I am a slave to the weather channel. We have it on first thing in the morning, and I always look at the weekly outlook- highs & lows. Once the temps start staying above 40 or so at night, I start the plant-out (this is a personal thing, as I see that recluse uses 30. I don't have enough info to know which ones are hardy enough to take the lower temps, so I just use 40+) If the temps dip after that, I'll toss a cloche over them for the night. I also like to use the 15-day forecast over at accuweather.com, but obviously if the weatherman can't get it right for 2-days out, it's unlikely that they really know the 15-day outlook. But I'm only looking at the temps, so knowing that the earth's orbit is relatively stable (wink), I can rest assured that they may at least have THAT part pretty close. Planting out: It depends how thickly I sowed them. Unlike recluse, I "sprinkle and go" with many many containers. This might mean entirely too many seeds in a container, but I've found that it makes for a good show when planted out HOS. If I got super-good germination and a totally green container because I sowed WAY thick, I'll do WAY small HOSs. Some of my annuals like Marigolds and Zinnias I don't do HOS, but most things I do. They can duke it out after they're in the ground. HOW you plant out is very much relative to how detail-oriented you are. If you're very specific about how you do things, it may throw your whole world into an uproar to try and do a plunk 'n run technique. Of course, depending on how many containers you got out there, you may find yourself plunking, running, and drinking heavily due to the stress of HAVING to do it at some point ;)

Hi Peg, I realize I am a little late with this information. I had the same thing happen to my LSU Gold tree this season. All the leaves starting turning yellow. First near the bottom then on top. I never had this happen before at this time of the year. I had bought the product shown in the attached photos and it seemed to have worked. Both photos are of the same LSU GOLD tree. I just used two capfuls in a two gallon watering can and gave it to just that one tree. After a few weeks as you can see in the photos the yellow leaves are all but gone. The fruits look healthy and a few are starting to enlarge. By the way I did get some good eating Briba from this same tree as well. It is container grown and was root trimmed andx repotted early last season. I hope that on the close up shot of the label on the bottle that you will be able to make out the ingredients contained in this product. I have used it on my lemon tree only before. Lou

Soak them overnight in Coconut Rum, then dip them in chocolate, either melted chocolate bark or Hersheys syrup. Tastes kinda like Almond Joy! Yum. or... Ingredients 3 quarts (approx 3 pounds) golden or black figs 6 cups sugar 1 cup water 1 cup white distilled vinegar Cheese cloth bag with 3 sticks cinnamon, 1 teaspoon whole cloves Directions Wash, clean and inspect figs. Leave small amount of stem to hold on to. Cover figs with 2 quarts of boiling water and let stand five minutes. Make syrup with remaining ingredients. Drain water from figs. Add syrup and boil for 10 minutes. Place in refrigerator overnight. Boil for 10 minutes and refrigerate overnight for three successive days. On last day, pack hot figs into sterilized jar to within 1/2 inch of the top. Add syrup to cover. Cover and seal in water bath using prescribed procedure.

Thanks for finding that pic, PopMama! I looked thru several pages and if it came up on my search I completely missed it! Liz, what you described at the swap was "more pink," so I hope what you remember is right! Please don't spend all your time looking for your pic, but if you should happen to run into it sometime over winter I would enjoy seeing it! If you don't run into it I will--hopefully--get to see it up-close-and-personal in spring! When that happens I will definitely be taking some of my own pics--however since google catastrophized WebAlbums a month ago I don't know if I'm even able to post links to my pics anymore! You mentioned that one of the Iris I got ['Superstition' and 'Abigail Provides'] was "shorter" than "others"--I think! If you did, was it 'Superstition' that was the shorter one? In the last couple days I got some big (2-3' X 18") patches of the "bad dirt" dug out along the walk by the side of my deck and, saving the more friable soil that was there, I've added a whole buncha home-grown, almost finished, compost to what was left! Have a "decent place" to plant both Iris now and am planning to get them in the ground tomorrow! I also saved some of the "better" natural soil to use when I dig out the potter's clay by the front walk where the peony is going! Will be completely removing the potter's clay, replacing it with my "saved" "better" natural soil, and then adding a WHOLE LOT of compost out there--including some that isn't quite so "almost finished!" Will be transplanting some worms too! I'm gonna make a Good Home for that peony! When I looked up the pics of it, one of the Way Cool things about it was how very different all the pics look--and, remembering you had said how much it "changed" from day to day, I'm really looking forward to seeing a few flowers on that too! Will be surprised if I get any next spring, but, with "good soil," I expect it to be taking off by the following spring! Can hardly wait! I had to water it in when I put it in the pot--my store bought soil is just "moist" when I use it, but, except for watering it in to "settle the soil" when I put it in the ground I'll leave it alone all winter--unless we get an extremely dry winter! Part of my reason for improving the soil in a pretty large area is so I'll know it has good drainage, so if we should get a snowy winter I won't have to worry about it sitting in WET CLAY! Thank you again for bringing such "cool" plants! (Yes, I realize everybody's definition of "cool plants" is different!) to swap! Since I already have so many things, and since people have started to bring things they originally got from me I don't often find many things that I want or don't already have, and this is the first swap in a long time where I was salivating and waiting to "pick!" BUT! I'll have you know that you created quite a "problem" for me!!! With my tiny yard I really did need to do some thinkin' to figure out where to put my new booty! "Problem" and all, thank you, Liz!!! >>> APS = American Phytopathological Society! Egad girl! Are you seriously into this stuff or what??? Did you REALLY go to a plant pathology convention????? Skybird