Alexander, its hard to tell what the sun exposure is from pictures, but my guess is that big tree in the southeast may block sun until 10AM or so in your fruit tree spot. If you had sun from 10-sunset that would still be OK, even though morning sun is the best. What I would recommend is to stand in the spot where you want the trees and rotate your head as if you were following the suns path from sunrise to sunset and see how often it is not blocked. Your sun will be something like from 55 degrees to 75 degrees in the sky during the growing season (90 degrees being straight up) so face south and look up about that amount when rotating your head east to west; every 15 degrees you rotate your head is an hour of sun exposure. If you think you will get 6 or more hours of sun you will be above the bare minimum for fruit trees. In terms of the distance you will need, for 4 trees something like a 10 foot circle is a standard spacing. Depending on how far your septic system goes it could be better to have one long row or two shorter rows. To figure it all out, just make a map of your property on paper and measure the sun exposure in various spots to find the boundary of the "good sun but no septic system" spot and see if it will have a 10' circle for each tree fitting in it. Scott

Thanks everyone for your input. The evidence suggests that these things are indeed elephants. Though the vendor assured me they weren't elephants, and one of 'em was softneck, one cannot argue with the following: -- The two mutant little cormes on each one -- The number of folks in this thread who can look at the pics and say with certainty that they're elephants. I never grew elephant before, so I can't identify them by sight. -- They were not cured at all, and tasted and smelled terrible. I planted 11 of these cloves, four from the softneck on 16 October, rest from the two hardnecks 22 Oct. I'll try to remember to give a report of the results in June. Jay

Thanks for the photos and the tips! I do have my Whirlwind in a spot where it will be mostly shaded all day with some sun in the early evening. Slp, we buy our hostas from some local people in Ramsey MN...we are so lucky to know them. Their yard is gorgeous ~ we enjoy strolling through it while we shop. Kristy :) Here is a link that might be useful: Hostas & More

Love it, Ya ya. My friend has one just like your newest one. I love that bigger one in the opposite corner. You're not the only one with a "cabinet fixation". I call them cupboards tho, and I think at last count, I have something like 11 of them in all sizes from corner cupboard to dental or doctor's cabinet (have two of those). My corner cupboard I bought from a guy who was selling his mother's stuff. He sold it to me for $35 and tried to sell me the dishes in it for $200. The dishes were worthless...made in Korea, but the cupboard was a steal. A few days later he sobered up and asked me to sell it back to him, if I ever decided to part with it. I said I would...but I never decide to part with anything. Well, very little. :)) I love your room. It is beautiful!