I'm in zone 7 and grow this bush exactly for the early ripening fruit that you describe. I don't get berries every Spring but when I do I get enough to do something with. They also serve the purpose of feeding the honeybees on warm winter days when they are one of the few plants in bloom. I grow Goumi's also. They have a much better Cherry-like flavor and a long fruiting season. I grow both Sweet Scarlet and Red Gem with Red Gem usually ripening a few weeks before Sweet Scarlet. I also have a miss labeled version that was supposed to have amber colored berries but instead has extra large fruit. I don't know who it is but it is my new favorite. Check out Eleagnus latifolia or So Shang Fruit from the foothills of the Himalayas. Fruit the size of plums. All the cuttings I've acquired over the years never grew roots so I am ordering seeds this year. Autumn Olive is weed here so I have no need to plant it, I can harvest all the berries I want in the fall from the woods across the street. So just from this one genus I can get fresh fruit for half the year!

Hi All. Live in eastern Ontario and just got installed a Greenspeed 25VNA048 heat pump w a 59MN7080 gas furnace to stop paying for oil. It was a learning curve for this system as it is an advanced heat pump system - expect the competition to ramp up their pumps HSPF to 13 also or lose the market. My coldest night so far was -15C and we got our 21C/70F indoor temp in our 2800 sq.ft house.My balance point is set for -17C/1F and I should be getting to -18C this wed/Thurs evening for a real test for the normal switch to gas furnace. Yes the system by default uses gas heat on defrost. Without it it would be blasting cold air in the ducts for 5 minutes. So the gas frnace heat modulates at 65% so to neutralize the cold air so air temp swings are minimum for comfort. Yes you can disable this on the touch screen interface in service/ setup/ heat source lockouts. Yes one can monitor electrical costs in $$$ or Kw and gas $$$ or therms on a per day/ per month and per year to date on the interface. I've experimented between the different options in choosing efficiency or comfort and there is a noticeable difference to the environment and a slight increase in costs of electricity between the two. I do prefer comfort. On an average cold day 0C/32F w -5C at night it costs me @ $5 per day in electricity and with heat on defrost w/ continuous low fan for only an additional cost of $1 every third day (.33cents per day). (yes the different areas of kw usage is separated in the readout) The only puzzle I have to resolve is last Saturday nite at 3 am the house felt cold - it was 15 F outside. Gas furnace came on for a couple of hours before pump came back ???. No codes or resetable fault codes registered on interface. The only way for the gas to go on at that temp way above the balance point is a 2 degree drop or a manual increase of temp of 2 degrees or more. So why did did happen.... stay tuned.... Gotta love saving money. Last year in October it cost me $425 in oil - this year for Oct gas+electrical $202 Included is a pic Update Jan 2014: had issues w furnace overiding heatpump prematurely and Carrier change my thermostat which had Version 9 to version 10 software - issue fixed. those who want to see what savings a heat pump can have over your specific system try this: http://sagoro.wrightsoft.com/Carrier/Default.aspx This post was edited by Cocobob on Mon, Jan 13, 14 at 23:22

as the unit runs and fresh air is needed (combustion air for gas furnace) it draws air from attic. when unit is not running air is not drawn into this space but you will still feel the difference in the temp. with the bath on the other side of this area..you have plumbing penetratioins that suck the air from attic when furnace is running. seal these penetrations..from utility room to bath..from attic ..from utility room and lastly at the pipes under sinks, behind toilet and at shower head. it sounds like your furnace is located not in a closet, but in the utility room..what else is in there? water heater? washer/dryer? approx how big is this area, and what type of door does it have into the conditioned area?

OK - as a 'native plant policeman', I'd like to make the following observation : a large number of the posters who have suddenly appeared to support Kirilisa dont contribute to this forum on anything remotely resembling a 'regular basis' (if at all). If the welcome brigade actually took the time to read a lot of the posts in the 'Australian Native Plants' forum , they might realise that it contains some of the most thoughtful and detailed advice to be found anywhere on the Net. Even the 'zealots' dispense reams of valuable advice to those who havve a question regarding Australiian plants, and most of us have 'agreed to disagree' when it comes to the natives vs exotics debate. As someone who tries to advocate a middle ground, I often find myself caught in the crossfire in any such debate, but I'll give the 'natives only' folk this : they know their plants, their soil and their climate. I'd be williing to wager that my fellow 'police' could give Kirilisa more information on her Plumeria than 80% of the welcome committee. I accept that my initial responses to Kirilisa were uncalled for, and I believe that she is genuine, but somewhere in the mix we need to dispense actual advice - I believe that Kirilisa received sufficient advice within the first few posts to have her postpone any 'early retirement' plans for the Frangipani, so I expect that the rest of us can just go back to our rose catalogues and leave this forum to the native police.