>>>So can I assume that any/all fruit bearing varieties in catalogs that state that they require a pollinator "for better production" or "for a larger harvest" are cloned cultivars? Yes, but be careful. This is not the same as when the catalog says "buy two for better fruit production" or "requires a pollinator, buy two" and there is only one kind to choose from. In this case the plants are seedlings, and are therefore genetically different. They are different clones, but not named cultivars. Now if the catalog says: "requires pollinator for fruit production" instead of "requires pollinator for better fruit production", the answer is still pretty much yes, but... 1) If the species is dioecious, where there are male plants and female plants, then of course, an opposite sex would be required as a pollinator, and both male and female may or may not be cultivars. However in most cases, to determine the sex of an individual plant, seedlings must be grown to adulthood, so practicality necessitates clonal propagation, usually of named cultivars. 2) In a few cases, different self infertile species can pollinated each other. In such a case, "requires a pollinator" does not dictate clonal separation (within the species), just species separation. Therefore, the plants of either species may or may not be name cultivars.

Where is everyone? Did your garden gates get locked, LoL. I wanted to apologize for sounding so harsh in my earlier post. I usually just let things like this go, but for some reason, this time, I just didn't. I know things happen. This month has been an extremely stressful one, and I let it get to me and didn't handle this situation right. Do we know if this swap will continue for July, or will it be on hold, or canceled? I know Kelly is having a pretty rough time of it right now. Maybe we could all pull together and keep this going so she has it to come back to when things calm down. We could all post if we would like to swap this month, and then we could pick our own partners. Maybe we should post a simple wish list. That way, it would make it easier to choose as we might have some of the plants in our gardens that another is looking for. Am I making any sense here? LoL. Well anyway, post your thoughts on this. Have a wonderful night, Tina

LEXAROSE,I said baffles are better in my first post, I just can't put them over a post that has 5 strands of barb-wire attatched to it. I use the METAL posts in the fence line to mount the houses on not the wooden ones!I did (in my opinion) improve my setup by putting up 7 new boxes this year, I think that is trying to help the birds. In my opinion you are creating a natural cavity when you put up a nest box, look at all the different kinds of birds that nest on the ground, in trees, in low bushes they do this without guards and I am sure some fall victim to predation but a percentage of them still survive to carry on the species this is called Nature and sometimes Nature is not fair or so some of us don't think so anyway. IMO nestboxes are better than natural cavities, if they weren't why would birds use them instead of searching out natural cavities? I thought this forum was for opinions and discussion, and I didn't know anyone was the JUDGE and JURY that had the final say on what is right and what is wrong. If I didn't care about the birds why would you think I would go to all the trouble to put up nest boxes in the first place? I am 62 years old and have been doing this for the last 15 years, I know I have done some good although in your opinion what I am doing is INEXCUSABLE,I do respect your opinion though. One thing I have learned thru the years is to take the words NEVER and ALWAYS out of my vocabulary, because very few things are NEVER and ALWAYS right or wrong. I will not be posting about this again so you can tear me apart, but to all you people out there that have taken the time to put up nest boxes with or without guards, the birds thank you and I thank you. Martins showed up yesterday, have a quality day, I will! Jimnks

FPE-lore...her goes!! What makes a "Great" paint: 1) Extremely fine pigment grinding. - I've been told they use an old-style ball-mill, and grind pigments for 3 WEEKS...instead of the U.S.'s "hours", or a day or so. - This leads to VERY DENSE/OPAQUE film-builds. - The Gloss-levels of their Brilliant lines are near mirror-like because of this. - Details like this are discussed on their DVD. 2) 2 Colorant types..."Pastes"... - VERY important here! - The U.S. uses Glycol-based Universal-Tint-Colorants (UTC's), because these mix into BOTH Latex AND Oil binders. - Instead of the LIQUID Glycol-based colorants 99% of mfr's. use, FPE's are VERY finely ground/dense PASTES. - This makes a deep FPE color MUCH more opaque than the typical U.S. "loads-of-liquid colorant" built colors. - So...instead of dumping a boat-load of liquid Glycol-based colorant into a sheer dark tint-base, FPE uses pastes. - Another HUGE difference...FPE uses SEPARATE Acrylic and Alkyd colorant-pastes! So....Latexes and Oils each have their own colorants! CHEAP...No. Effective...Very. - Bottom-line...the FACTORY and the stores use THE SAME COLORANT! In a way, an FPE store IS a "factory" of sorts... 3) Friendly Ingredients: - Low VOC's in the Latexes. - Only light odors too, and dissipate quickly. 4) My own tests: - I've described my "Wine Red" test on the Paint forum. ONE COAT...pulled thin...COMPLETE OPACITY...NOT normal! - I did a pop-and-water rub test on this too. - Using the Oil glosses...Uffda. You can SEE yourself clearly! And I used a foam brush... - Same thing with the Low-VOC ECO. Beautiful, bright, clean gloss! - Because of this, I ordered some for my downstairs bath. VERY pleased...I left it as one coat! Very tough film. - The Eurolux Matte I used seems totally impervious to water. It's more of an Eggshell look though... Soooo...to ME...this stuff is the Four-Seasons of Paint! Faron