Thank you esh ga. I'll probably be wearing gloves when I move it. I'm into native plants anyway, so I figure that I should keep it. It was a volunteer that I've never even watered, and it survived full sun and long dry periods. And looks pretty.

pacnwgrdngirl: VvG is unusual because not many people grow it. It is an underused plant. Apparently it isn't hard to root, it just hasn't been sold much by nurseries. Here is what Harold Greer (www.greergardens.com) says about it: "Here is a variety that is seldom seen. It has an almost unbelievable flower somewhat like ÂRainbow only better. It has a very white center with a red picot edge and red on the back side of the flower. Dark yew green foliage." bboy: you said "Only the stongest terminal shoots set buds. Smaller sideshoots replacing any of these that are cut off now will not be likely to set flower buds." That isn't true of many rhododendrons. It might be true for some deciduous azaleas, but I had deer bite off the terminal buds of 20 deciduous azalea plants just after they were planted last year, and this year the plants are covered with flowers. We routinely use the top flowers on the many varieties big leaf rhododendrons (which is what VvG is) we have and use them for cut flowers. The plants come back the next year very strong with lots of flowers. Big leaf rhododendrons do not develop such strong apical dominance as deciduous azaleas. Of course this would be even more true of the ones with mounding habit which most do have.

What a wonderful family heirloom, vincekoers45! A rose that moves and lives where ever your family relocates. Thank you so much for the story about your family's Harison's Gold. There seems to be contradictory info about the origin of Harrison's Gold. According to this site: "Fun Facts: The original plant was discovered in the garden of amateur hybridist George F. Harison in Manhattan in 1830. Suckers of it traveled west with the pioneers" Wikipedia says 1830 was when it was marketed and also indicates it was a hybridization between Rosa foetida (Persian Yellow) and Rosa pimpinellifolia (the burnet rose - haven't heard of that one before.) I didn't read the whole article but I didn't see anything about when the rose was actually "discovered;" if it wasn't marketed until 1830, could be that it was 1824. Here is a quote from the site: 'Harison's Yellow', also known as R. × harisonii, the Oregon Trail Rose or the Yellow Rose of Texas, is a rose cultivar which originated as a chance hybrid in the early 19th century. It probably is a seedling of Rosa foetida and Rosa pimpinellifolia.[2][3] The cultivar first bloomed at the suburban villa of George Folliott Harison, attorney, between 8th and 9th Avenues on 32nd Street, north of New York City. The site of Harison's villa is now just south of the present General Post Office. The nurseryman William Prince of Long Island took cuttings and marketed the rose in 1830. 'Harison's Yellow' is naturalized at abandoned house sites through the west and is found as a feral rose along the Oregon Trail. Whenever it came into being, I think it is a very desirable rose cultivar and would have it in a prominent place in my garden, if only I had the space to let it grow unchecked. :-( By the way, suckers from my Harrison's Gold continue to come up years after I removed the original plant. As I mentioned a few years back in this thread, I had to remove the rose because it was too big and rowdy for the area in which I planted it and, sadly too big and rowdy for my small yard in general. I usually let one or two of the suckers go into bloom because I love the look and smell of the flowers, but then I force myself to cut them down. Holly

"The bottom most leaves of my tomato plants start to yellow and eventually wilt and die." As said by others, that's natural progression. It can be slowed considerably by adequate and appropriately timed fertilization ... at planting time in the planting hole, and then side dressings at first fruit set and subsequently timed applications throughout the season based on whether the plant is determinate or indeterminate. In my opinion, manure tea is not a complete or sufficiently potent fertilizer to prevent nutrient deficiencies that lead to defoliation. "It seems like nothing at first, but as time goes on, it gradually goes higher and higher, usually the leaves turn yellow atleast half way up the plant. So I go from awesome tomato plants to half dead ones in a couple months." First of all, they're probably not "half dead" only half defoliated. If there are no lesions showing on the leaves ... just evenly progressing yellowing ... and no lesions on the stems, then it's probably nitrogen deficiency and the plant is robbing nitrogen from the lower leaves and transfering it to the new growth. "While this only seems to kill one or two plants out of the bunch, it does stop production on atleast half to 2/3rds of the plant." One of two plants in any garden may die and for a variety of reasons. Are you sure the dead plants died from defoliation or maybe from overall failure due to lack of proper nutrition. If the plants are defoliated 2/3 the way up the plant but still put out new growth and set new fruit, then I again surmise the plants are robbing nitrogen from the lower foliage, transfering it to new growth, and dropping the spent leaves. But then again, you haven't said the yellowing is evenly progressing without lesions or blotchy dark spots or speckles. "I will continue to get fruit the whole season, but it does cut my crop down A LOT." Well, once fruit sets and ripens, there will be no more fruit produced BELOW that point on the vine anyway. If you're growing indeterminates, it would pay you to go to a greenhouse and see how the grower manually defoliates the vines below the highest fruit set. I bet his vines will look like a cleaned up version of yours ... nude from the fruitset down in other words. If you're really concerned about maintaining your vines with as much green foliage as possible throughout the growing season: 1) Prepare the planting hole as described in "Earl's Hole Method" or similar. 2) Prune off all lower leaves below the first fruit set and do some maintenance pruning of damaged or deficient leaves throughout the season. 3) Fertilize with a good balanced tomato food worked into the ground 3 - 4 inches deep in the original bed and side dressed atop the ground at first fruit set and again at second fruit set if determinate or about every 4 - 6 weeks throughout the season for indeterminates. 4) Give your plants a booster shot of foliar feed (good balanced professional stuff) whenever you see some paling or yellowing of leaves.