I paid $10 a stick for some pawpaw scions and was happy to do it. I've also gotten dozens for free from the Home Orchard Society scion exchange and from the USDA clonal germplasm repositories. Aside from them, Nick has them most extensive list I've seen and is the only source I see right now for the Yakima plum variety which I covet. Does anybody know when Nick Botner's cutoff for ordering is? Does he collect and store the scions and then take orders from his inventory, or does he go out and snip to order? Its been an unusual winter in the Willamette valley with record cold in December and now almost spring-like weather in mid to late January. Together this seems to be leading to early bud swell. I'm afraid the scion stock for this year's scion exchange may not look so great if its collected in February.

This what I have for the '10 fall swap.white butterfly ginger,red milkweed,1 brown turkey fig,1shooting star clerodendron,2 liriope-green,3 pots of blackberry lily seedlings,2 night blooming cereus,3 pots of ee's-no id,1 tibouchini(mine came back this year!),1 morning glory bush-pink,1 lemon balm,tropical hibiscus=2 double red,3 snow queen,1 schizapetalus,2 rosalie,2 double psyche.I'll also bring odds & ends.I can dig ee's =Elena,big dipper,yellow splash.Have to see if there's any more.Thanks Jan

Gosh, I hate to admit all these as I really don't have room either, but it never seems to stop me. I do have about 23 on my shovel prune list so that will help make a dent in the current Pot Ghetto population around 30 roses! CCRS auction-Solitaire, Special Occasion, Jade Heirloom--Solitaire (2), Silver Jubilee (2) Wisconsin Roses--Impulse, Louise Estes, Pink Intuition, Red Intuition, Mohana, Pedrus Aquarius, Dancing Pink (2), The Temptations. Pickering--Keep Smiling, Mamma Mia!, Perception, New Era Rogue Valley--Barbara, Julia's Rose, Helmut Schmidt, First Prize, Pres. Herbert Hoover. Palatine--Lucille Ball (2), Osiria, Thriller EuroDesert--Abracadabra, Annapurna (2), Canary Diamond, Gardens Of The World Plus, I have arranaged to do quite a few swaps with other rosarians for cuttings as well. I am gonna be very busy!! John

Poor Susan! What nasty critters. I read somewhere that SVB's range ends at the Continental Divide. We're 40-50 miles on the wrong side of that line, so I suppose the stinkers will come calling one day. It sounds like Brewguy's Jack Be Littles and Rodent's gourds are winners this year. Hopefully a truck load of Hubbards and WBPPs will welcome Howden back. I think the plants will only keep as many fruits as they can support. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't expect more than 1 or 2, possibly 3 at the outside, per vine. I don't know about growth of the vine per day either. A fellow at work had his pumpkins try to lock him out of the house, though. Apparently they were sitting harmlessly on the ground when he left in the morning, but by afternoon, the vine had reached up and grabbed hold of the door knob. My own squash season has had a blend of moderate success and utter failure. Fordhook zucchini I did end up direct seeding a hill of these. The female blossoms are just now starting to appear. NOID gold zucchini These have been producing pretty well this year. They have that virus that turns yellow squash green. I can't remember what it's called, but the plants keep on producing. "Neighbor's NOID" These guys are just starting to show female blossoms. They do indeed look to be some sort of zucchini. Patisson Strie Melange scallop This one is a favorite at work. My friend says it looks like something from Disneyland :) Yellow Scallop I directed seeded a few of these at the same time as Fordhook. It's quite a ways behind, but it's also not in as good of a spot. More competition, too. Boston Marrow I'm embarrassed to say how many of these poor guys (girls, actually) I snapped off by accident when I was hand pollinating. Here's one of the survivors of my tender mercies. Buttercup These guys aborted fruit after fruit after fruit. I vaguely remember it doing that last year, too. It's finally decided to stop that. "Faux Buttercup"This plant came from the same seed packet as the Buttercup above. The seeds were from a trade, but the packet was commercial (American Seed Company) and appeared to be sealed. The packet had a whole 3 seeds in it. Two became vining Buttercup. The third is a semi-bush plant with a different type of fruit. Although FB was a little slower about producing female flowers than Buttercup was, since this plant didn't fool around with aborting its fruits the way Buttercup did, FB set fruit a couple weeks earlier than Buttercup. Also, the single vine several times had two and three female blossoms open on the same day. It couldn't support them all. Maybe if it had had a little better spot. Rouge Vif d'Etamps These seeds came from a trade, and I'm pretty sure they aren't Rouge. The vines have yet to produce a female flower. Crown This guy was a little slower to produce a female flower, but, when it did, the fruit grew quickly to what's probably the mature size. Gold Nugget Did not germinate. Hubbard, Blue Seed from a trade. Two different types of fruit. Although I hand pollinated, I have to assume the "pure" seed will have a mix of green and blue since I didn't note if I used a self male or a male from a different Hubbard vine. Jarrahdale This guy took off like it was going to do great things. The two or three vines have gone up and down three or four rows of peppers, beans, cucumbers etc. and escaped to the alley a couple weeks ago as well. Alas. For all the vines and foliage, there are only two fruits. Furthermore, the second fruit looks like it's going soft. I may have given the hill an extra drink of fertilizer by mistake. Sweet Meat As with Crown, these took a little longer to show female blossoms, but the fruit grew really quickly. It's hard to judge the relative sizes from the pics. I should have used something for scale. Anyway, the Sweet Meats are probably 12" in diameter. Cheese-type (possibly Long Island) Yet another seed trade and probably either crossed seed or something else completely. Pretty late setting fruit. It's also up in a tomato cage. I might have to rig a sling for this one. Delicata Has been shy about setting fruit this year. One plant set these two fruits right away. Then something happened, and the other two vines aborted their fruits and haven't set any others. Gill's Golden Pippen This guy has been gratifying to grow. It seemed to want to go vertical, so I gave the vines some tomato spirals to climb. I didn't think about what would happen when they (quickly) reached the top. Now the vines are happily running across the top of the pea trellis. If I had a dead tree or something like that, this variety would be the ideal decoration for it. Maybe next year I'll plant it next to the old TV antennae. Wonder how high it would grow ... Jack Be Little This guy has been fun to grow as well. I guess they're edible. We'll find out :) Melonette Jaspee Vendee What a disappointment! I noted male blossoms on June 25. Female blossom after blossom shriveled once they reached marble size or so. Probably nearly a couple dozen. I noticed this one made it to the blooming stage a few days ago. Hopefully it will stick, and we'll at least get to try it. Spaghetti Two of the three vines I accidentally roasted recovered. One is better than the other and has a two or three fruits. The other only has one fruit. Sweet Dumpling More traded seed. These don't look the way I expected. The vines haven't been very productive either. Winter Luxury Pie These were pretty quick to produce female flowers - and lots of them - but only a few set on. The more I write that, the more I'm thinking the problem is with the grower :) I'll have to do some studying and see if I can do better next year. "Magic Red" (received in trade from a member who bought the squash from a roadside stand) The seeds germinated poorly, and the single plant that survived hasn't been very vigorous. It produced its first female flower quite late and couldn't keep it. It's since produced two more female flowers, but the fruits don't appear to have grown. Don't think this is a repeat. Crown of Thorns gourd Didn't germinate. Any more reports?