What is the purpose you have in mind for your pumpkins? Googling around, I found a news article from last year that seemed to indicate that it isn't the HEAT that causes pumpkins to fail, as much as it is DROUGHT. Also, the article said "Hot, dry weather prompts pumpkins to produce too many male blossoms and too few females." If pumpkins are like gourds (and I think they are), most of the male flowers are on the main vines. So, when the vines get 6 or 8 ft long, clip off all the tips, forcing the plants to make more side vines, which tend toward female flowers (these produce the pumpkins, the males are only good for pollinating them). If your area seems short of bees, you might pick off a few male flowers and dust the pollen directly onto the female flowers for better pollination. Also, if you happen to have a good compost pile or two, you could plant the seeds directly into the compost piles. Be sure to keep them moist, not wet. If you plant directly into the soil, increase the nutrient levels, water thoroughly, and mulch them heavily with hay or straw. If possible, mulch the whole area, not just a circle around the main stem. Otherwise, the hot bare areas between will suck the moisture out from the moist areas. Just for kicks, make a few square, bottomless wooden boxes and set a few of your growing pumpkins in them. How many of your friends have seen SQUARE pumpkins??? Sue Here is a link that might be useful: No great pumpkins this year, Charlie Brown

Yes, coffeemom LOVES coffee and several other beverages along with good salsa. You will enjoy your plant just make sure you plant it where it can spread and then keep it in control as needed. It is beautiful mixed with Ti plants or ornamental grasses. Yes, you do need to start attending swaps and we do not expect new gardeners to bring anything to swap and you will go home with so many plants you will think you have won the lottery. I have plants and then lose them because most of them are in containers and if I get sick or work lots of hours my housemate does not know how to tend for them. I just came out of a year of illness and mourning and I lost a lot of my plants due to neglect and not caring but I am so sorry now and I am beginning over with a lot of stuff and I will have things to trade and would love to meet you. Please plan on attending the next one and fawnridge's swap is the swap of the year. Good luck with your garden. Linda

I'm so jealous ! The pictures & videos I see on tv & online of cali are gorgeous!! Mountains & thin roadways but also city and beaches with rocks! Ppl often compare Florida to California but even our beaches look completely different ! I don't think we're anything alike! Florida doesn't have mountains & big rocks . We're definitely not dry either ! The west side of the US has dry air compared to the south east - its so humid here! i step outside and my shirts drenched within minutes & i can't cool off bc it's too humid it's horrid ! I love the beaches here but cali has more of a wild look to it - it's so pretty !! I'd love to visit ! .....Annie talks about plants she grows and how well they grow even in the humid fog but I'll purchase these plants & they die within days of being subjected to our high heat & humidity :( I've tried growing many pants of hers that are more native to the west but they hate our climate here on the east. I just got a shipment notification from her! I ordered the California cream cups!! I bought them last year and they literally melted in our humidity within 3 days!!!!! I cried! but I'm praying I get to see one bloom before this happens again just one bloom & ill b happy it's really cool to b able to purchase plants I've never Seen before in my life & get to see them bloom! Half don't make it and it is a waste of money but I don't get to see these flowers otherwise bc they're not common on our side of the US. Maybe I'm crazy but I love seeing new flowers! My first columbine flowers where from annies! Never seen one before - they grow north of us in TN & GA but not in Florida. I have some now I'm waiting to bloom in spring but then out summer rains will rot them & I'll repurchase them again next fall. It's sad but it is what it is! One day -If hubby retires, I'll move somewhere I can grow these flowers without the high humidity killing them off ! I love the fountain grass! It's a mix of tan, purple & a rosey pink - you've got me searching for grasses at lowes!! lol they're beautiful! I want the restios!! Where did u purchase yours from ??! And thanks SOO much for the link!! Ur awesome. :)

I would say we have a very similar weather pattern to London, but I bring my Agaves inside for winter. We had one big variegated one, too big to carry indoors, which lost all its leaves to frost the winter before last. We kept the plant where it was, and it grew lots of new shoots in the following summer. Helas, at the beginning of this year it didn't withstand another frosty winter and it completely died.