Yes Val, Lloyd does have a big one... um, compost that is. Got to keep on topic here, so yes, moderators, we are talking about compost and women do like them too. :O) I knew that response to a previous post would come back to haunt me one day Lloyd. Taking photos of the evidence was an OOPS moment. Me bad! As I said, I'll return the milk pail full of compost they produce to you in a couple of years. :O) Thanks Terrene, and for Karen, here's a couple of encore pics and one of 39 Monarchs which they helped raise this past year. This was my last 'baby', a male, released on October 8th. Paul, Nothing like a Cape Bretonner (I think you are...) lashing out at a mainlander!! LOL! Yep, I show them on my garden tours. They are part of what I do and actually the interest is quite amazing. Especially when you tell them they can do it for free. It's funny because I actually migrate towards compost piles when I visit other gardens... Folks sometimes think I'm up to no good. They probably fear me taking their compost away, and rightfully so. So you'd better keep that watch dog out when I visit, eh? :O) Idaho, My husband and I get along quite well when it comes to the compost. We have an agreement. He doesn't touch my compost and I don't touch his books - he's a worm of another kind. As long as my compost results in an increase in property value, which it has, and his books stay organized, then we are all good.

Hi, Well, a few weeks ago I was rooting around my frozen pollen for something interesting to put on Mylan and this time I got to the bottom of the plastic container containing my frozen pollens and believe it or not I found another packet of frozen seeds that I missed the first time!! This time they were aulicum (Telos) x papilio ( gifted pollen) and there were 9 seeds. So, once again I just put them all in water and today, about 2 weeks later 8 of 9 seeds are germinating with clean white roots. Who knew this was something we all could be doing!! This particular cross was the first cross I made from last year's season as my aulicum bloomed for Halloween last year. These seeds are even older than my Exotica x Rio Negro (which are growing on nicely by the way) by probably 4 to 6 months! So, for those of you who might like to try this, don't hesitate.. Both of these packets of seeds hung around on my fireplace mantel for a month or more before finally being stashed with my pollen in the refrigerator for several months and then finally into the freezer. There aren't any more. So if you have a glut of special seeds, freeze some incase you run into a disaster with fungus gnats or the like! Donnaâºâºâº

Mitanoff - mine's in a pot, but it's outside right now. It's been there since mid May, and it'll stay there untill the first frost warning in the fall. I leave it right next to the window it spends the winter in, so that the change in light levels isn't as severe as it would be if I summered the Hibiscus in a slightly sunnier spot. A five gallon pot sounds a bit big for a Hibiscus that's only two and a half feet tall - it might cause it to be too wet and develop root rot. Here's a pic of mine (well most of it anyway, there's a bit on the top I didn't get into the photo)- I left my flip-flops next to the pot for some scale: Mine always loses leaves during the winter, and it seems to finish losing the rest of the previous years leaves right about now. It's already put out tons of new leaves, so you can't really tell the old ones are going. By September it will be about twice as bushy as what you see now. I could really use a slightly bigger pot, but then my plant would get bigger - it's at the maximum size I have room for, so I don't want that. I do root prune the plant every couple of years though (in the spring) - I could do it every year, but it's too big of a task for me to deal with every year! It makes a huge difference. I cut the plant out of the pot, lay it on it's side, and remove as much soil as I can (having the plant in soil with a lot of perlite makes this much easier). I remove many of the bigger roots, and about a quarter of the other smaller ones. I repot it with fresh soil and away it goes. This isn't a root pruning year, and I can see it's not nearly as quick to fill out, nor does it have as many flowers as in the years I do it. I also fertilize it quite heavily once May rolls around. BP

I know this question has already been adequately answered, but i just answered this on another forum, and felt like it could still be usefl here. Basically the info is this: I only know of two places that have released a purple-podded snow pea, and only one place that has released a purple-podded snap pea. 1. Alan Kapuler, Oregon, Peace Seeds - "Sugar Magnolia" Purple Pod Snap. 2. Dan Quickert, California, "Midnight Snow" snow pea. 3. Thompson & Morgan, England, "Shiraz" Purple snow pea. I was able to grow Midnight snow in 2011. I now have seeds for Sugar Magnolia, and will get Shiraz seeds soon. I hope to trail these in 2012. I also have seeds for Alan's yellow-podded snap "Opal Creek", and i look forward to trying to breed a red-podded snap pea. Here is a link that might be useful: http://idigmygarden.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32947