I bought quite a few of these last year at Lowe's and am enjoying seeing how they are acting this spring here in zone 5. Due to my daughters wedding last fall I got NO outside work done, never even got my potted roses into the garage because so much wedding stuff was in there, so no winter protection at all. Little Mischief has tons of foliage and was mostly cane hardy. It's a short plant that has filled in quite well after being planted in the dead of summer last year. High Voltage was mostly cane hardy as well. Much taller. Two that I cannot find a tag for (but are the same - it's a symmetrical bed) I am pretty sure was Music Box. They were taller and mostly cane hardy as well. Wasn't expecting that from Music Box as I had read their vigor and hardiness was somewhat questionable. Grandma's Blessing was not cane hardy at all - just pruned it way down this week. Pretty sure it will grow back from the ground though. Have Champagne Wishes across the sidewalk and it wasn't very cane hardy either but is pumping out growth now. In a different bed (more exposed to wind and less snow cover) Sunrise Sunset planted late summer was almost fully cane hardy and has growth the entire length of sprawling 4' long canes. I suspect it's going to outgrow its spot in the bed and head into the yard this summer. My Girl looks good as well. Had to prune out some winter kill. Calypso had quite a bit of cane die but looks like it will grow back well from the ground. Unfortunately I had about 5 more still in the growers pots that never got planted and never got put in the garage. Whoops. I think one (super hero maybe???) may still be alive but the others don't look promising. That's my own fault though. They had had a whole bunch of them at Lowes earlier this week. I may have to go get a Kashmir (don't think I found it last year) and look for a Sweet Fragrance - debated on it last year and don't remember seeing it the other day. I did pick up two Above and Beyond climbers at Lowes - not Easy Elegance but same company. Never saw them around here before and want to put them on an arbor I got from Lowes 90% off the fall before last :)

Cuties is the marketing term for seedless mandarins being sold out of California. In the past, they used to be Fremont, Murcott, and Clementine mandarins that used to be sprayed with gibberellic acid to make them seedless. I think the current group of Cuties consist of Gold Nugget and Tango (a mutant form of Murcott that is seedless). Tango is a commerical variety and not easily obtainable for home gardeners and Gold Nugget is a fairly new variety that hasn't been extensively tested for our growing conditions. If you want something similar to the store bought stuff and don't mind the seeds, consider the Fremont mandarin. You can also buy Gold Nugget, but the jury is still out as to whether or not it will thrive in our climate. Some mandarins, like Satsumas, for example, don't do very well in Arizona.

Fun updates, keep them coming. It's so great that it's easy to upload pics now. Love it! Yes, the orchid cactus (contorted form of Epiphyllum guatemalense) is one that folks say should come indoors, but I just leave it out all year, and have for several years now, and it grows and blooms nicely (the blooms are super small and boring and only open for a few hours just after midnight, phooey). Anyway, thanks for commenting and for all of the fun pics. Thanks for the information on how you grow your fatplants, azant. I do feed and water mine heavily during summer, they're just taking a quick break. I'll slog some more on them. These are ones I've had for many years and really enjoy. And thanks for mentioning about the peat based soils, so bad for C&S! You're good! I'm sure others will chime in with local sources for adeniums, but most local nurseries carry them in summer, as do the Big Box hardware stores, so they're not hard at all to find in summer. Happy gardening and pic posting all! Grant

I'd recommend Satsuma mandarins. They're better than the "Cuties" often sold at the store. Satsuma is effortless to peel and nearly seedless. The tree can take just a few years to develop flavor though, so don't be put off if the first fruits taste a little bland. Kishu is also a good one. A little tart but very flavorful. The fruit size is very small but that doesn't matter since the skin is effortless to peel off and they're completely seedless, you can pop them right in your mouth. As to answering the question about can you eat Kishu skin, I'm not sure about that. The skin is thin and soft, but I don't think it's quite as edible as a kumquat. The bigger issue would be the white rind that's right underneath the skin, that would probably start giving you a mouthful of something not very pleasant. But it doesn't really matter because, despite the small fruit size the skin is still very loose and very easy to peel off. The reason people are not familiar with these mandarins is they do not have that long of a shelf life, so they are not really commercially viable to distribute to supermarkets. When I was little I used to eat Satsumas off a tree (though I didn't know they were Satsuma at the time, I was just told it was a "tangerine" tree, not really technically correct). The tree must have been at least 25 years old, I can't begin to describe how delicious and perfect they were. The bags of Cuties sold at the supermarket are pretty awful by comparison (the skin is much harder to peel off, inferior flavor, more seeds, not as fresh, slightly different aroma). Fortunately Satsuma does have more cold hardiness than Orange.