it was a domestic US flight - so no customs! I had a packed box with plants in checked suitcase and another in carry-on. nobody even asked anything. as far as i know hawaii needs plant cert to get in/out, cali to get plants in and fl has citrus restrictions. but others - no problems. trini, can you advice us on light for thai ags? the best i could find was very bright indirect sun, with very early/very late weak sun 1-2 hours beneficial for color. i already managed to burn one leaf in FL in not so weak sunset light. any idea in foot candles/lux? i cannot find any ref to that anywhere at all. i think they are close to ming aralia in growing conditions. hopeful, don't thai ags start spotting on leaves in cool temps? do yours have spots/yellow leaf margins? mine were for 2 weeks at may be 62F AT THE ROOTS and one young leaf started showing gray spots, now turning yellowish. i immediately put it on a heating pad and raised temps in the room to 70F (near windows is cooler by 5F). i also have tropical ferns/aralias/anthuriums/african masks that can't stand getting cold feet - they were all tented when i was away and temps were at 65F. that's how i keep them going well. should've tented ag too right away!

Red Navels were sold in Houston at Home Depot before the state supplied citrus budwood became mandatory about ten yrs ago. They were grown by Crockett Nursery (now defunct) in Harlingen, Tx. Dr. Julian Sauls is a professor of horticulture at the Texas A&M Citrus Center and an Agriculture Extension Agent and he referred to them as red navels not Cara Caras. And I believe they may be different. They seem to be darker and some years get a lot more of a berry flavor. They can also become drier. When they are in a good year, they are the best of my 25+ varieties. I also have have Moro, Sanguinelli, Torroco, and a "blood Jaffa". O.K., maybe red tinged, Jaffa. I got it from Crockett also. And I have a reference to them. I like the red navels because their pigment is lycopene and they start out like grapefruit, fully colored and fade as they hang on the tree. Blood oranges mostly don't get very red in our climate because color is induced by non interrupted cold nights.

I have no experience with guava or starfruit, but citrus can perform surprisingly well in partial shade. I'm sure full sun is better (especially for getting a young tree established), but I have three citrus trees that get maybe three or four hours of direct sun at best. The rest of the day is dappled or deep shade, and I get more citrus than my family could ever eat from Thanksgiving until early January. I planted a Red Rhode Valencia in March in a partially-shady spot. It hasn't put out any vegetative flushes yet, but I hope the roots are growing good.

OMG finally found this post again, after Ringlady was nice enough to type this in for me this AM. I tried Shirley's recipe today. It is to die for. I actually think I like this better than the roasted red pepper spread, and I am pretty die hard when it comes to that. First thing this morning I tried the recipe but instead of tomatoes, which I didn't have, I tried peaches and poured cider vinegar instead of the white one. (10 peaches instead of the tomatoes if someone is interested). It is amazing, and much closer to what I wanted when I tried the peach salsa last year as far as peachy taste is concerned. Fairly hot too, and I removed all the seeds from the peppers. Next, this afternoon, I tried the tomato version with white vinegar. Hummm, this is when I am in trouble. I cannot decide which is the version I like best now. I think I am almost inclined to go with the tomato version, though the other one is real interesting. Strangely, the tomato mix is not as hot. So I guess I will have to sit with a spoon and try both until I can make up my mind.... or maybe someone else care to try them and let me know? LOL. I guess the alternative is to invite lots of people and let them try....but that means opening all these little jars... ooooohhh.... Anyway, thank you for an amazing recipe. I will be making lots of it tomorrow. Marie