Oh, yes. Lots :-) When my hubby and I moved into this lovely home, we inherited several mystery citrus trees, all extremely neglected. Zero water, just whatever the previous owners could water by hand, or what the sprinkler would reach (which was essentially zero). Amazing they all survived. For sure I've got a Eureka Lemon and a Meyer Improved. The Meyer is the wunderkind tree - despite the neglect, it is covered with about 200 lemons right now, and it's a dwarf. Last winter I had Meyer lemons coming out my ears. I think this tree due to the neglect, is cycling, instead of having ready fruit all the time. I now have, again, about 200 lemons that are riping. The fruit on the lower branches are turning yellow, and all the fruit towards the top still has a ways to go. 3 other mystery citrus trees yet to be identified - probably lemon, possibly one Valencia orange - all due to no fruit, and I didn't get a good look at the flush to see if it was lemon-like (purplish). Few thorns, but the trees have been here for several years. I just put into the ground today these lovely additions, all semi-dwarf but with the promise from Clausen's that they won't get bigger than 8 feet (personally, in N. San Diego County, I find that hard to believe, but I'm taking him at his word): Rio Red Grapefruit (crossing my fingers we get enough heat) Melogold Grapefruit Cocktail Grapefruit Moro Blood Orange (ditto with the heat) Pixie Tangerine Algerian (Clemintine) Tangerine Bearss Lime I was chatting with a great gal out in Palm Desert on another gardening chat list, and she shared her photos of her Minneola Tangelo sport that is variegated!! I am hoping I can drive out there and get a branch to graft. I've not ever grafted citrus trees, so I'm hoping I can have some success with this. Have to get the right rootstock, so I'll give Clausen's a call and see what I can get so that I have something right for my soil, and won't get too big. The fruit are WAY cool looking!! Too bad I can't grow them from seed, which would be easier. I'll snap some pics of my little orchard up on the hill tomorrow. We're hoping for some nice rain tomorrow morning. I backfilled and topped all the wells with compost, did a very light fertilizing with some Vigiro Citrus, double dripped everything, and I'm going to set up a separate station for just my fruit trees so I can do a once a week deep watering for a bit. Then, once everyone looks happy, move to every 2 to 3 weeks deep watering. And, I'll spray with Spinosad/Volck Oil tomorrow evening after the rains, and hang my pheromone traps. And wrap the trunks to keep the rats, mice, rabbits, gophers and other nasty rodent-type varmints away from the trunks. Lastly, I'll bait for roof rats when the traps come in. I swear to goodness. I'm going to be the only one eating the fruit off these trees! Patty S.

I love seeing bird pictures from other areas of the country! Beautiful bird Edward. Yes Nancy, it was Davidson's picture of her intro out of STP that was drop dead gorgeous. I guess the mini spuf will be the wave of the future. Extra tissue on the petals - how about crossing spuf's with a Stamile mini double. Could be very interesting. We had a great mockingbird around here for 5 or 6 years. He would sit on all the structures and sing his heart out while I gardened. I would throw grubs out onto a pathway when I found them when digging, etc. As soon as I left the area, he would come in and get it. He always enticed a girlfriend to set up housekeeping with him and would raise two clutches of babies. Then it was fun to watch him run the babies off at the end of the season. It was his yard, with a big old holly tree he guarded for winter food. I was sitting on the deck one fall watching a baby mockingbird walk the garden looking for food. Of course he thought he was tough as daddy. As he was searching one day, a white moth flew up and he jumped a foot off the ground he was so scared by it. So much for tough. Sorry to say, two years ago something happened to his second clutch of eggs and he and wife left to raise another clutch off property. He never returned. Last year we had no singing to keep us company. This year, we have one on the perimeter of the yard and hope he adopts the yard as his own private domain to keep us company all year. It was a perfect spring day yesterday - mid 60's, sunny, very little wind. My idea of what a spring day should be, not in the 70's this early. I did actually plant a couple of things yesterday instead of just the dreaded weeding. I have a clump of variegated Solomon's Seal that was crowding some of my hosta so I divided that and moved it to the new shade area. This bed has an old tree row through the middle and because of the big roots, I put whiskey barrels with hosta weaving through the trees so I could utilize this unplantable area. The Solomon's Seal has tubers like an iris and they can't be planted very deep so I could plant the tubers between the trees and barrels. I also had a couple of self-seeded columbine that I moved to the area. It is nice to see something green, besides some weeds, in the new area. It wasn't much digging, but it did feel good. I hope all you allergy suffers are getting some relief. It's a shame spring brings misery to a great season. Hubby has fall allergies but by then gardening is winding down, not up. Today, more garlic harvesting and will probably start on the pond. Not my favorite chores but it will be warm enough to play in water. Right now, we only have a pump stirring the water, time to get the filters on and running. Brooke

Hi all, I'm just loving these posts, they really lift the spirits on these very dull days. We're still dealing with the fog up here, I've never known it to hang around for so long. Seriously now, I have another plant that I just had to have and I need some help on how to grow it. A few years ago I bought a rooted cutting of a shrub named Dichroa febrifuga at the U.B.C. plant sale. It 's evergreen, has lovely blue flowers,then berries, it growth, in opinion is like a hydrangea. I believe it comes from Asia. It doesn't winter well for me outside so I've dug it up, planted it a container and it's wintering in the greenhouse. I'm guessing it's marginal here in Z7/8. Any ideas out there? A......

I am so grateful to all of you for trying to help me with this decision. Kmcg - your have it right -- I like the butcherblock but I am not sure how it will look. Those are beautiful kitchens you posted - in my next life I will have all white cabinets and butcherblock - no cherry island! Likkiirish - I have spent so many hours looking at the finished kitchen blog that that I think I could be certified crazy! In all my searching there and elsewhere on the internet I have found only one photo close what I am thinking about - which is below. It is not my favorite photo and, even in this photo, the island is black, not cherry, which would visually connect with the black countertops. I am thinking that I probably need to let go of the butcherblock idea and go with the black tops everywhere. I feel pretty certain now that that the black top on the island will look good. Here is a link that might be useful: