"Could it be lack of thinning in past years" Yes! Weather has a lot of influence on everything always, but many apples get into a biennial habit which can be avoided by heavy, early thinning. "Is there a time when we should not prune apple trees?" Well, if conditions are right for fireblight it's good to avoid pruning blight-susceptible plants, except to remove diseased limbs. There are probably other diseases that you need to be aware of too, but fb is a biggie for me. But if the tree is too dense or too leggy or has dead, diseased, and crossing stuff, go ahead and get it out of there. Removing vegetative stuff in the summer is a powerful way to control size in a tree, so don't get too carried away, but don't hesitate to take control. "The leaves seem almost folded" means it's too late to do anything about it- the bugs have pulled the blanket over their heads and are pretty safe there. It's usually not too serious, but to prevent it one needs to act before the rolling occurs. You can remove the afflicted leaves to reduce the population. "Are they friendly?" Well, they don't look friendly to me, but I don't know what they are. I couldn't even tell for sure whether they had six legs or eight. Is that a hive they've tending? And that's a little more than I know about that. Others may have better observations! :-)M

Sorry about the confusion. Was talking about the spring-blooming freebies and wondered if I should deadhead those? I don't think it matters one way or the other as they should spread from the roots, just watered them. They are a nice daisy and not scraggly (don't look so great now) like some I've seen around town, but if they self seed and come up singly, that's a different matter. I like them in clumps or massed but under control. A few people here cover their whole steep terraces with them. I wanted the spring ones for a couple years anyway; they bloom the same time as iris and once-blooming roses, and I thought they'd be really pretty with those plus my found and rooted pink rose which needed something else there. Was going to move some of the yellow iris there, too. That's good to know about painted daisy, didn't know that. They are clustered in one corner of the jug (little over 1/4) but one of the first up. Don't know why my stuff germinates that way, it's level, but if I end up with just one or two of anything, I'm happy, like experimenting w/seeds but want variety. So my best bet is to plant them HOS and thin only if I have to. I decided I don't mind the colors mixing. They do in a planter I saw a photo of anyway (mine will go into ground). Then if I get them through the heat of the summer and first winter, in time I can divide the clumps and get more. I'm going to let them get a little bigger B4 I plant them. I will let the painted daisies go to seed if I am successful, and thanks much for that. Crazy was droopy today, gave it some water, low to the ground and it has an irrigation bottle (mentioned those on another thread). Those bottles are trapping beetles, don't know if that is a good thing or bad, no ladybugs at least. Sorry I tend to ramble; wish I could make myself be more succinct.

So far Johnny Jump Ups take the cake for flowers. I didnt intentionally winter sow these. The ones that I did try and winter sow NEVER grew. :( May: Last week: Other than that, African Daisies and Alyssum are blooming, Nicotiana are showing signs of doing something other than looking like cabbage, Bachelor Buttons have buds but the plants themselves are so dinky. Cleome are just leaves, Cosmos Sensation and Bright Lights are big and bushy but no buds and some of the Zinnias look like they're ready to get serious. I understand your frustration Grace. For awhile there I wondered if I was growing midget plants or something. They'll take off eventually. :)

Hello there :o) Sorry it took me so long to get back. You are correct, YOUR new rose will be a different rose. For me, that is the fun part, not knowing what you will be getting... climber, single bloom, color... plus you can name your rose. I have had a blast giving my little ones a name of their very own :o) Okay, as for the hips:"they" say you should gather them when they have turned an orange or red in color. Some take them if they are still green and have had germination(s) from green hips. The same day I gathered the hips ( red, orange and even some green: I believe you can gather the hips until the 1st freeze, as late as the end of October, for my zone that is), I removed the seeds. I made a batch of peroxide and water in a large measuring cup: 9 parts water/one part peroxide. I then cut the hip open with a sharp knife, removed the seeds and placed them in the water/peroxide solution. This process took me a little over 2 hours, thus the first seeds were in the water/peroxide for approx. 2+ hours and the last seeds only soaked for about 15 minutes or so,(it is said you should soak them for 12-24 hours, I didn't know this until after the fact.) Next I got out plain white paper towels. I used 3 of them layering one on top of the other. I then used them as a strainer, pouring the water/peroxide and seeds onto the towels. I then folded the towels over the seeds and gave it a good squeeze to remove the excess water/peroxide. You want the towels/seeds to be damp but not soaking wet. You don't want to let the seeds dry out. I then placed the seeds in the towels in a plastic container with a air tight lid. From there I placed the container in the bottom drawer of the fridge. I made up a spray bottle of the water/peroxide solution to use when the towels got a little dry, do not allow the seeds to dry out. Check on them from time to time. In about 3 months you should start to see germination. Not all seeds will germinate. I still have seeds that have not germinated but I have kept them. A germinated seed will get a little white tail. Once you have a tail place him/her in a seedling potting soil with the little white tail pointing down... it is the root not the top of the plant. I found this out the hard way :o) Regular potting soil killed a bunch of my babies, I think it is too heavy for them. You don't want to place too much soil over the top of the seed. I used a pencil to make the hole for the seed, not making the hole too deep. I set my heating pads on med. at night and low in the day, if the day temps got down too cold I left the pads on med. I purchased large plastic planting flats (kinda looked like a plastic cake pan) to set the pots on and then sat the flat on the heating pad. Light: They had approx. 16 hrs of light. I would turn the lights off at night before going to bed and back on in the morning. I purchased all of my lighting from Walmart. I couldn't find bulbs for plants but did find aquatic bulbs. They are pretty much the same thing and worked just fine. Watering: After trial and error, I found misting them with the water/peroxide solution 1-2 times a day worked the best. You want the soil moist but not too wet, the peroxide helps prevent the seedling from dampening off. After they got a little bigger I use a tab. spoon full of water/peroxide 1-2 times a day. Transplanting: After they got around 3-4 inches tall I transplanted them into a bigger pot. With pots hard to find, I found the large plastic pic-nic like cups worked well too: The blue cup in the back: Also cottage cheese/sour cream, containers work well too. I used a cork screw to make drainage holes in the bottom of the cups/containers. They then went back to their spot on the heating pads and under the lights. From there May finally came and out to the garden they went. For your rooted cuttings you might want to post your question if you have not done so already. Let me know if you have any questions. I will try to find an answer :o) Good luck, The Lioness, Cheri