Hi..... My experience with planting bulbs in S. Calif. has been that unless you're planting S. african bulbs....(i.e. if you have Tulips, Daffs, Crocus, and other temperate climate bulbs)......it's best to refrigerate them until Nov. (I usually planted mine the week-end after Thanksgiving.) Also, with daffs, look for bulbs that will do ok in s. California, as some varieties are better naturalizers in the landscape than others. (Most good garden catalogs have a selection of daffs that do better in warmer climates.) Almost ANY daffs you buy can be grown in pots. I usually bought some in the fall.....even on sale as late as december. I'd pot up about 6-12 to a 6" or 8" pot...then set them on a cool shady patio, no refrigerator was needed. They always bloomed for me just fine. These can later be planted in the ground, as well, but again, for the landscape, it's best to choose varieties that can do well in a warm climate. If the refrigeration thing is just too confusing.....treat yourself and let go of the more traditional ideas of a bulb garden. Plant some freesias, ixias, tritonias, watsonias, babianas or sparaxis. They're often much cheaper, they all put on a gorgeous display, and they're almost foolproof in S. california. A good place to read a great synopsis of how to have fun with bulbs in S. California: HP Books "Bulbs: How to Select, Grow & Enjoy" by George Harmon Scott Good Luck !

WELCOME!!! You've come to the right place to save yourself a whole lot of heartache in the rose dept. I used to think that roses didn't do well for me in L.A. Airport adjacent because I didn't spray for fungus regularly enough. After all, what I bought locally should all do well for me, right??? So, so wrong. I learned here, that I just needed to buy roses that are resistant to fungus (we have a VERY heavy mildew burden here). ***I didn't need to spray*** Who knew??? While I honestly don't like to spray for environmental reasons, if I'm going to be honest, I'm not structured enough to do it on the strict schedule required. Something to think about - once the leaves get mildew, you can't 'fix' them. But guess what? There are lots of choices anyway! And, I'm afraid, it's just another area of one's life where one should be a careful consumer at the local store. Of the modern roses, I think you may learn to appreciate florabundas. Very pretty landscape plants, often in your size range. I'd like to suggest Walking On Sunshine. I got it in spring of last year on Jeri's advice and it has been just amazing. About 3' round in our garden and always in bloom. Lovely saturated yellow, but fading to a still lovely creamy yellow that doesn't look faded. Also a nice scent. Wouldn't be without it now. Armstrong's should have it when they get roses in next year. If you have the room (depending on soil), I'd heartily recommend Golden Celebration as well. I call the blooms 'happy blooms' and I really like the smell as well. Your mileage may vary. Depending on your soil, size may vary. When I was LAX adjacent, it never got more than 4' in sandy loam and half day sun. Three miles inland in amended clay, it wants to be 6' tall (or better when the DH fertilizes the adjacent lawn ;-) It's not great in all parts of the country, but here it really shines, imho (and if Jeri agrees, enough said ;-) Lemme see... Our Julia Child was an experiment and I'd get it again. It is tall as the other poster said. It also fades well, not a common trait among yellows. Reminds me of Julia cutting into her favorite food, butter, new ones are like the outside of a stick of butter and older ones are like the inside. There are lots of others we can explore here. The only other advice I'd say is that roses aren't hard if they're the right roses in the right place. In fact, roses are a great hobby/passion and have wonderful history. Just don't get the ones labeled 'red' or 'white' or 'yellow' ;-) Oh, one other thing to think about. I would bet, if you got America late season, that it didn't have mildew because it was sprayed at the producer. Just a thought.

I've had luck with my cherry volunteer (he started last summer, overwintered and is now ENORMOUS) and Moskovich has started blushing and I've had 3 ripe ones off of that one. Sprite, Fargo, martino's Roma, Sophie's choice-all have green ones, but no sign of ripening. Last summer I had the same issue-they sat green seemingly FOREVER and only started turning when I went on vacation! That wasn't until mid-July. These mild summers don't do it for the tomatoes!

You need to scan this forum and get all the model number information. You also need to give more info. Tonnage questions are very difficult to answer on a forum. I find it hard to imagine that you need 4 tons downstairs but maybe you have a lot of west facing windows. A google of "Trane XR113" brings up your post only and a bunch of gibberish. The XR13 is a basic piece of equipment. It is not particularly efficient and given your electric rates, probably not wise. It doesn't seem like a good match for a 95% efficient furnace which might be a bit of overkill in your climate. It all gets down to basics. Have you gotten a manual J calculation? How many HDD and CDD do you have? What are your rates for NG (or is this propane?) and electricity? You might do better with a heat pump(dual fuel) if you are on the lowest tier of electric rates but I suppose you don't know that until you get in there. Are you in the Oakland Hills or San Jose or what microclimate? 4 tons is a lot of a/c - I just can't imagine but a wall of windows will do it.