Keepitlow: I have a Reliance that is now about 12 years old, and I think it is a fine peach. It's a little hard for me to get around the fine points of peach flavor; I think nearly all home-grown peaches that are ripened on the tree are good. I don't have Elberta, but I understand there are early and late versions of this peach. Redhaven has been a standard commercial peach for many years, and I wouldn't disagree with Ace that it would also be a good choice. When you limit yourself to locally available choices you are, well, limiting yourself. Any particular reason for that? With all the internet nursery resources available today, you could study the descriptions and choose from dozens of peach varieties. All of the trees in my fairly large orchard have been ordered in by mailorder or internet, all of them bareroot. I have had very few failures or bad experiences. Have a look around the internet and expand your knowledge of peach varieties, then make an informed choice yourself. Bear in mind that when you plant a peach you are taking on potential insect and disease problems that you may have to learn to deal with in some way. You may have mentioned your location at some time in the past, but if so I have forgotten it. In most zone 7 locations, particularly in the east, you will have to deal with plum curculio and the oriental fruit moth in the insect department, and disease problems like bacterial canker and fruit brown rot. This is true for all peach varieties, but, as Ace has observed, the later peaches are more subject to problems simply because they hang on the trees longer. Unfortunately, later peaches are usually sweeter, more dense, and generally higher quality, so it's a tradeoff. If you don't feel you want to look around any more, I would just go with the Reliance, which is early-midseason, a good peach, and no worse in the insect and disease departments than anything else. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Not really. I'm thinking I need something with dappled shade, that I'll be able to stand under someday. My husband and my dogs laugh at me because I spend a considerable amount of time standing in the backyard staring at things - sometimes space. I've stared long enough, though, to think I should plant some trees as close to the west wall as I can, so as to allow the most light on the plants in the earlier part of the day. Then, I read in Mary Irish's Month-by-Month book, you can grow everything here in the shade. I also read an article on azcentral.com about the gardens at the Pointe resort, down by Guadalupe. Apparently, the chef started a cook's garden outside the back door of the kitchen. He got so obsessed with it, he now has a garden all through a canyon behind the restaurant and it's completely shaded by mesquite trees. According to the article, things are growing quite prolifically there and the menu revolves around the garden. So, I'm wondering if shade is just good. Do I even need to be so technical about it? I don't know what I should be considering. I do know it's hotter than heck in my backyard and maybe the shade is for me, more than anything else... ;-)

Laurie, Happy Halloween has the best branching and budcount (5-way branching and 40 buds), a 5-inch bloom and reblooms. Halloween Trick has a slighly larger bloom at 5.5 inches, a thicker edge, 4-way branching and 35 buds for scape, but does not rebloom. Halloween Hocus Pocus has the same size flower, reblooms, and is supposed well-branched and budded. I couldn't find exact counts on buds and branching for it. They all sound good. I'd go with the least expensive one. I would be suspicious of a seller starting the bidding at $15. All I can say is, you get what you pay for. In my opinion, you might get fans the size of a pencil. You should buy from a reputable seller. I would avoid Christy's this year because she is not personally handling the orders. Marietta and Patron are good. Did you check their prices? Debra

Shiso (perilla) self-seeds prolifically and widely. Years after I got rid of mine (one plant only), I still occasionally find a volunteer coming up in an unexpected place. It's near the top of my list of 'Never Again!' herbs. Oregano and mint spread far and wide, and quite rapidly, too, mainly by self-layering runners. Pineapple sage is on the verge of becoming a declared noxious weed in my part of the world. It's on the list of 'plants which potentially pose a threat to the natural environment'. Nasturtium is higher up on the same list. I must be the only person in the world who doesn't have a problem with lemon balm. It's in a pot, and it stays there, and it never flowers. My theory is that the climate is just a little too hot for it to behave as badly as it would in a cooler climate. Any plant which self-seeds has the potential to become a weed. That includes caraway, dill, coriander, borage, bergamot - and in my case - parsley! I have a heap of baby parsley plants growing in the cracks between concrete pavers under my clothes line at the moment! Rosemary is very well behaved and will never become a weed. Neither will common sage. Basil will self-seed, but it seldom becomes a weed.