Hi everyone! Regardeng BLACKBERRIES, we, on the opposie side of the pool, have the same problems of OVERWINTERING the canes and the flower buds. Admittedly I yet have no own experience as I got interested in blackberries only this fall when discovered the existance of the new thornles and prolific varieties. So I read all that was worth reading in the Russian and US internet, especially the rather high-profile specialised forums of our blackberry enthusiasts.. I discovered that throughout Russia and Kazakhstan which both have areas with very serious frosts blackberry growing in those is nevertheless quite successful. Maybe someone here would benefit from their experience same as e.g. you grow plums of Russian origin such as ptitsin and fofanoff. Apparently Blackberries can bring huge yealds in climates with very low winter temps, even downing to -40C for rather ptolonged periods. The TECHNIQUE below allows overwintering without much problem. Plus some easy principles to follow. 1. All blackberries need to be laid down and covered for the winter, preferably after the first frost when the land is frozen. To ensure that this task is easy and hassle free: 2. Choose thornless varieties only. Those with thorns are said to be hell to lay and cover. 3. In early summer watch for the new canes (primocanes) to emerge. As soon as a shoot reaches 15-20cm carefully bend it 90 degrees and secure with a metal peg. When the cane grows another 40-60cm, secure it parallel to the ground with yet another peg. After it reaches 1 m let it grow as it will but better tie to the lowest string of the trellis Which gets them out of the way. Do not tip the ends as this would increase the leaf mass. Do the bending for all the emerging primocanes. 4. In autumn at the time of first frosts when all the fruiting canes have long been cut down lay the primocanes in lines stretched along one side of the trellis. Peg them to the ground, cover with two layers of 60g/m2 thick white non-woven fabric and secure all sides to the ground with no holes. This is said to help greatly even if serious frosts come before the snow. In milder and wetter climates they also put a plastic film layer on top of the fabric, leaving however the end bits open so there is always air circulation. The advice here is to experiment as all natural circumstaces differ. 5. Take off the cover layers gradually, and completely only after all danger of frost is over. By then the canes are likely to bear some yourg leaves and side shoots, but this is ok. Raise them carefully as the canes of come varieties are brittle, and tie to the trellis. 5. Winer frosts may not be a problem for blackberries, but summers need to be warm or hot. The shorter and milder/cooler the summers, the earlier fruiting varieties should be chosen. 6. Floricane varieties like PA Freedom in cooler and shorter summer climates may very sucessfully fruit if treated in the same way as other primocanes, i.e. as above, in a two-year culture. They would be one of the earliest to perform. If you have any questions do feel free to write me, I will try to help with more information. cathpetro at gmail dot com.

I wonder if they were actually "overheated"... It makes sense that they did not have enough time to recover from transplant shock though, as they were planted too late in the season. Trees that size will be tough to protect, and they better be planning to cover/tie the fronds this time, not just the trunks. They need to do at least what the Iowa palms guy does/did to winter his larger palm(s). If he can get washingtonias through an Iowa winter, the trachys should be doable. Big job though! By the way, thanks for posting the follow-up dln949!

Interesting how the shopping styles change. Lots of malls around here are having trouble and some have closed but the Mall of America is going strong. It all started in Edina, MN when Southdale Shopping Center opened the first enclosed regional shopping center in the nation. There were certain advantages to the mall concept such as having a number of places to choose your shoes or the like. There'd be various specialty shops, etc. Instead of having someone from housewares come make a key for you, you could talk to a locksmith. When much younger and more willing and able to walk more it was fine, but today I'm not built for malling. There were some smaller malls that did quite well too for a number of years. But then people's shopping habits started to change. The convenience era began. Fast food and fast shopping. One stop and get your turnip seeds, house paint and aspirin in one cart. Walmart, Kmart, Target and more began popping up and Powers, JC Penney, Sears-Roebuck (remember Roebuck?) Montgomery Ward and more began to suffer. Economic ups and downs and malls suffered. People started to prefer specialty stores. Then the traditional mall anchors such as Wards and Sears began to hurt more. Many didn't survive. Add to the problem stores like Kohl's and others I can't recall offhand, have chosen to pull out of the malls and go with freestanding buildings. Some of the malls brought on their own problems. They tried to go cheap. Didn't maintain the building and people didn't like grungy looking places. Leaking roofs didn't help and parking lots that resembled minefields would shoo away people too. Rent is expensive for small tenants and the economic bust of the last near-decade has had its impact too. Many of the malls around here are being bought and replaced with townhouses. One local one, Apache Plaza was developed into a mini village with streets of small shops, plus a Walmart and Cub foods.

We always called them Horse Apples but learned the 'proper' name was Bois D'arc. I usedto make the sliced, baked flower type decorations but found out fast you wanna' wear gloves and NOT use a knife you're not willing to toss! They are native to TX, AR, OK & MO. I read that years ago in Central TX, you couldn't get a home loan unless the 'piers' in a pier & beam house (one with a crawl space) were of Bois D'arc wood because it was known to be rot resistant & repelled termites. Past generations used it for fence posts because it was said to last 100 years. Suzi