If the compost has matured... say a year, and no fresh strong manure has been added.. it should be fine.. I planted some in a mixture with mushroom compost last year and they had black scabs on them.. The supplier said it should have aged in a year and expect no problems this year. Sand and topsoil with liquid fertilizer might be safer..

I haven't seen very many bees on my Rabbiteyes either. A honey bee from time to time. Carpenter and bumble bees every now and then. Even so, a lot of berries have set. I'd say close to 80-90%. This seems to be the norm for my Rabbiteyes, lite pollination but heavy fruit set. I don't know? Just hang in there and you will have some fruit. Chances are all the varieties of bees coming to your plants are coming early in the morning and I promise some are there when your not looking. Unless you are out there staring at your plants all day every day you really never know how much pollination your really getting. Bumble bees are very efficient at pollinating blueberries so it doesn't take very many visits to pollinate. I'm looking at my plants right now with no bees at all and look at the fruit set. Correction, I see one honey bee!

Larkspur, Consolida I believe.

tinasam, I admit that until AlbertoÂs question I had just taken a very quick look at your posting before, since although Georgia and NJ do share quite a few plants in common, I didnÂt think itÂd be that useful to me. I hadnÂt noticed the similarities between your user name and the authorÂs name. Correct me if IÂm wrong, otherwise congratulations on your book! Always good to see another book on the topic! Alberto, youÂve asked a question I definitely care about. I hope other people add to this, but there are some thoughts. I let nurseries I go to know IÂm interested in native plants in the hope theyÂll start carrying moreÂand of course that would make my plant buying much easier. Two things that I remembered from reading about what individual people can do (I donÂt remember where I saw these; maybe it was on one of these forums) are to start writing articles or letters for local papers, and to get involved in local government to get more natives plantings done in public areas. (or write a book on the topic for that matter) I suppose having an absolutely stunning native garden might get more people interested. Sharing native plants from my yard that people like is one definite way to get natives in their yards. I mostly just try to get people interested when I can. IÂm usually focusing even more about the negative effects of invasive plants, and so while IÂm very glad if people become interested in natives, itÂs even more important to me that they know the reasons to avoid invasives. If thereÂs an appropriate opening in conversation IÂll bring up the topics. In terms of invasives, IÂve actually printed out a short handout from the US government that explains the issue that I like because I think it gets the point across quickly and clearly. Depending on somebodyÂs interest during such conversations IÂll just about always offer to supply them with links, and might lend them books and/or offer to research which native plants might work well in their gardens. If somebody is already interested in gardening for wildlife I think pointing out the benefits of using native plants is often much easier for them to see. A book that many people will tell you is inspiring and that I also found very easy and enjoyable to read is "Noah's Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Backyards" by Sara Stein. It tells about how she became interested in this and her experiences in it. She was gardening in New York state, but I think the main points would still apply. If you havenÂt read the thread on this forum on "Explaining Why Natives" you might find it interesting. It doesnÂt really address your question, but part of it kind of related. The first half of it had its last post in early September. Good luck making progress. -- Lori