Brandon, thanks for the info on planting. This is new to me, and I just couldn't imagine anything young taking root in the dense soil I had to hack through to dig the hole so amending it seemed to make sense at the time. I can see how it would create an artificial tub now. I guess time will tell if the tree fully takes. I'll try to gauge the soil dampness better. With the sun around here, the surface dries out very quickly. It may well be that I'm not watering enough, though I'm not sure how to judge what's happening down at the bottom of the roots. jqpublic, I'm zone 9 by zip code but San Jose can be in the 8s too. In any case, the apple trees in the neighborhood seem to do very well. (and Ken - don't worry, I'm tickled pink that it set fruit so quickly. I just don't want to kill it!) Thanks for the help, everyone.

I don't have any pics but I just painted my bedroom Olive Branch and it looks amazing! I had a previous post called 'olive branch & baby turtle dilemma'. On that post monablair posted several pics of her Olive Branch. You may want to try that search. Also if you google 'olive my bedroom' there is a pic of a bedroom with Olive Branch walls, cherry furniture and white trim. It looks so cozy. I had tried over 25 different colors, from green to gold but mostly greens. I had another post '22 splotches of paint on the walls'. I also tried EK Edgewood Green too brown on my walls as well. I think you will just love the Olive Branch. Oh by the way......when it first went on the wall I thought it was going to be too dark but once I placed my furniture back in it was perfect.

I had a post awhile back called baby turtle & olive branch dilemma. In the end I thought I was going with baby turtle but olive branch won at the last minute. My husband called me from the BM store and said he was picking up the paint and asked me which one I wanted. Under pressure I blurted out olive branch. He was so sick of me and my paint crisis. I am so glad I love love love it! Its so cozy and serene. Pottery barn recently used it in a bedroom. If you wish to try farrow & ball you could use #12 green stone its a 93.5% match to olive branch. That way you get the color and brand you want.

Rooting cuttings is quite simple, if you do itright. I don't water root or root in soil because mine also tend to rot if I do it that way. I use fine grade orchid mix to root in (there are exceptions, but you are new and probably won't be purchasing more difficult hoyas just yet). Gubler makes a decent product (Lowes sells Gubler - the fine orchid mix is the blue bag) that is not terribly expensive. Steps: -soak orchid mix overnight in water. -rinse mix thoroughly and place in pot(s) -take cuttings (omit if you bought cuttings) -place in mix in pot -water ONCE -lightly mist cutting once a day (mist more frequently if cutting wilts, but check cutting stem (the stem in the potting mix) first to see if it has rotted-if it did rot, cut above the rot. If you cannot put the stem back in the pot, make a new cutting by clipping right above the first set of leaves) -at the end of 7 days, gently tug the cutting. If a bit of resistance is met, it has started rooting. Water thoroughly. If you tug and the cutting comes out, it has not rooted or you tugged it too hard. Place it back in the pot. If the mix is really dry, you can do a quick watering. If it is still a bit damp, but getting on the drier side, mist the mix directly, until the top inch is damp. The key is to not over-water, which causes rot. As for sunburn, yes it can kill a hoya, if it is left in those conditions. But, a leaf or two getting burnt is okay. You can cut them if you want. If it is a small plant and all leaves are burned, leave them on. Proper hardening off will slowly acclimate your hoyas to brighter conditions, so they don't burn.