Pug, I didn't know there were dwarf olive trees..when you say dwarf, what size are we talking? Height? I once grew Natal Plum in a bonsai container..Pug, that little plant flowered and produced fruit. Astonishing. Because I feared it'd dry too much when outside in summer, I repotted in a regular pot. Since then, it hasn't bloomed or fruited..wonder why??? Natal plum is 4-5 yrs old.. You said your olive/bonsai flowered, do you remember if flowers were fragrant? I had to browse my plant journal on type of olive. It's Olea europaea 'Arbequina'..is that dwarf or standard? Thanks for the compliment..Today, I received two plants from HI...Oh Pug, I'm in heaven..one is Dracaena goldiana, the other Calathea louisiae, 'Tiger'.. Both are gorgeous, (especially the Dracaena) but this buying has to STOP. lol This time, I AM serious. Pug, I thought Pugs were high-energy? No? You mentioned Max has a weight problem, maybe excess weight is holding him back? When we bought this house it didn't have a fence either. At the time, we had a Rott, Cujo. We had to have a fence installed. Cujo hated living here, he wanted to move back to Chicago..lol..He grew up in the same home for 12 yrs, then, moving here, even though there's much more room, he didn't like it. He started misbehaving. His personality changed. For spite, he started 'going' in the house, especially the basement stairs..I can't tell you the number of times, dh was readying for work, had to go in the basement to grab something, and stepped on Cujo's do-do. lol..talk about angry! lol..to wake in the morning and stop on poop! lol..The sad thing was, just past his 12th b-day, the vets found he had cancer. Perhaps once Max loses weight, he'll be on the go..then you'll really have to hunt him down when he runs in ppl's yards..lol..you know what they say, 'the grass is always greener, ' lol. Toni

how do I know parts are really dead? I have 3 of the dwarf variety (I planted them last year). There are bright green leaves on the edges but the centers are brown and woody with crunchy leaves and the whole plant seems to be growing flat along the ground instead of mounding. I cut some of the brown stuff off and found green in the wood, so I think I'm just going to leave them alone for a while and see what happens.

Two of my august beauties started blooming last week (same time as you), just as my daisy was starting to peak. This seems consistent with years past, if not a little early. My radicans will start opening soon, so I should have that wonderful gardenia smell for quite some time! I'm about 2 miles south of downtown, btw.

This has to be drought related. I noticed that the blooms on my Oakleaf Hydrangea are about half the size the were last year. On a positive note...this weekend I noticed the Oakleaf was covered in honey bees! GAmud