Just as with animals, a plant is either male, XY chromosomes, or female, XX chromosomes. You won't be able to tell the difference until at least the 2nd summer, possibly the 3rd, when the plants bloom. Female plants bear round, pea-like berries which turn bright reddish-orange when ripe. My personal opinion of this "all-male" asparagus business is that it's a bunch of bunk. While the marginially higher yield of all-male plants probably does make a difference for a commercial grower, who probably operates on a pretty slim profit margin anyway, it doesn't make much difference in a home garden situation. IF asparagus self-sowed as vigorously as something like amarath or Sweet Annie, I could understand not wanting to fight a lot of volunteers. But, in my garden, from 100 mature plants, I will find maybe 6 or 8 little seedling volunteers each year. These I just dig up with one scoop of a small hand trowel, and relocate back into the main bed. I consider them a delightful bonus, not a problem to be "dealt with." Asparagus is perfectly happy at one foot spacing. Any more is just wasting valuable planting space, IMO.

Sorry to hear about the kitty Jean. I had a FIV positive cat named Ginger and I kept her with other cats that were not FIV positive but were vaccinated against it. She lived for six years, ultimately dying from a bad tooth which was successfully removed and she started to recover, but then had to be put under anesthesia again to cautertize the gum area and this time didn't come out of it and went semi-comatose. She was also not making red bood cells. My vet said I could get her a blood transfusion but the donor had to be a healthy cat from the shelter (who would lose it's life) so I said no and had her put down. The one thing is she can't be with cats not vacinated at all and that means no outdoors as you don't know who she will run into and spread the disease. Like 3CD said, I would require a positive test, or maybe even test twice before I made any decision. I've never heard of a vet that 'knows' a cat has HIV or AIDs without some sort of blood test just based on streaking on the tongue. If it was my decision to make I would get the test done. If infected I would probably put her down. I hope things work out. CT

I like to see oriole birds..their distinct color makes them attractive. @bob414 beautiful pic of oriole bird you have share here.

Cool, thanks. Neat to know. I was just wondering if they made a winter stop in your neck of the woods this year or if they moved on further south after stopping for a while. We don't get them as far south as I am (KS) but I know they can occasionally irrupt into the northern states.