Hello, Can anyone suggest a Indian type mango variety that may grow well in inland Los Angles area with planting zone 10b: 35 to 40 F? Is it true that either Kent or Golden Nugget are Indian type variety? Are they compact in size? Thanks!

I wanted to add I took neither offense or joy at this piece. Just pointing out, in the above post, that it's not a review and how these sorts of stories are quite common. I in no way, shape or form think it's a diabolical Bluestar plot for world dominance or the like, and absolutely see why it's a perfectly good, useful and pertinent piece for people on this forum to read. I've said it before: I have a Bluestar. And I like my Bluestar ... When it works. But I've had some horrendous service problems and found the people at this company, including Mr. Trapp, whom I've had the personal misfortune to correspond with, to be pretty close to awful to deal with and frequently flat-out dishonest. Based on my experiences with the company-not the product itself, per se-I would never buy another range, or anything else, from them, and would never own the one I have without an extended service contract in place, something which has been all-too-frequently called upon these past five years. What Mr. Trapp forgets when he's making his "Rolls Royce" analogy-and I have zero doubt those were his words-is that Rolls Royce is not just a top-of-the-line car, but prides itself on top-of-the-line service, too. In my experience, Bluestar may be TRYING to provide a high-end product, but their service is anything but. And I say "trying" because there have been enough build-quality/quality control issues with the brand to give one serious pause about that level of quality as well. It's possible that, in stove terms, I just got a bad one, but the treatment I received from the company, echoed by others I've spoken with, whom I came into contact with via my distributor, have been pretty much beyond the pale and, yes, those bad interactions have admittedly tainted my view of Bluestar as a whole. Where I stand now is I'm trying to make the range I have work, at least for another five years, when the extended warranty maxes out. My feeling about Bluestar as a whole is: great-in-theory, not-so-great execution, and if you do get one cross your fingers and toes that you'll never have issues, especially more than one (for me it's been: stuck oven door, banging oven floor, bad ignitor modules, etc), because that's when the nightmares begin. And, oh yeah, always, always get the extended warranty. I'm a convert!

Patty W. zone 5a Illinois 3 years ago This rose has absolutely nothing in its genetic back ground to make it immune. It's parents are not resistant. But once the rose has been tooted as resistant and someone makes a couple of million dollars who cares. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/12/arts/music/toots-hibbert-dead.html

Hi Deanna - I grow from seed when I can. It does take some experience to work the kinks out. I had trouble in the beginning. What I did learn from that was that potting soil is important. I tried the cheapest one and that was a disaster. A light set up is great - but you do have to check the seedlings a couple of times a day to make sure nothing is drying out. You also can't water too much either. You let the top dry out just a little before you water again. The third thing that made a big difference for me, was setting up an oscillating fan on the seedlings. This kept disease at bay, helps them dry out and it helps to strengthen the stems of the seedlings. But, the problem I am still working on is timing. If you start the seeds too soon and then the weather doesn't cooperate, you can't put them out yet. So you're holding them. If you keep them in the six packs too long, they're signaled to slow down growth, which you don't want, so then ideally you would repot them up to the next size pot. That is way too much work for me, so I try to start seeds later. This year that didn't even help. [g] . It was still too cold too long. But I imagine if you plan on growing from seed every year, then you get it settled and figure out which seeds work best for you and what the timing needs to be. Winter sowing was great, but, for any warm season plants, it wasn't worth it. Like tomatoes and peppers which are my main crop in summer. And finding the containers and prepping them was fun the first two times we did it, but that wore off. [g] Plus we don't really drink much milk. Self seeding annuals - I like some of those. I have Oriental Poppies, those reseed a little. Lunaria - Honesty - my favorite, reseeds every year gently. I've never had to reseed and I have a good patch of them every year. Columbine reseeds well, but I find you don't maintain any of the hybrids you try, they all revert, but I still like them. Alyssum has been great for me. I buy about 4 packs of them and I can sow them in place, either early spring or in the previous fall too. I don't have to prepare anything I can just sprinkle them where I want them and in the spring I just water religiously until they sprout. Or leave them over winter and get what I get. Portulaca is another one I can sprinkle where I want them in the fall and get a fairly good result. Dill and cilantro, and parsley like Donna - I get a lot from these without any effort from me. I just let them go to seed, which requires leaving them in place when their bloom is past, long enough for them to drop seed. Cleome is another one that reseeds well. I bought seeds once and every year I have a good amount of them and I just pull them from where I don't want them. Cosmos - always reseeds without any effort from me. I buy Pentas, Calibrachoas, Wave petunias once in awhile, cupheas for hummers, begonias, impatiens, verbenas and lantana sometimes. I bought fuschias this year, which I don't usually. Once in awhile a coleus or a hybrid caladium for a shade pot. That's about it.