Thought I'd check in and report on my garden...it just boggles my mind how these plants can survive and even thrive in this heat! Being relatively new to gardening, it's so thrilling to have some success! 1)Red and pink Celosias: seemingly can't get enough of the heat. Love the whole spear-shaped 'flowers'...so unique. And how the red ones have red leaves, and red stems. Soooo cool! 2)Dark pink Vincas with white 'eyes': The hotter it gets, the happier they seem. They're blooming like crazy and I love the intense, deep green leaves...real champs they are. They are bordered by Dusty Millers which also seem to be doing well...the little monsters: I had to trim them back because they were starting to take over my sidewalk! But despite being a bit unruly, their silver leaves make such a great contrast against bright colored flowering plants. 3)Madagascar Palm: seems quite happy; it has a gorgeous shape right now with perfect green leaves. Hard to believe it was just a mere prickly stump 6 months ago. My only fear is, he is growing and someday I'm going to have to figure out how to transplant him! Slow down little fella, slow down! 4)Purple Leaf Plum: looks good, but I kind of wonder if I need to paint its bark to protect it as the summer wears on? I haven't noticed other Plum trees with bark painted, but maybe that's just me. Anyhow, my mom says hers is producing fruit right now, but she lives up in Cottonwood so who knows? Maybe it's just as well that mine doesn't produce fruit? Shrubs: The African Boxwood shrubs are doing much better than I ever expected...and they've been verdant in both winter and summer. I highly recommend them (so far). I think it's because, being close to the house porch, they get a few hours of shade that suit them well. I've also got some Ilex V. (Stoke's Dwarf) that are healthy-looking, but haven't grown one lick since the 8 months I've had them! I guess when they call it 'dwarf' they weren't kidding. Oh well, less trimming to do. 6) Chinese Pistache tree: tips of some of the leaves on the lower part of the tree are brown and crispy. I think I might need to do a deep watering? 7) Sunflowers: some of you may recall I bought a cheap package several weeks ago and just threw them in the border area next to my sidewalk. Already 15 inches! So cute how, even though they don't have flowers yet, their bodies are turning to the sun. Wish I could provide picks, but my old non-digital Canon EOS has finally given up the ghost. I might just have to stop being such a luddite and go digital. You all have such beautiful photos...I wonder if any of you are using special lenses? (I've got a Tokina 50-200 zoom...nothing special but it's functional most of the time!).

Hi CampV. We've been in Cottonwood for a couple of years now. We get cold air off Mingus, and temps can drop 30 degrees at night here in a few hours. It wasn't that one 12 degree night we had that did the damage, but the frequent sunny warmish days followed by night time frosts. That kind of weather is hard on fig trees, especially young first year trees. So next year I may be wraping tree trunks. Being new to the area, we are still experimenting with different varieties to see what will work best. We have 20 at present, 14 in ground, and the rest in pots. The tree/bush below died to the ground and is coming back from the roots. You can see the four remaining dead branches that formed this tree if you look close. (Ignore the stump in the background. That's a pine tree I cut down after we moved in). This post was edited by Centurion_ on Wed, May 29, 13 at 20:04

I can tell you, the very few Gerogia and SC peaches we've gotten the last couple of years have been awful. Good before and good this year. It's a four hour drive to Atlanta, so maybe 1 1/2 to the border? Close enough. If we're talking trees, I'll take a lemon, lime and peach! I can live without apples, plums, or figs. Those always taste the same to me. I must not have ever had a "great" one of any of those. Of course, in the last couple of years, I've had local eggs and dairy, and they didn't strike me as all that different. They were organically raised too. Must just be my tastebuds (smile).

My son is younger than most, just 13, so this may not fit for you. DS gets $25 month allowance to do with as he pleases. It supports his aquarium hobby and a few other purchases, but most of that he socks away. I buy most clothes, but alot come from ebay or Walmart where I can get good deals. If he wants extra clothes (a new cap, a fancy abercrombie shirt, etc) I usually make him pay for it. He's not a clothes horse. I pay for sporting activities, movies/fun stuff we go to as a family, dinner, our vacations, and outings that friends' parents invite him to, but not usually more than once a week. More than that, he has to dip into his money. Especially when it's the girls asking! LOL Some activities I'll pay a limited amount, but then he has to pay the rest if he wants more (ie, snacks, trinkets, etc). I usually make his lunch. If he forgets to bring in/put away his lunch box at night, he gets to pay for lunch the next day, but our kids don't go off campus, and the cafeteria lunch is less than $2. We do fast food on nights when the gap between my getting home from work and him getting to scouts or sports is small. However, he starting thinking he could get fast food ANYtime. So now he gets an extra "allowance" that is strictly for fast food runs. I started out giving him $36 a month for that, which was to include scout night dinner. That seems to have been too much as we had $$ left over, so now he gets a $25 junk food fund which stays in the car. Starbucks he pays for with allowance or gift cards (he routinely asks for these). I don't pay for chores at home. We are a two person family and I want him to learn to be a responsible family member. Heck, "I" don't get paid for taking care of the house either! I've pretty much implied that once he is wage-earning age he will no longer get an allowance, although I will still probably pay for many of the things I pay for now (family entertainment, food, basic clothing, sports, etc.) I've told him he will have to buy his own car and gas, so I've encouraged him to get a job when he is 15. He has already started mowing lawns and petsitting to earn money for a new computer. (He paid for half of his old one when he was 8). I want him to learn to be responsible and learn to earn things for himself. It aggravates him sometimes, especially when friends seem to get everything they want from their parents, but I know he's proud when he can point to what he's bought with his own money. And it certainly is NOT like he is deprived!