The kids love it! I can't keep them out of there. Yes Bam, my wife is pretty hot;) That's the only solution to birds that I've found. It's a pain to put up but well worth it. I did get a LSU purple fig planted in Feb. I cut it back and rooted 3 of the cuttings. Gave one to the Father in Law, one to my Dad and one more left for me so now I got 2 fig trees. I hope they are good. I've never had a fresh fig! Charles, most of them are in containers. I have 6 in raised beds. 5 Rabbiteyes and 1 Emerald. I've had the rest of my varieties start to ripen and have been able to taste all of them now. Took my wife out there today to taste test to see which ones we want to keep and which to let go. Unfortunately she likes all of them so now I have to make the tough decisions. Honestly the only SHB I don't like is Premadonna. Watery and tasteless! All the other ones are good in there own respect, some defiantly better than others. Yes Fruitnut, Sweetcrisp stole the show;) I took some more pics of the later ripening varieties and will post them soon along with my personal take on all the varieties I've grown. Looks like I'm going to keep more than I though I would.

I'm near Portland. Just taking a break from lawn mowing to have lunch, and I am wearing long pants tucked into my socks (I know - awful fashion image) but a friend was helping me a few weeks ago wearing shorts and had ticks on his legs when he finished. Here's an article from the Portland paper last month - http://www.pressherald.com/2016/04/11/deer-ticks-already-out-in-force-in-maine/

My sister is working right now. She has less time for the shop, gardening or picking blueberries at the moment. We are getting ready for an open Studio event for the weekend. Yesterday she went out with my niece and picked 8 quarts. Sent me a message let's skip everything and pick blueberries! She likes them with her granola.

Kay: WOW what a group. Love the pic of Carolina Sugar Daddy. It is sending up scapes here and i can't wait to see it bloom. Navajo Pony looks so nice in clump. Does it tend to lean? I always enjoy seeing your Fried Green Tomatoes photos. It just keeps on blooming as does so many others of yours. So what is your garden secret to getting all those blooms? Julia .