Material gifts I received and am grateful for: A good knife. It is actually a big cleaver and cuts through things like they're butter. Some good cookies Washington's Secret Six a book about some unrecognized spies who helped win the revolutionary war. It is supposed to restore your faith in the goodness of people. A shawl made out of bamboo fibers An 8x10 photo my son took of my dog A card from my brother Going to The Hunger Games with my husband and daughter on Christmas day and later going to the Chinese buffet The whole day was good. No tension. Hugs. Nice.

Hi Laura, I live in FL also, I have had a Jade tree for about two years, but you are right...mine have NEVER bloomed! Rain and very high humidity is definitely a big problem here for growing Jades/Succulents, that is why I use "Al's Soil Mix". It is very fast draining and keeps the soil from staying too moist. I bring mine under the entry way cover when our rainy season starts. I keep my Jades and succulents in Full sun. They really like it, although for me they STOP growing by late May early June. The weather is just way too hot and humid. My jades starts growing again when the weather starts cooling off, around Nov thru May. I have not given up with the flowers though, I am hoping one day I will get mine to flower...at least I am hoping. I know they need cold(not freezing) temps to help them flower. I have a small collection of Succulents, Here's my jade, I just pruned it appx. 2 1/2 months ago, it is just starting to put out new growths...I know its not a pic of blooming jades, but I just wanted to say If I can grow it, I'm sure you can too! I have seen pics of your beautiful plants... Give it another try, they are almost as addicting as Hoyas, LOL... My Camp Fire Jade: My small succulents collection:

When I was in seminary, back in Indiana, long ago, we lived in a trailer park. We didn't have much storage. I rented a garden plot two miles down the road. Of course, we grew sweet potatoes. On top of that, my wife's grandparents always grew quite a few. At Thanksgiving the whole family would try to go to their home, in Southern Illinois. They would load everyone up with a crate of sweet potatoes. So, we had A LOT of them to fit in our little trailer. We stored them in crates under the bed and behind the sofa; and, it worked. I couldn't leave them out to cure either, as we had thieves in the rented gardens. Incidentally, I'm still digging our crop from this year. I hope to finish today. Yesterday I dug my dedicated row of Oklahoma Red and was very pleasantly surprised. They sized up much better than in the two previous growing seasons. They were very acceptable in size. In fact, they out did Red Wine Velvet this year. I still had a couple of two foot long "skinnies" and some which were too skinny to really use. But most were plump enough that they wouldn't cause the uninitiated to wonder "Why are these so skinny?" They produced heavily too. This illustrates something I've heard Dawn say about other kinds of vegetables. To give a fair trail of a variety takes a couple three growing seasons. I was beginning to think of this one as a "preservation project," in that I was disappointed with usable yields. But it has proven this year, that it can really produce, and that, some very nice roots. Also, there is one more thing to consider. There are so many variables, that sometimes it is virtually impossible to do a fair comparison without growing several times, in different parts of the garden. For instance, I was running late on getting our sweet potatoes in the ground, this summer. Since I was running late, I put my beloved Red Wine Velvet in the first available row. Red Wine Velvet did acceptably, but not nearly as well as in some years, and not nearly as well as the two other varieties I have dug so far. The only factors I can see as possible reasons for this are 1) They went in the "top row" nearest the North edge of the garden, where the soil is harder. & 2) Because of their location it was harder to get a soaker hose on them. One more observation on Oklahoma Red. I will have to pay closer attention with other varieties to see if this is true also for them. The longest, skinniest roots were those which mainly grew laterally. The nicer plump roots grew vertically (down). In many hills, this year, the majority of the roots practically went straight down from the base of the plant. These were the best roots. Some which grew more laterally, though, still sized up enough to eat. These were the really long roots. These are harder to dig without breaking. Okay, just one more observation on this variety. I didn't find a single split root. This year, because of the drought and rains, I have found a number of roots (other varieties) which split. They were still usable. But they were blemished by splitting. Oklahoma Red showed great resistance to splitting. Now, the thing to do is to observe it a few more years to see if this is always the case. George

phase, I'm only growing the emperor variety for now. i do know of a brewster and mauritious that grows a few miles from me. I do nothing special with the emperor variety at all. It seems to bloom and consistent fruit for the last couple of years, but definitely fruits heavier every other year. $8.97? ouch! hhaha Ethan, you're more than welcome to drop by if your in the area. yeh my bad Jay I've been lagging on my part about sending out those cuttings. There isn't what I would call suitable branches to send out right now, but I will get some out to you later this year along with some extra fruits. jambus Jay! Looks like it will be ripen in the next week or so. I had two trees going pre 2006, one got killed, this one survived due to being sheltered by the side of the house. close up strange angle. I hope to one day be able to look up into a large tree and see this. =)