Alexa, Thanks for posting. I need to make plans to attend next year. The hostas exhibited at First Look always seem so new and different. FL has a great website too. IÂm very interested in what you learned about growing hostas in containers. Here in the flatlands, Chicago Zone 5, IÂve been growing some hostas in 10 to 15 gallon containers for the last four years. It gives the garden some varying heights and showcases some specimens. I am not sure if IÂve just been lucky or if my winter regimens are needed so it would be good to hear what you learned from experts with more experience. I use a loose soilless planting mix and tilt the planters on a 45 degree angle for the winter, mulching heavily with leaves to keep winter sun from the planters. Good snow cover seems to help too, but lasting snow is not reliable in Chicago. Perhaps you could start a new thread and others can chime in with what works for them. I seem to recall that Janice (Hey_J) grew hostas for years in whiskey barrels but had one year with many losses. Mark

I picked my first Sungolds and Sweet Baby Girls a couple weeks ago--and they really didn't have that much flavor! Since that fruit had set way early on, before all the rain and the heat, I was hoping they'd get better. They did! The ones I'm picking now are in the To Die For category! I'll always grow Sungold, but so many of them crack that you have to really watch them to pick them as soon as they crack or they start to rot on the vine! The Sweet Baby Girls, on the other hand almost never crack, which is wonderful as far as I'm concerned. Both of those are on my Grow Every Year list! The only "big" one I've had so far was one Big Beef--which was not very big! It, too, was the fruit that was setting right around when I planted them out, and I was kind of disappointed in the flavor! There are a few more of the "early fruit" on that one that are almost ripe, and I'm "saving" them to take along on my vacation! Hoping if I leave them ripen all the way on the vine they'll have more flavor! After that initial fruit set we got all the weather, and mine grew and bloomed but stopped setting fruit for about a month--except for the cherries and one other. So now I finally have fruit forming on all of them, but no color at all yet except for those few Big Beefs! The Earl of Edgecombe kept setting fruit the whole time, has quite a few developing, and while none of it is ripening yet, it's looking like it's gonna be a winner at this point! Fingers crossed for good flavor! I'm not sure what to think of my Kellogg's Breakfast! The fruit just started developing a couple weeks ago, but nothing anywhere near ripening yet. This is the third year I'm growing it, and last year it set fruit VERY late for me too! The year before I think it was one of my Failure To Thrive ones! Mortgage Lifter is another problem! Definitely not lifting any mortgages here! Just started developing fruit a couple weeks ago, and I got virtually nothing last year. This might be the last year for that one for me! Dr. Wyche's Yellow is a gold I'm trying this year, and it looks like it might wind up being too late for here! Developing fruit for a couple weeks, but nothing near color yet! We'll see! And this year's looser! Delicious! Don't know if I'm gonna find out if it's delicious or not! Only grew it because I had seed for it! It finally just started developing the first couple tiny fruit, and I hope I get something big enough to eat, but...... At least all my plants are growing well this year! That's something to cheer about! It's always interesting to me when I see other people having great luck with some of the varieties that just don't do anything for me! I know somebody said above that Delicious was doing well for them! Even if a couple of them don't do that well, tho, I've already got last year all beat to heck! When everything really gets ripening, I'm gonna be in Tomato Heaven this year! Skybird

Gee.....it's been so long since I had any mangoes that would be considered "extra" that I forget what I do with them. No, seriously, I have had bumper crops over the years. I have lots of people (family and friends) to feed; I have a small, honor system fruit stand in front of my house; there are many local customers that come by and buy in quantity and I do lots of dehydration of the extra fruit to last for when there are no mangoes. I was intending to start doing some shipping last season to folks on the Forum, but Mother Nature saw to it that that didn't happen. I would consider sending out fruits this year again, if there are any to send.....but I have come to realize that it is a pretty big pain in the butt to have to do all that packing and shipping.....just based on my limited shipping of fruit this past year. I do still invite anyone in the area to stop by to sample mangoes or lychees available and to buy what they wish based on what is available. I had started a list last year of those interested in perhaps getting mangoes shipped. I still have the list somewhere and I'll be happy to add anyone interested to that list in case I do have fruit available and the time for shipping it. BTW, mangoes usually begin ripening in early May......Rosigold, possibly in March or April....but the bulk of the crop really doesn't start until end of May/ early June and runs through end of August or early Spetember. There are fruits available into October but you have to fight the damned critters for the late season mangoes as they really focus on the few trees that still have fruit on them. Harry

Thanks for your comments everybody, dominoswrath - We use compact superzooms (Canon SX30, S5-IS, S3-IS, and Fuji S100fs) and shoot in Manual mode, so our settings vary with nearly every shot or series. The background blur is the result of shooting relatively close (8-25ft) at long focal lengths (700 -840mm). Happy birding all, Kenn Here is a link that might be useful: Latest Slideshow