To Al- thanks for the pics of your wonderful plants! Your Bonsai plants are just lovely, but I've never tried it myself. Hope the bad weather lets up very soon for you folks. To Nik- Thanks for your reply. You're right about the micronutr toxicity- I'm being careful, applying 1 Tbls to 1/4 tsp at a time, with a week or more in between applications, and repeating only if the plant's color isn't good. to SandandSun to answer your questions about the conditions here so you can make a better decision about the micronutrients: I've been cultivating this particular garden here for 8 years, adding truckfuls of rotted mulch provided by the county (not nice clean, pine bark fines- real detritus!). Other conditions: No freezes, sand which is really finely crushed shells, salt spray, very windy, periods of too much rain, not enough rain, foggy when colder weather sets in. This "soil" won't hold water at all unless augmented with a great deal of organic material. The roses all have circular berms of soil around them to direct the water toward the roots. Black spot is a problem, but most of my roses here manage to "grow through" it. Now about the micronutrients I've been using: Percentages on bag: nitrogen 1%, Phosphorous 0%, Potash 1%, calcium 12%, sulphur 10%, iron 4.5%, boron .02%, manganese .1096%, molybdenum .0005%, Zn .10% I'm being very careful to make the applications small- 1tbs or less to start, wait a week or more, evaluate the color and growth, then 1 tsp -1/4 tsp more, if warranted. It's a little bit of a guessing game, because some roses have dark green foliage and some are lighter, so I'm judging the plant to see if it looks "right" to me, according to the pictures and descriptions of that particular rose. Hope this helps, Avalon2007

NYC- just to clear up, it rains like hell for about 3-4 months in the summer,(it probably averages 4-5 days/week of hard rains during that time, and the rest of the year is quite dry. In fact, we usually have drought like conditions which can spark lots of wildfires in mid-spring before the rains come. Cmouser- Yes, it is a cross between those two you mentioned, which is interesting because one is a summer-rain lover, the other a winter-rain lover. Again, from what I have read, Hercules should be fine, especially considering they grow them in the Miami area like I mentioned. You are right that they do branch, but that seems many years down the road, as most in containers I have seen online have one, or maybe two limbs. From what the Dr., and others have said, the Goliath gets extremely top heavy, so the Hercules might be a better option for container culture. Driftwood Nursery in Estero, FL (about 20mins south of Ft. Myers on US-41), has probably about 6-7 aloe Hercules and aloe ferox, all very nice size, for $49. The Hercules are just starting to show their trunk and have tons of thick leaves on top. The ferox also look good, though in my opinion the Hercules is a 'cooler' look, but I may be biased because I love the 'tree' look. I would definitely NOT call them an aloe nursery, nor a succulent one, but they do have a decent selection. If you also stop by Riverland Nursery, right off I-75, (so its on the way), it would make it worth the 1.5-2hr drive. I am actually planning on heading your way for tropiflora's annual 'inventory clear-out sale on June 29th. I have never been and have heard good things.

Trillium, Compost is very much a product of time, and of course input. It is very hard to get the numbers mentioned "7.2N6.2P6K kg ha-1" referred to as "Starter Solution Technology" in compost. These numbers are for seed crops or short term crops so don't worry to much about the numbers. Just use compost from the most diverse input such as a yardwaste compost facility, varied input will lead to a better chance that you have the micronutrients mentioned. AND most soils have the micronutrients. Now to low quality compost, something from a simple input such as composted horse manure will be good but probably not have the numbers to qualify as SST which is a combination of inputs to get to the numbers that have been determined to work best with a specific such as tomatoes or corn, etc. AND they have to make it work right now this season and don't enjoy the time we have with a perennial garden. Look at a field or forest, who fertilizes them, God will take care of it if we add organic matter. Denny, "What is the best compost?" Truly you give me more credit that I deserve. Now to the question, whatever is cheap and varied as possible. Everything you are doing and have is great except the Osmocote that was developed for pot culture and very expensive for the soil, BTW beer is great as well as soft drinks. "Is there a proven mix for the best compost?" The expense of composting is much greater than someone outside the business could understand and everyone assumes it is all free so the selling price is held down. I made an effort to seek out a varied input but that can't always be controlled. "Are the fomentioned nutrients in compost or must they be added?" They would test the compost then add to reach the numbers, doing this in volume for a short term crop can work but not for something like hosta and it hasn't been studied so one must guess. Add as many things as you can get your hands on, mulch, manure, coffee ground, grass clippings, anything that will decompose and throw it on the surface. Is this more than you wanted to hear?

One of my doctor friends says a calorie is a calorie. You can eat 2 500 calorie candy bars and call it your calorie intake for the day or you can eat 1000 calories of lettuce. In his opinion, you should have the same result. I do think portion has a lot to do with it, I think carbs play a factor but the most important carbs that we should watch is the refined sugar carbs IMO. And the closer to natural that you can get food (and then you cook it yourself) the better it is for you. So much food which we really don't considered processed food has added sugar which is added carbs. And I don't think artificial sweeteners are any better than real sugar -- in fact if I want something sweet, I would prefer the real deal. We're dieting now -- sort of semi low carb. We're making good progress and are better with our food choices. Feathers -- I've never went with all those "mini meals" -- to be it's just meals and snacks and if you want to maintain your weight when you're off the diet you have reprogrammed yourself to eat 3 more times a day so after diet, it becomes a morning donut and an afternoon candy bar. IMO, learning to eat 3 meals a day that leaves your full and satisfied is the best thing you can do.