Ack! Knew I was going to miss something important, as I explained the problem. I forgot to mention it was the type of bush that doesn't get any bigger then 1' X 2', or 2' X 1'. (Can't remember, although it seems higher then wider.) That's one of the reasons why I picked this particular type for that container, so it wouldn't out grow it, or ever feel particularly crowded in. And, nope, my "yard" is nothing but concrete. Sidewalk out front where the Pink is, and 16' X 16' slab of concrete for a back yard. Good thing, I've grown to prefer container gardening. LOL Since I use containers, I'm also mindful that the plants need more water then plants grown in the ground, so it looked good all last summer and fall, even though you're right, it didn't start flowering until December.

Hello. I'm in upstate New York. I planted one callicarpa (beauty berry) and three clethras (summersweet) about two years ago. The spot gets sun, not too much, but the clethra never thrived. So now I have two more beauty berrys to plant in their place. The directions say to plant them three feet apart, but they're supposed to grow about six feet wide. Am I supposed to plant them three feet from the base or three feet away from the edge of the branches? Thank you. P.S. Any idea why the clethra slowly failed? Also, I have an andromeda that's also slowly failing. In the shade, by some azelas... any ideas on how to rescue it?

simmran1, thanks for the compliment on the pics. i've been through the tomato problem solver so much now i think i've got those pics memorized :) didn't help much here, but definitely a good resource. Dave, we did have a brief aphid visitation on our tomatoes earlier this month (among other plants...artichokes and pomegranates) a light pruning and spot sprays of insecticidal soap seems to have taken care of that. nothing noticed on the peppers... no spider mites either. we did have some ladybugs show up around aphid time :) yay! over watering was a concern earlier but we've gone from twice a week to once a week, based on the earlier leaf curl symptoms. checking with a moisture meter confirms this, the root zone was 'wet' even after quite a few days. hence the previous leaf curl on lower leaves 'overwatering' stress. in AZ i think we tend to overwater, just cause it's a desert really ;) but looking objectively, our beds have really great soil, mulched heavily and temps have only been avg. in the high 80's lately. (although we did hit 102 yesterday!!) again, I'm leaning toward under fertilization/overwatering. we've only been giving light fish emulsion and seaweed 2x/month. (after a good planting with chicken/cow manure compost) which would give a great start like we've had. i agree with you on nutrient deficiency first/ disease process later. so we'll see how this latest fert. works over the week. now for more questions if people don't mind :) Is 1 TBS/gal sufficient mgs04? i've seen recommended up to 4 TBS/gal. err'd on cautious side.... (what i most want to know) will the affected leaves correct soon or should i judge by new growth? I'm not worried about the old curled growth, thats been there for while. but the new growth yellowing and curling worries me a bit. fruit production seems right on track for all varieties. do i ride out the symptoms and get what fruit matures or cull the plants and spare the other healthy ones? ahh... the suspense of gardening!! will monitor over the next week! :) we have had major aphid infestation on our brussels sprouts on the bed next to these. we've been gradually feeding the greens to our chickens. i'm a bit hesitant maintaining a 'pest resevoir' like this just for sake of chicken feed. I would mostly prefer to uproot and toss...please advise. my feeling is to just get rid of them, but dont' want to waste resources if aphids and plants are better in the stream for chickens rather than compost. upcoming... i did notice whiteflies on some of our youngest 'tumbler tomatoes', they're in a basket and doing great so far. thanks and look forward to any more insights and wisdom:) rob

Basically, in lamens terms (if you want to be nice & call it that), the seeds were started at the same time. The first three plants are 4, 5 & 7 inches tall & grown in Hyponex soil. The last three are 11, 13 & 13 inches tall & grown in MG Moisture Control Potting Mix. The pictures may have been more helpful if they were all side by side, but then the one taking the picture would have to be a mile away due to container size & then you wouldn't really see the difference as much, yada yada yada blah blah blah, hence the pictures above that most (not all) people could determine size of the plants since the containers are pretty much all the same size. But then, if you were never really that good at math, you might not be able to figure that out either.