Hi The whole trick to any fruit tree is the proper "cultivar" in the proper location. Any fruit that has a commercial value has been developed into dozens if not hundreds of varieties. Pick the variety that fits your situation and it's easy Mango is a good example to my knowledge there are at least 100 kinds. i like to grow dwarf ,everbearing types that are far more cold tolerant. Citrus are a great example also .I'm guessing at least 1,000 cultivars. You can have fruit 12 months out of the year. Custom grafts would allow you to grow several types on the same tree. i have one that produces lemons limes and mandarin oranges on the same tree. Will bear a few at a time over 10 months of the year. What a space saver lol. i think the best way to select one is to actually taste the real fruit from a variety then look for types that produce these type in the season you want and of course the size tree you want. Don't do like I did spend years growing a tree that produces fruit you don't like. lol gary

It depends on the species and cultivar. L angustifolia cultivars are generally more likely to throw a small second bloom if lightly pruned just after blooming. Some cultivars will bloom a second time without any pruning. L. xintermedia are much less likely to bloom a second time ever. However, I did have a lady claim that her L xintermedia 'Seal' bloomed for her three times in one season! Very unusual indeed. Two cultivars, introduced to the trade by Tom DeBaggio (my dad) are fairly reliable re-bloomers 'Irene Doyle' (AKA Two Seasons) and 'Tucker's Early Purple'. In some areas of the country, L. stoechas re-bloom constantly, although it usually only blooms once in my area, late May/early June. I recommend to people that experience hard winters ie have many days below freezing that they prune their lavender plants one-third to one-half of the plant, not including the length of flower stalks, in early spring. In Northern VA that means in late March. Hard pruning in the fall can trigger new growth that will be damaged by an early freeze. Tidying up of spent flowers and light pruning can be done in fall if desired with little need for concern. This, early, fairly aggressive pruning will prevent the plants from open and woody. The plants will still get thick woody trunks but the plant will look much nicer. I hope you have better luck growing lavender in a pot than I do. They usually don't last more than a couple of years for me in pots. F. DeBaggio

My DH told me that the hosta plantaginea bloomed first in May, or as he described it, "the one with the huge white flowers like lilies." I was not here to verify which plant, but he specified the one nearest the property line. I have never heard of plantaginea blooming as early as May, that's quite unusual. It is typically a late-August bloomer, depending on where you are and how hot things have been, this specie likes heat to bloom properly apparently. Where I am it never gets hot enough, nor can I give it the full sun placement it would accept to get that heat. I'm close to the ocean and this summer it has never been above 80F. While that's comfortable for us humans, it finally got to the point where I ditched my 'Venus' -the triple-flowered form of plantaginea- because it failed to flower 4 years in a row..... Pieter

Seasons? Well, they SAY we have 4 seasons here. Personally, I've only ever experienced 9 months of winter, then it turns hot & humid for a little while. But seriously... My MIL is in Gilford, and we have relatives in Wolfeboro, so we are around the southern area of the lakes region quite often. Not sure how long you've been here, but you might be interested in our Fall Swap, which should be close to being posted soon. We do that in Goffstown, usually in September. Some seasonal notes: "March Winds" is a good phrase. "April Showers" is a good phrase. "May Flowers" is another good one. They are very typical of how things go around here. Snow. Lots of snow. Some years more than others, but count on it. First hard frost that will kill things like coleus comes Mid-October. Last frost is hard to judge, but typically "they" say ~Memorial Day is safe to start planting. The big "however" on that one is if you winter sow (see that forum here). We break all the planting rules, starting things outdoors in December. In May, I notice that the first blooms out are purples & yellows: Lilacs, Forsythia, Lunaria, Lupine, Daffodils, Siberian Iris, and Dwarf Bearded Iris, followed shortly by early whites and reds such as shasta daisy, Valerian, and Maltese Cross. Late May also finds my "Golden Rose of China" shrubs in bloom. By June, the 'rest' of things are coming into bloom- "early" Daylilies, Lilacs are finishing up, Weigela Bush is in bloom, Spirea is in bloom. Shoot, can't remember if the Bleeding Heart is May or June... Zone 5 is a 'questionable' zone for Butterfly Bushes, and they are LATE in showing signs of life. I mulch them with whatever I can find in the fall- leaves or that fluffy hay-like stuff that Bluestone sent in their box one year. Snow insulates them, too, so I might even shovel extra over it so it doesn't melt away during the January thaw. I cut them back to about 6-8" in late April, and they'll start showing signs of life about the time you think they're not going to make it. I'm thinking this year it was after Memorial Day. Speaking of January thaw...we'll usually get both a January thaw (you'll need a T-shirt for this), and an ice storm. The ice came early this year in December, and put power out for weeks in some areas. The really bad power outages weren't typical, but the ice-storm is. February is usually pretty brutal with "raw" cold for several weeks at a time, usually. It'll start to break about the time you flip the March calendar. If you like Poppies, the first week in March is perfect for sprinkling those seeds. Careful that they don't blow away in the wind. I try to get mine out (sprinkled over the snow) by the first weekend in March, followed soon by the Peas in the garden by March 17th. If you winter-sow, April 1 is a good date to start tender annuals and get them outside. I've been pushing that envelope slightly, and have started them as early as the 3rd week in March. Your nasturtiums that were beautiful in the early summer will likely melt by late July/early August in the heat. Generally speaking (not counting the lovely weather we had last week), there's no such thing as "Dry Heat" around here. "Oppressive" is more like it. Humidity is icky. It's not uncommon to be just standing not moving and sweating. Find out where your local Ice Cream stand is. (Have you ventured to Rochester on the Milton town line yet? Lone Oak is THE best place to get ice cream. They serve no less than a pint of ice-cream on their small & kiddie sized cones- all home-made ice cream.) Gilford Old Home Day is coming up the end of August, and is a nice day-trip if you're into Community Parades, and the whole music/vendors/food scene. It's a nice little event. When you flip the September calender, the weather tends to also 'flip.' It'll still be warm during the day, but there's a "chill" and the air is just 'different.' We've had so much rain this year that the foliage is going to be FABULOUS. Don't miss it! We'll usually get an Indian Summer spell sometime in September with temps back up in the 80s. The Hopkinton Fair is Labor-Day weekend, and September is also our Fall Swap in Goffstown, so you might want to watch for Annie's post here. Deerfield Fair is the end of September, and is another nice fair. Skip the Rochester Fair ;) I've heard Fryeburg Fair in Maine is a nice fair, too, but have never been. By the time October rolls around, we've all hunkered down for the winter, and are gearing up for the holiday season, the kids are back at school, the leaves have been raked up and thrown in the compost pile, or backpack-blown into the neighbor's yard, and whatever fall cleanup garden chores you do are probably nearly done. Oh, watch for fall bulb clearances- I have seen them go as low as 90% off at Agway. That was two years ago when we didn't get winter until December, so I planted bulbs on December 1st. That's not typical, but it worked, and the bulb deals were great! I don't mind 'taking a chance' on clearance bulbs when the bulbs are still firm, the ground isn't frozen yet, and they are cheap-cheap-cheap! Ok, did I cover most of it? Hope you found some of it useful!