*SIGH*... Y'know mownie, I really do think that the hard-to-turn-the-engine-over syndrome is related to the starter. Now I can't get it to turn the engine more than a single revolution at all even when it is cold (I have it uncovered so I can see what it is doing when cranking it), let alone turn it over to fire. This is what it was doing when it was hot. So can't try out the carb adjustments yet since I can't get it to turn the flywheel fast enough to fire the engine at all. What HAS been happening is when you turn the ignition key, the starter driveshaft pops up, the gear engages the flywheel, then it stops wmmph at a high compression point in the engine or something, and then labors and can't turn it past that point, like something is jamming up somewhere. At least once tonight though it cranked the engine a couple revolutions without incident but it wasn't seeming to get any firing action; that was right after I put the battery on the charger briefly. THEN, after that a couple times the starter drive shaft (or whatever it is) did not pop up at all upon turning the key; it sat there and spinned....so we know it is getting current. Tried a little WD-40 to the shaft under the silver disk-shaped part below the gear but did not make much difference...a and finally another time the shaft popped up, engaged, stopped (when it stops it is engaged with the flywheel and stays there after releasing the key; you have to turn the shaft to make it come back down), and then there were a couple of clicking noises coming from inside the starter too when the key was held in start briefly past the jam-up point. That also happened on one or two tries. Sooooo....Battery? Starter? Neither? Both? lol. I replaced a broken plastic part at the top of the drive shaft on the starter season before last; will have to look up what it is called but remember removing and replacing the pin that holds it all together to the drive shaft was next to impossible...so kind of hesitant to try to tear it all down again because it was such a pain. Way easier to just buy a new one, albeit a lot pricier.. Might make more sense just to put the battery on the charger to be sure it does have sufficient charge before blowing $125 on a new starter but will it hurt the battery if it DOESN'T need charging to do this? Can't afford the starter at this point anyway. Sorry to change this thread so late in the game, if you think I need to start another let me know. Dang dinosaur...it just doesn't want to do any work, that's all... :^\

Yes I think it is a bourbon, it has that leggy early growth like my other bourbons. With the amount of black spot it has I figured it was Varigata for sure, ha ha! I got it from High Country and Matt has always been great. He is basically my hero right now because he helped me track down a crested moss I have been wanting for the last few years! I have heard that Varigata tends to revert but I was expecting something more like a particular stem to revert not the whole plant. Help find me says it's parent is Pride of Reigate, which I looked up and it certainly looks like that. It has tiny white variations.

1.) What difference does it make how cold it gets in winter, when snow cover is such an excellent blanket insulator for the soil. We have an average frost depth of 32" here, but I assume Ely's is quite a bit deeper. But how does that affect cold hardy plants? Because Ely's frost goes deeper, the surface and near surface temperatures of the soil are colder also. Certainly not like the air temps, but just as significant, as root and crown hardiness of plants don't evolve to be hardy at colder air temps, simply because, over the millenia, they have not needed to be. Indeed, woody plants are more vulnerable to temperature extremes due to their above snowline exposure. Yes, fava beans would be a good example of what can be grown in zone 4 and not in Ely. Other shelling beans, okra, cotton, some winter squashes, most varieties of muskmelons and honeydew melons will grow in Ely, but don't perform satisfactorily (a subjective judgment) compared to zone 4. Just like most places where the terrain is changeable and not fairly flat, soils are diverse in the Ely area too. Yes, they are all very acid based, sandy gravelly rocky for the most part, often thin, but sleuths and valleys soils are high in organic matter, yet comparative poor in nutrients. This is due to the relatively slow breakdown of organic matter because of much cooler temps, lack of worms (non are native, even in most if MN) and the kind of organic materials that predominate. I wouldn't call the climate/soil there finicky. A perusal of local gardens will reveal a multitude of well grown perennials and annuals, and vegetables. My parents and grandparents lived in Ely. One Grandmother fed her husbands logging crew of of 5 to 10 men, largely with what she grew in the garden. She had large cold frames for her early crops since 1915. My other Grandmother grew pole beans from seeds brought from Slovenia, as did many of the immigrants in Ely. Northern climates are not necessarily unworkable, just different. You've seen photos of the giant cabbages they grow in Alaska. That's something we can't do here. Likewise there are just plants that are adapted, or adaptable to an Ely climate, and locals don't see it as an amazing feat. Grandma had rotted horse manure applied annually to her huge garden, but the color of the soil was still sandy brown, yet very productive. Remember too, that even though the season is shorter the farther north you go, the days are longer and the sun more intense. Things may not grow as large, but they can produce more. Rick

No, cuttings will be fine. These are clones with the same genes as the parent and will be exactly the same. S guaranitica isn't the easiest to take cuttings from as it has a relatively unbranching habit, but if you can find suitable shoots they will work. I would try in April/May if you have fine weather. The method described by Rich is probably easier if you have suitable basal shoots but your plant may need to be bigger before it produces enough. I would think the 'dark basement' method of overwintering ought to work, if the basement is also cool - I haven't tried it but would suggest keeping the pot dry but not letting it dry out completely; watch carefully (check weekly at least from Jan) and be guided as to when to get it out and water more generously by when you notice the first sign of new shoots on the plant. However, they are fairly hardy and once you have good, big plants, if you can find a well-drained spot where they won't get too wet they might come through out of doors depending on what your winters are like - they should survive several degrees of frost if not sustained for many nights at a time. What colour flowers did the lime-leaved Salvia have?