I've been waiting for someone with nectarine experience to answer because I'm interested too, but I'll hazard a thought. Although many, if not most, people grow stone fruits in a vase it is also entirely possible to do a central leader. The closer tree looks like it is headed that way now, but either of them could be done either way. If you want a vase I'd head back the leader to about waist high and select your scaffold branches, removing all the others. As late in the season as it is I would probably leave it until winter but I think it'd be OK to do it now. Best check with somebody who knows, though, as I stand ready to be corrected! :-)M

To me it depends on the rose. Most grafted roses purchased locally in fall were bareroots left over from the previous January. If they weren't pruned at the nursery, they could probably use a trim now. Since each cane that grows out is a little smaller than the cane it grew out of, the weak, spindley growth will either produce blooms that bend/break the stem or they'll be too small to produce bloom. While some roses are notorious for nodding blooms, it isn't a trait often appreciated in a HT or Gr, lol. Do remove the oldest leaves as you'll notice many of them are yellowing anyway. If you don't want to prune off the newest growth, don't. You'll deadhead it off after the bloom anyway. The spot where the leaf meets the cane will harbor powdery mildew spores, over-wintering pest eggs and spider mites. Getting air and sunlight to those areas, and maybe a dormant oil spray or fungicide/pesticide, can cut down on your spring garden problems. While I don't spray during active growing season, I do use a dormant oil spray in winter. While Consulting Rosarians won't always agree with each other on certain aspects of rose growing, they are correct in saying that January is major pruning month. Exhibitors may wait until February to prune their show roses and others pruned between Christmas and New Years but when talking to novice rosarians, they'll tell you 'January'. All that said, I've got a CL Iceberg I haven't so much as dead-headed in 2-3 years because I'm still waiting to see if it's EVER going to climb. Right now it's just a short fat bush full of blooms. Both the Rose Society of Green Valley and the Tucson Rose Society are awesome places to learn rose culture. I'd strongly encourage you to attend the free public pruning demonstrations they hold at their meetings, local nurseries and public rose gardens.

John, there was no intention on my part, of dismissing the use of an air-stone and air pump or to diminish the effect it has on venting a pond in winter. I was addressing your statement. "I think an air pump will do a better job at maintaining a hole in surface ice then the 300 gph pump". I believe that, either method, properly installed in the pond, would do the job equally well. But a blast of water from a 300 GPH pump bubbling/rippling across the surface, at a sharp angle, is bound to, in my humble opinion, have more effect on opening up the surface, [area of water movement] than a stream of air bubbles, drifting straight up to the surface, from a small aquarium type pump. But it is not the size of the vent hole that is all important. It is the efficient rate of gas exchange, that is what we are after, in venting a pond in winter. Water can only hold so much oxygen before it becomes saturated. David [DRH]one of the contributors to the article in the FAQ, has been using the air pump bubbler for many years with great results, just as you have by your account. But when the winter really sets in, in David's State of Vermont, the hole created by his bubbler, is by no means three feet in area. The aquarium type air bubbler he uses, is however, still doing the job, as the bubbles carry a large volume of oxygen and as they go, take other gasses to the surface. I guess it is all in what works best in a particular situation. Courses for horses! I would, in all probability use an air pump and air-stone in my own pond, if in the future, I decided to let my bottom drain plumbing and sump freeze up. But I don't want to do that at present time, so I pay the extra cost and opt to run a 500 GPH water pump all winter. Your point on the efficiency of using an air pump and air-stone bubbler, is certainly not in question by myself. Take care, "Horton"

You've got some good varieties, so I'm cautiously optimistic. It's a double-whammy for them to try to get established in a new garden, then get zapped with that kind of cold, but they are hardy varieties and I wouldn't bet against them. There are lots of different products with seaweed in them- the stuff I use is a local brand, but it really seems to help with seedlings and established plants. My azaleas like it too. It isn't a 10-10-10 type of fertilizer- it's a combination of seaweed and humic acid. I would steer clear of anything with lots of nitrogen for a stressed plant. though. Are you seeing any new leaf buds yet? Once your plants start leafing out, you should be able to see if you've got any dead wood that needs to be trimmed away. I would wait until next spring to do any shape-pruning, however. (Hopefully next winter won't be such a doozy.)