Hi Everyone. It has been an "eventful" year since I last posted. I *was* doing quite well up till the point I made the mistake of re-potting the orchids. I picked the correct time to do it etc., etc., etc., -- indeed it was "by the book", and even had my homemade "book" opened throughout the procedure. Long story short: every last one of them DIED, including the one I got to bloom. I swore off orchids for good... that was until I met someone with the Tucson Orchid Society, who connected me with someone else at the TOS, etc., suddenly I found myself a member of the Tucson Orchid Society. I am rebuilding my small collection with the exact same plants that died, and a few new ones including a seedling. One advantage of joining the TOS is they have a "Cat"(tleya) person who is willing to help me next year when it comes time to re-pot my one and only (so-far) orchid ( Blc Chia Lin 'Shinsu #1' AM /JOGA ), and it is in dire need of re-potting!! (I also have a seedling but it is being raised in a joint and protected environment until next year, so it has not been counted... YET!!) This time I will have expert advice as I go through the procedure. Me?!? I suspect it was not so much my technique -- though it very well might have been -- so much as it was the combined shock of the re-potting plus the extreme environment it which it was asked to re-establish itself in. The next time after the re-potting I hope the gentleman will temporarily house the orchid in his greenhouse just long enough until it can re-establish itself. I have one question for Sarah: I am very impressed by her "indoor" greenhouse -- the one with the shelving, and what *appears* to be some type of heavy duty transparent plastic on 3 sides. Is that what I am looking at?!? If so was this some type of do-it-yourself project?!? How much did it cost you to put together?? If commercial, where did you get it from and how much did it cost?? It really is quite impressive. In many ways is similar to a poor man's Wardian Case, which would solve the problem of supplying adequate humidity. I do have one question: Given that I live in a rental unit and the walls are made of Dry Wall, management would frown on mold on their walls -- they frowned on my hanging up sheer curtains on the porch to cut down the the HOT western afternoon sun, so mold on their interior walls is probably a non starter. Still the idea of having a small interior greenhouse shows great promise. I like your design. Has anyone else built an interior Wardian Case aka an interior greenhouse?? What types of problems did you encounter?? For those of us who are renters, have restricted space, or for whatever reason where building an external greenhouse is not possible, the building of an INTERIOR greenhouse / Wardian Case by a window might just be the just the ticket. I have attached to this post the picture of Blc Robert Ferguson 'Florida Sunset' that I got to bloom last year. This was the orchid that you may recall rode the wild Wind Called Mariah... that went flying, then crashed to the floor while in bud, the damage which can be seen in this photo. This will be my third purchase (I almost forgot the seedling, plus I have a raffle winner ). DesertLynx

Morning all...thanks for your posts, Hi Earthworm...yes, I do seem to get asked that a lot! Hi Sumilea...I tried hard this year to keep the tomatoes pruned to a single stem. However, I found that my plants did not set any fruit clusters until about 2 feet up the stem so I quit pruning the suckers after that and let them go. I'm not sure whether it's the varieties I'm growing (mostly large beefsteaks-73 to 80 days) or what but I'm going to do it a bit differently next year. I'm now planting two plants per 18 gallon box just as I did last year. The plants still seem to thrive and I get good production but it does cause me problems digging through all that foliage to check on the fruit, and it does get kind of "messy" after a bit. Next year I think just one plant per box along with a change to my trellis system. I think I'll build a box trellis that encloses the whole row of boxes on both sides. I'll use twine (a Florida weave) wrapped around the PCV cage to support the plants. So next year I am not planning on pruning at all, nor will I train them up the vertical string like I've done the past two years. You need to ask TIMMY1 how he does it...he's the expert and grows in a greenhouse. Search for TIMMY1 for some of his posts...beautiful PICS!! Hi Mockapple...it's not really even a good picture of him, but yes..he is adorable, at least to me. Don't have a wife or kids so he and "Lil Puddin" are my family...and no one loves me like they do!! Will have to send you a picture of his daughter "Puddin". She's just as cute! Hey Timmy...I'm really impressed with the Big Beef although only two of my seedlings survived. The BB has the most fruit set and the nicest shaped fruit of any of my varieties. Think I'll make it one of my staples for next year. Am jealous you already have ripe fruit. Bet the BLT was great. I have a couple just turning but still a week or so away. SEND PICS SOON! cheers all Bing

Can I make a couple of suggestions? Rather than outright removing the roses that you do not plan on keeping, that instead offer cuttings to people who can root and donate to future rose sales. And then track and share just how those bushes handle no watering. Maybe we can use the drought to find out if some roses are tougher than others and can stay relatively dormant during the dry season. They may not bloom or look great, but I think it would be valuable information for all on how rose handle the drought. Kitty, not sure which spring bloomers you have, but I found I had not put the big Felicite Perpetue on the drip system when in September she started loosing leaves. I still have not put her on it, am going to leave her off since she made it last year, is really growing like mad and she is happily blooming away. I am very curious to see if once bloomers are really the way to go in droughts for the future.

Yes, they were all TS. I only kept them potted until the end of April. The 2 larger one around two feet high and sticky is maybe a foot tall. They were all doing very well until anthracnose made it their way. I finally did spray as most of the new roses had very few leaves left. Perhaps there is enough time left for them store some energy before winter. They are profuse bloomers and I like the bloom but it is a smaller bloom. No black spot or mildew this year. If I received one now thou I would probably pot them then bury them in the yard until spring. I did that with a cutting once. It was in perfect shape when it was unburied.