My husband was there and part of the entourage that day. We sold his extra presidential pin of the day on E-Bay:) I did get nice gentle rain soaking in, I've been out to pull weeds twice now. Yesterday and today, they come up out of the clay better with a little water on them:) Course I'm gong to get alot more now, but that's ok, my plants and bulbs are all cheering too, I'm getting a bunch of them poking their little noses out now. Yea, after all the brown, some green! Leslie

Westelle, was that for me? LOL I have (had?) --4 different bananas: musella lasiocarpa (chinese yellow banana), musa zebrina, musa becarri, and an unknown --passionflowers: citrina (I think will be okay), manicata (not sure how this will come out), lavender lady, exoniensis (looks really really bad), witchcraft (gone), purple tiger (fine), sanguinolenta (fine), molissima (gone), frederick (okay), nancy garrison (okay), lady margaret (looks gone), vitifolia (not sure), quadrangularis (okay), biflora (not good), amethyst (fine), caerulea (seems fine), sally's rescue (fine), parritae x molissima (fine, which shocked me), indigo dreams (gone), gritensis (fine), alata (fine). brugmansia 'charles grimaldi' looks like steamed spinach, but my b. sanguinolenta looks great. Go figure. My 'frosty pink' is hanging in there; a double white brug has 1 leaf. My 'shredded white' is, well, shredded. Patchouli plant is gone. 'blue butterfly' clerodendrum is gone. callisia fragrans (basketplant) is gone. All my stapeliads and hoodia look fine, but my rattail cactus looks questionable. My agave parryi is fine. All my echeveria are fine. On the other hand, perhaps my peonies and tulips will perform better this year? Dunno. Amanda 'romando'

Ciao all, I hope everyone had a great day out in the garden today. I know it's a back to work day for most people, but my goodness, what glorious weather to be outside. Thanks to all of you for such interesting trades and also for your knowledge and wisdom regarding perennials. I have SO much to learn about them still, thanks for your patience in answering my newbie questions. Tristan grabbed some things from the middle circle which I have no clue regarding the names of the plants or what sort of care they need, so as soon as I'm able, I'm hoping to post some pictures of them for ID. I'm so excited about all the lilacs! They're small, but I know they'll fill that space nicely and I can't wait to discover what colours they turn out to be. I put the dahlias in full sun and just barely covered the root/tuber/rhizome thingies. I hope that's what they need. Tomatoes/eggplants/peppers/tomatillos/basil all got a full day outside and tomorrow will be their first major dose of full sun. I'm hoping to get them in the ground before the weekend. Duane finished 2 additional tomato beds as a birthday present for me and got all the 8' stakes in this morning. The soaker hoses are all in place and now it's just a matter of waiting a few days for the plants to get fully hardened off. Big hugs to all of you, I wish the weather had been more pleasant but it was still a very fun event and thanks again to sydseeds for organizing the swap and for everyone's wonderful enthusiasm and generosity. Get planting everyone!! Julianna