Hello Everyone... Thank you guys for the great compliments...The trees are outside now...i've had them outside for about 2 weeks now. Really was tired of moving them outside only to bring them in again..( 5 times...ARGGGG) I was to anxious to get them going..then the problem with the greenhouse really set me back.. The damage isnt really that bad..I did have to remove a few tips...and some other tips have already hardened up..so i'm positive that they will branch out from there... I think that i probably missed out on at least 3 inflos...but the good news is that they are all showing signs of leafing out... The weather here is finally stayeing pretty consistant..i have been watering alot lately and will start with the fish emulsion and seaweed and fert tomorrow... The cuttings are all looking great with some leaf activity already... Jen..yes that cutting has the egg in the container... I had to try this method to see what will happen. I have two cuttings from the same mother tree...one im rooting with the egg and the other has the same mix like i have always used. I will post what has happened with the different methods.....i feel like i have a science experiment happening in the cutting department..LOL ANdrew really swears by this method..so i wanted to try it out as well.. Jen (Labland) Thank you ...enjoyed meeting you at the show.... what did your hubby say when you got home? LOL.. Im sure you have a great selection...I do have a cutting that is only marked UH Maybe Univ Hawaii orange... cant remember...i will email you and maybe we can figure this out..I need to ask Erika too! Maybe she can help me identify..i called the vendor, but i havent heard back yet.. Thanks ANdrew for the comments too! I hope that you both had a great Easter...hopefully the temps in Erie have warmed up for you guys... Dave..LOL...The cover is still on..want to help? LOL Im sure the cover will be off by next weekend..the water temps will still be to cold to swin, but it will look better than it does now...How have you been? Do your in laws still live in Williamsburg? How is your Divine? Alex...thanks Alex!!! Have you put all of yours outside yet? The temps in the North have been up and down...so im sure you are watching them closely...Don't blame you one bit...i was so bummed about the heat damage...but im thinking that they will be fine...My Divine is pushing an inflo!! YES!! Im excited about this one...yours has been such a great bloomer..so i hope that i will have success with mine this summer...Have you started your cuttings? Take care everyone... Laura in VB

I'm not sure *I* am turning out the way I had hoped! LOL. I only have one in that age group, and he's only 12. But I like him so far. I think I'll keep him. I want a growth chart for the emotional/personality stuff. We have check ups with docs and dentists, eye exams, even before we think something is wrong. Even teachers conferences and standardized tests to tell us they are learning the academics they should be learning, or if intervention is needed. So I think it would be very helpful to have check ups with a counselor of some sort. Not therapy exactly, just a set of questions, a test of sorts, to say yep, they are on the right track. To know that self confidence, responsibility, ambition, compassion... those sorts of qualities... are developing normally. It is so important to how kids turn out, but how do I know for sure it's happening along the way at the rate it should be?? I want that sort of check up. I'd rather their personality be straighened out that their teeth. But it's easier to find out their teeth are crooked. It's hard to be objective about the emotional stuff, so I need a chart. I'm only half joking. If there is a chart, I seriously want it!

All of you too! I made Passover seder for 34 people Wednesday night and really had to laugh as my coil burners could only turn hot and red on parts and all the numbers on the control knobs are worn off. My oven is so tiny it's a dance to take turns with items going in and out. My friend calls it the "Easybake" oven! My MW is needed for more cooking space but you have to open, shut and restart from time to time to stop it from making a screaming sound. My counter space is tight and food is aplenty, so the top of the fridge becomes extra counter space. I'd been trying to keep myself reasonable with new kitchen plans, looking at the kitchen that I've used for more than 17 years that is fitted with, of course, honey oak cabs that look new (but the set up and center stiles on all are a pain) and white formica counters that amazingly have not a mark on them. I've found myself saying "Is it really necessary to do all this??" So, with my new appliances sitting in my garage and plans being finalized, I can just smile and tell myself... Yep, necessary it is! Happy days to all...

Thanks so much for the info on these amazing beneficial herbs Strawberry Hill, I will definitely plant all of them for my cat friends. I will cover the catnip with a small cage contraption so that they'll only be able to get to the new growth... :-) That is such great news - that after so much rain still no BS on your potted roses. We also had mega liters of constant rain for 2 days and I decided not to use the corn flour dusting, and there is not one BS leaf on any rose....just as you said, the soil is the key....I also gave the BS prone roses an extra teaspoon of Gypsum as you advised (along with the Potassium Sulfate) ...just before the rain started falling. I watered in in very quickly with alkaline tap water, the rain did the rest. I think that's another great idea - to keep feeding them Gypsum and Potassium Sulfate to keep them BS-free during winter - until our next spring. many thanks :-) I won't give any Nitrogen either, seeing that they stop blooming anyway during winter. Carol, maybe you can try wrapping just a tiny piece of any citrus fruit peel around the area where the aphids are worst? I did that over here and the aphids jumped of like flies... but the Hydrogen Peroxide sounds like a great treatment for the aphids plus it adds oxygen, I think that is the best solution, as advised by Strawberry Hill...I will also try that...I think clay can do with some oxygen.... thanks for liking the Nguni cows, yes they are so beautiful...and quite docile... we have another breed here called 'Afrikaner'-cattle...they are quite strong as well but not so docile...used in the beef industry. They are also much bigger than Nguni's. I hope you enjoy your snowy winter wonderlands, I hope you, Jim, and Strawberry Hill will post winter photo's. Today it is 96.8 F and a strong warm berg (mountain)- wind is blowing. really magical. I decided to look up the definition of a berg wind: Berg wind (from Afrikaans berg "mountain" + wind "wind", i.e. a mountain wind) is the South African name for a katabatic wind: a hot dry wind blowing down the Great Escarpment from the high central plateau to the coast. When the air that has been heated on the extensive central plateau flows down the escarpment to the coast it undergoes further warming by adiabatic processes. This accounts for the hot and dry properties of these off-shore winds, wherever they occur along South Africa's coastline.[1][2] Although berg winds are often called a Föhn winds, this is probably a misnomer, as Föhn winds are rain shadow winds that result from air moving over a mountain range, resulting in precipitation on the windward side. This releases latent heat into the atmosphere which is then warmed still further as the air descends on the leeward side (e.g., the Chinook or the original Föhn).[2][3] Berg winds do not originate in precipitation, but in the mostly dry, often arid central plateau of Southern Africa. On the other hand, katabatic winds are technically drainage winds, that carry high density, usually cold air from a high elevation down a slope under the force of gravity.[3] These are thus "fall winds", which occur most typically down the coastal ice slopes of Antarctica and Greenland. Berg winds blow off the African escarpment in response to large scale weather systems in the South Atlantic Ocean, the African interior, and the Southern Indian Ocean.