Blakeas wrote on February 25: > so just go to home depot and look for slow release granules in UREA 15-5-10 or 20-5-10? I looked at some other sites and it said to do it now - btwn feb and march.... You should wait to apply fertilizer to zoysia until 2 weeks after the zoysia greens up. Then you can apply fertilizer if you want to. But the best time to apply fertilizer is when the grass is actively growing the fastest, which for zoysia, is summer. So near summer, around May or June, is a great time to fertilize. But I have 80 pounds of alfalfa and corn gluten meal (CGM) I have to get rid of, so I will first fertilize 2 weeks after the zoysia greens up. I would have liked to have applied the CGM by now as a pre-emergent (lots of little henbits sprouting now in addition to last Fall's mature henbit plants now blooming purple--henbit is a cool-season weed), but I won't apply the CGM now because the zoysia hasn't yet greened up. If my lawn were mostly cool season grasses, I probably would have applied the CGM as a pre-emergent. As it is, I'll use the CGM on my zoysia as a fertilizer at the right time. From the University of Florida at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/lh011 : Since zoysiagrass is very slow to green-up in the spring, avoid applying fertilizer until after the turf has become fully green to avoid premature green-up, which is prone to frost injury. This is especially important in North Florida, where late spring frosts may damage the grass. Delaying spring fertilization until the turf is actively growing and can use the fertilizer also reduces the potential for nitrogen leaching from fertilizer. Likewise, don't fertilize too late in the year, as this can slow regrowth the following spring. An application of iron can enhance spring green-up. Applying nitrogen on zoysiagrass in early spring and late fall significantly increases the risk of large (brown) patch disease.

I hadn't been up to Lancaster Co. in a while so I plotted a visit to the Amish dairy where I buy raw milk to make yogurt. Not something I do frequently at all, but a fun winter project. Drove around quite a bit just because it was a nice sunny day. Carefully eyed all the conifers to ask myself, am I being unfair about CBS. Conclusion, absolutely not. Here is what I call some absolutely typical ones. These are lined up pointing almost due south, so shading out isn't an excuse; in fact the reason the one on the right light looks a bit better is likely due to getting some shade from the white pine. The look of the one on the right is about the best you can hope for for a "big" specimen. The one on the left, split leader, very thin foliage...more typical. Here is how I rank all typically seen large conifers, on what is considered some of the richest agricultural soil on the east coast: 1) Norway spruce - by far the best. 2) White pine, fuller green ecotype 3) Douglas Fir (not many of them, but there are a few here and there) 4) "field cedar" aka Juniperus virginiana. Tend to look better when wild though, than grown in a garden. 5) White Pine, thin, glaucous ecotype 6) CBS various conifers are in the "not enough information" category, like Thuja 'Green Giant' and Cedrus atlantica. You seem they are being planted, but no truly large mature ones. Interesting that most of the 'Green Giant' already are showing some bronzing up there, while mine are still mostly green. Not sure what I am seeing about the white pines to be honest. (I am mature enough to admit when my knowledge of something is incomplete) There seem to be healthier, thicker white pines, like the one in the photo above. Then there are generally smaller ones with grayer, bluer needles. Superficially one might just say "well, perhaps they have a juvenile to mature foliar change" - although I had not heard of such a thing...but you do see blue ones that are quite big, and green ones that are smaller than those biggest blue ones. So there's quite a bit of overlap if it is a mere phenotypic change. If it is a genotype difference...my GUESS would be the green, plump ones are a more southerly collection...perhaps seed coming from right in PA, where as the blue, scraggly ones are produced by unthinking wholesalers with seed from Maine or something. Because - and again my recollections are incredibly vague - the thin bluer ones are more what I think of white pines up there looking like, while the greener, fuller form is what I think of southern white pines as looking like.

Stacy, were you the one who asked for aloe vera? P'm pretty sure someone did, so I will bring it anyway. I had mentioned that I would like bleeding heart if you have any available. Jmzms, I will bring the hyacinth bean vine and the red cypress vine seedlings for you, but the butterfly bush and nicotiana have already been requested. Would you be interested in anything else on my list? I can bring you some little seedlings or the seeds for nymph salvia if you are interested in something for butterflies and hummingbirds, if that is what you are looking for. As for the cuttings, I'm no expert either, but I would suggest that you just make a cut about 4-6 inches or so from the tip of the branch below a leaf, and leave the other leaves on for the time being. You can just wrap them in a damp paper towel and put them in a plastic bag, should be fine that way for the day. I hope you are able to make it to the trade, but if you have to keep your other obligation we will certainly understand. Anne242 (Cathy)

I am so sorry to hear this. Being a 7th year bluebirder, I can tell the difference between "playing dead" and the real thing. Same thing happened to me two years ago. Parents poorly fed on a 70 degree day and then got hit with 50's, wind, and rain the very next day. All 5 perished even though mom continued to try and keep them warm. Good news is, though, that they layed a new clutch that year and went on to be successful! MY experience is if the failure wasn't caused by something like a sparrow, and they have an open box, they will try again so long as there's still time in the season. This does happen. You fed mealworms, so it's indeed odd that it didn't prevent it. I'm confident that your bluebirds will stick around and try again! ~Tim NE Ohio