Posted by susanzone5 z5NY (My Page) on Sun, Dec 8, 13 at 9:56 Wow, that is brilliant. The picture was taken on a tropical island of Indonesia. They just had a volcano eruption. The flower just opened after the eruption. The icy items are actually volcanic ash. Are these volcanic ash very fertile and suitable for many crops? Hmm ... This post was edited by jujujojo on Sun, Dec 8, 13 at 10:01

It doesn't look like powdery mildew to me. Looks more like spider mites. In either case, it won't affect the tubers, so don't throw away (unless you're looking for a reason to get some new ones). But -- you should cut down the plants and get rid of the debris. DON'T COMPOST IT!! I never compost any dahlia debris, just in case there is some disease or bug in it. I had dahlia smut this year for the first time, and I will be very careful to clean everything off the ground when I dig. Luckily I live in the country and can burn. Teresa

Hi d_giffin, thank you so much! I like the white peonies very much now. Yes, sometimes mistakes can make it better! :-) George, I want to first of all tell you how much I really appreciate you giving me all the advice! Thank you! You know, I actually realized that I might be overcrowding these paniculatas. However, I did it anyway, thinking that I might be able to severely prune these lovelies every year to keep their size down, and more importantly, I did it for a selfish reason - I know that this is not my forever house, and I probably will only be here for a few more years. I wanted to enjoy these paniculatas and so I just planted them there, realizing that they may not be fully grown before I leave... ouch! I hope that is not too selfish. You know what? The worst thing is that someone or myself will need to chop down the shrub(s). The physocarpus is Summer Wine, which is actually supposed to be only half the size of Diablo and Coppertina. So it is much more compact. The crabapple is supposed to be about 12' tall when fully grown. Yes, it may create some shade, but with crabapple, the foliage is not that dense so it should not be too much of a problem. The neighbors' shrub was always a mystery to me, until recently! They did not even know what it was - they just planted it there several years ago!!! Anyway, it's a lilac... yikes! It might get big. The thing that gets me is that the buds get eaten by the deer every year before they bloom! Sigh... I am going to advice my neighbors to prune it hard every year! LOL Anyway, if I do want to move the Limelight, since it was in a 5 gallon pot before and this is its 3rd season now, how deep and widespread should I expect the roots to be? I want to make sure that I will dig carefully just so that I won't damage the sprinkler system. The trouble is, if I did move it, I am not sure where to put it then... Hey, George, if you remember, I already removed the Pink Diamond from this bed to another corner after your advice last fall!!! :-) Thanks again!

I hear you suze9. I live in The Great PNW. About 20 miles S from Seattle. Zone 7b I guess. Where is live is about 2 weeks behind Seattle weather wise. Normal Feb temps are 40-45, night time 35ish. The drop to 18 is somewhat unusual, even in Dec, Jan. It's been an unusual year, again. Snow in Feb is rare. March, almost unheard of. This year the ?last? snow was beginning of April. Today was 75. > Larger transplants can work well for some, for sure - > but at some point it is definitely possible to start > too soon, to the point that you don't get any benefit, > or are even set back because of it. I am trying to find that point. Expense versus effort versus results weighted. This is my third year running of 'starting way too early'. This year was the earliest yet. Last year I had my first ripe tom June 6th. That's a pretty major feat around here. 'Course the weather from June through July sucked, very cold, so the benefits were minimal. LOL. Plants were HUGE, 10-15'tall by end of season, tomato count, ENORMOUS. Ripe tomatoes, not so much. My starts are not normal put in a 1 gallon pot and let them grow starts. I continually 'repot' them into larger and larger containers. I bury the stem deeper each time. They are essentially pre-trenched plants. 1' of stem or more buried by planting time with vigorous root growth all along it. Lat year the tops are 2-3' tall. The plants suffer no delay/transplant shock when put into the ground from pots. Critical for the short season here. Growing an inch a day, to growing an inch a day right after transplant. This year, I am making cloches so my efforts are not lost to the AGAIN expected cold june/july. And by starting so soon, if things go wrong, I have time for Plan B and Plan C starts.