In the Chicago area, you can find 4-lb paper bags (bold yellow and red) of "Hi Yield Soil Sulphur" (in flake form) at garden centers like Sid's, The Growing Place, Planter's Palette, and others for $3-5/bag. It is difficult to know what process was used to produce the elemental sulfur you buy at garden centers. As +om said, there are naturally-occuring deposits of elemental sulfur. In the U.S., significant, fairly pure deposits exist in Louisiana and a couple other states. However, there's a huge amount of elemental sulfur on the market that's produced by treating the hydrogen sulfide gas (chemically "reducing" sulfide to sulfur) that is (1) found in natural gas and crude oil deposits and (2) produced as a waste stream during desulfurization of crude oil in refineries. Hydrogen sulfide is a very toxic gas, and the large quantities produced in natural gas and petroleum operations must be dealt with--it cannot simply be vented to the atmosphere, and the EPA regulates this. There are enormous piles of yellow sulfur (made from hydrogen sulfide) sitting at some of the big natural gas fields in Canada. (Elemental sulfur is often shipped in bulk in the molten form in rail tankers. You can usually tell which tanker cars carry sulfur by the yellow crust around the hatch.) Much, but not all, of the elemental sulfur produced at refineries goes on to nearby processing plants to be turned into sulfuric acid, and then into (water-soluble) mineral sulfates that can be broadcast on fields as agricultural fertilizers. In reading Espoma literture, I have gathered that when they use the term "all natural" with respect to inorganic ingredients (like elemental sulfur, or calcium sulfate), they mean it has been extracted/mined in that form from some place on the earth. But I've never called them to confirm that. The "Hi Yield Soil Sulphur" is marketed by a reseller that I suspect gets sulfur from the cheapest source (which currently is probably one of the hydrogen sulfide sources). As a chemist, and as a citizen who uses both natural gas and refined petroleum products, I consider soil sulfur produced from the treatment of toxic hydrogen sulfide waste streams (generated by the demand for these fossil fuels) to be worthy of use. +om, some "formulations" of elemental sulfur sold in bulk for agricultural use are coated with a surfactant to make the surface of the sulfur pellet/powder/etc. hydrophilic (wettable). For field use, most of the interest in elemental sulfur is as a cheaper source of soluble sulfate fertilizer, rather than as a soil acidifier. Elemental sulfur has a relatively low solubility in water, and in solid form it is hydrophobic. If the sulfur's surface can be made hydrophilic, then that improves the rate at which soil organisms (fungi and certain bacteria) can convert the sulfur to sulfate over the course of a growing season. Does the pelletized form that you buy have surfactants? Can you find out? If it does, all the better as a somewhat faster-acting, slow-release soil acidifier. (The down-side of some surfactants out in the environment is if significant quantities wash into aquatic habitats, where some can be toxic to aquatic animals. This should not be an issue for home gardeners using relatively small amounts of surfactant-coated sulfur for soil acidification. I'd keep it away from beds around ponds, though, to be safe.)

Oh my, that poor hibiscus! It's been a while since your post, so I'm wondering how things worked out for you. I live in zone 9, and I've had a tropical hibiscus planted in my front yard (afternoon sun) since 1997. It's had its ups and downs, but it's an extremely hardy plant; there's no reason to treat it as an annual, unless yours is a dwarf variety. After being in the ground for 1-2 years, we decided to move ours to a sunnier location. We dug it up and moved it to the corner of the house, where it still resides. When it's gotten spindly, I trimmed it back, and it filled in nicely. It was the perfect shape and size when it got hit by last January's freeze. Then, I was afraid it was caput. We trimmed it down to the ground in about March and watched it from there. In late April, we started seeing signs of life. Now, in late June, I have a plant that stands about 1 ft tall and could probably be divided into 3 or 4 plants, if I were willing to do it. I don't expect any blooms this year, tho it could surprise me later in the year. I bought another hibiscus last weekend and put it in a big pot and set it outside my kitchen window, where it will get morning and mid-day sun. I've never tried one in a pot before, so we'll see how it works out. It would sure be nice to have red hibiscus blooms to admire with my breakfast, rather than just a concrete driveway.

Mine are going crazy with blooms right now, and we've been harvesting for a little over a week. So far the harvest hasn't been huge, but it has been steady. They seemed to stall on those days our high temps were in the 93-98 degree range, but now that it is a little cooler here, they are a little happier and putting out new growth and tons of blooms. I think the rain we got, which only was a half-inch, pleased them greatly. I'm hoping this week's cold front makes them even more happy. At least our sugar snap peas aren't being hailed upon, flooded or being hit by tornadoes. As long as they are still alive and rain is falling, I think they'll keep producing for a while. The wind today did beat the crap out of them. Kim, I always freeze some, but only about 1 year out of 3 do I put tons and tons of them in the freezer. Tim was out of town on business most of last week, so I didn't even pick them and take them into the house. I just picked them and munched on them while working in the garden---instant, garden-fresh fast food. In the fall, you'll probably need row cover to keep them happy long enough to produce. While they tolerate very cold temperatures, if the cold temps hit while they are blooming or about to bloom, those cold temperatures can knock the blooms right off the plants. I don't cover them up at night unless we're expecting temperatures below the mid-20s. Sometimes we get a night or two like that in late Sept or early Oct, but it is more common to get them in November. If you want to grow a variety that doesn't need to be trellised, I grew Cascadia two years ago and Sugar Lace last year, and both of them produced tons and tons of peas----more than my Super Sugar Snaps or Sugar Snaps growing on trellises were able to produce. Because we've already had high temps here hit 98 degrees a couple of times and 93-95 more often than I can believe for May, I am worrying that the green beans won't begin blooming early enough to avoid heat-related blossom drop. Instead of succession sowing some more green beans, I'm going to plant an enormous number of southern peas instead because the heat can't stop them from producing. My mind has moved beyond the warm-season crops to the hot-season crops because it seems like we have gone from the cool season to the hot season in a very brief period of time. My short day onions are bulbing up. It always happens at this time of the year, and it always catches me by surprise. I have to count backwards from now to the time I planted them, realize it is time for them to start bulbing up and say "okay, this is normal". All the cool-season plants I planted are doing better than the sugar snap peas, but that is not unusual. They are the most finicky when it comes to having 32 degree temperatures one morning and then 98 degree temperatures a day or two later. They don't like those crazy temperature swings. I get the best sugar snap pea harvest when we consistently stay cool and moist. This year cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be described as cool and moist---hence the sugar snap pea behavior.

Thanks, cpartist and lisadlu16, for your guidance. I have started a new discussion that I think includes your suggested items. If you have a moment, I’d love your input. Thanks for taking the time to tell me how to help people help me :)