Dan here from Traverse City Michigan. This'll be my first year wintersowing, and have a deep intense feeling it won't be my last! LOL!!! Had my first "garden" when I was 3, and haven't quit since. Can usually be found over in the round robin forums, "quietly" stirring things up! hehehe Got pushed over here by bakemom a few months ago, quickly edumacated about the whole ws thing, and have been saving milk jugs ever since. Right now I'm busy harvesting veggies and seeds, when not on the phone with my S.O. who is currently living in New York. But, she's moving in with me soon! Yay! Yay! Yahoo!!! Anything else y'all want to know? Just ask! -Dan, the New Bee

Bless your heart Kasha & eternal gratitude for your advice (as well as alleviating my anxiety about my brug)! O.K. deep breath...ahhhh. A humble thank you (*does curtsy*) for welcoming me to the forum :-D ! It's a pleasure to meet you as well as all the other gardening enthusiasts on here. I'm learning new things & enjoying the camaraderie. Happy day! I'm on Long Island - usually we're classified as being in Zone 6 but some sites have us @ 7. My brug's tag said no direct sunlight but I'm not exactly sure how much is too much so I've been moving it around the patio where it can get filtered sun. Since it bloomed, I discovered mine is a suaveolens, with a deep salmony-pink blush on the ends. When it first opened it was white & then as the night wore on it changed color :). 2 more blooms opened last night & the entire room smelled like lemony roses with a faint honeysuckle. Wasn't too thrilled about the scent initially but I guess it had to develop more as the bloom matured (?). It's esp nice when there's a chorus of blooms open - but I don't need to tell you that ;D. Had to bring it in again last night since we're getting some pretty strong winds & I didn't want to chance leaving it outside in the gales, esp while it's still in its dinky little pot. The numbskulls @ the nursery where I got it said it "really needs to be repotted" & upon examining the bottom of the pot I would concur but unfortunately it's in active blooming right now so repotting/planting will have to wait. Will it die if I don't plant/repot it yet? Since you explained what to do with the brug before winter, I do feel much more confident/comfortable putting it in the ground. TY!!! When I got my brug, it had a lot of damage to its leaves; most of them had tears in them because they had it outside & the wind kept blowing it over. Was apprehensive about getting it to begin with because of all the damage as well as the fact that there were no blooms/markings to indicate its color, genus, etc (yikes) but I was desperate to find one for Mom & out of the 5 plants on display which were white, the nursery owner said it was the only pink one left & if I wanted scent, pink or yellow was the way to go (?). Any idea how long it takes them to adjust to their new environment? Still dealing with the yellowing leaves although it seems to have slowed down a bit since moving it indoors for the day. The immature baby leaves are being affected as well. I'm wondering if it could be a nutrient deficiency (nitrogen or magnesium usually). I noticed where the leaves are turning yellow & dropping that the green stem is turning woody. There's a lot of new growth all over but it's drying up & dropping off too. Been checking for mites - saw a few & sprayed with a castille soap & water mix. So far so good but I know I have to keep @ it every 3-4 days for the next 2-3 wks to keep on top of them. Yucky evil little buggers! TY for the advice about watering too! I watered it 3 days ago & today it feels dry enough again to give it a drink. It's raining today so I might as well fill my watering cans :). Not sure what the nursery put in my brug's soil. Some of it looks like perlite & others look like it could be Osmocote or MiracleGro. Going to do a foliar feed on it & see if that helps improve the leaf yellowing issue. It's perfectly alright that not many folks have responded. I'm just grateful people did :). As a busy gardener myself, I wholeheartedly understand how it is when it's "that time of the season" & all of us are tending to our plants & gardens. I just put my veggie garden in yesterday :). Can't wait for fresh home grown vegetables! I also grow roses, medicinal herbs, & tons of flowers. Had my Plumie for a yr & last yr it bloomed beautifully. This yr it's struggling so I suspect it's got rot somewhere. Going to unpot it & see what's going on. Have a beautiful day! In Love & Light ~ Angharand

Linda, dropping dirt is exactly what I do ha. I work for a propogating nursery and we have huge compost piles outside which we are generously allowed to use. I take two big plastic boxes left over from when we moved here and fill them every day with the compost (mostly dirt but lots of interesting stuff comes up in it). I take it home and drop it on the sand until I have the size or shape garden I want. I plant it and eventually I border it with dropped cement. I've made about seven gardens of different sizes doing this. Seriously I could drop the dirt and water it and all kinds of goodies would pop up (along with weeds). I've had datura, viola, spiderwort, hyssop and of course petunias come up in it. Adele

Liz K & bunti: I am in 7b and planted a Brown Turkey fig two years ago. It died to the ground but returned and even produced a few figs. Last year, I covered the base with pine straw and wrapped the branches in bubble wrap and cardboard. Semi fell apart but mostly still covered thru winter. All branches (~4' tall) seem to be alive and sap is rising slowly so only the lower portions have budded out but all buds appear healthy.