It just keeps getting worse in Ca. too, don't know what unemployment is now & they don't count those that have exhausted benefits so it worse than they say. It's double digits I think 11 % Sorry it is bad in your area also. At least you'll get some family time & then start looking!! Out here 1 of "good" jobs is cleaning up "forclosure" houses. Some leave them in a real mess but pay is very good & if you & DH are handy might just work out!! Might have to replace toilets that people pulled out in anger, repaint, replace screens. Anyway hope with few days of rest your can weigh your options. Prayers for good things to come to your family soon!! Jan

Suzanne: Congratulations. I had to wait until my 65th for my GH, but the wait meant I could spend "their" inheritance on it. LOL! The kneewall is a great idea and will give you the opportunity to insulate both the floor and side walls and that will make a great difference in your ability to heat it for winter use later, but make sure you can drop the door to accomodate it. So before you find yourself with the need to construct a style to get in and out of your GH, call Farmtek and see if they can provide the longer vertical braces and polycarb panels you will need drop the doorframe down, so the threshold will be at ground level after the base is set up on the kneewall.

The reason you divide dahlia clumps each year- or at the least every other year is because the bigger the clump the less vigor the dahlia plant will have. A plant's mission in life is to reproduce & if it has a great big clump of tubers to live off of it won't try as hard to put out blooms. The stems will get weak & floppy & you'll get way less blooms. You are better off with a nice healthy tuber that puts out one nice fat sturdy stem with many laterals than you are with a spindly plant with a lot of stems that are all weak. Also- the size of the tuber doesn't really matter- a small one puts out just as nice a plant as a huge one does. Look at our photo albums- each one of these plants is grown from a single tuber- notice the vigor & the amount of branching from just one bigger-than-a-broomsitck stalk Here is a link that might be useful: photos of dahlias

Violets are able to cope with lack of rain for quite a while if you plant them when young, which allows them to develop their roots, which can penetrate quite deeply in search of water. ...Which is one of the reasons why they can be a problem to eliminate from lawns. So I would be tempted to try planting your violets in the soil not in a container. But... ...If the soil gets really dry, even deep down, as it might under a big tree or hedge, that would probably be too much of a challenge for your violets. If you can plant them in good light, not too close to trees, they would stand a better chance. You know your conditions best. But in general, V. odorata type violets such as yours have been grown in California for decades; OK, CA covers a lot of area and climate. The Garibaldis (Ano Nuevo Nurseries) used to grow them commercially in California; maybe they still do; it is a long while since I talked with Don. You'll see mention of John Whittlesey below; he still grows them, up in Oroville. Anyway, you should be able to find a solution. Here's some advice I gave to somebody else in California back in 1999. I know it is more general than a comment on your Barrone Alice de Rothschild, but it may give you a few ideas. Hi Sherry, Thanks for your question (attached). Although many cultivated violets grow in fairly well-watered and not-too-hot garden situations, there are many species of Viola which naturally inhabit hotter and drier locations. Some of these are native to the USA. Be aware, however, that all or most of those suitable for you in LA will naturally lose their leaves in summer. V. beckwithii might be worth trying. It is very attractive in flower and its finely dissected foliage, and it is also nicely scented. It naturally grows at highish elevations - up to 6,000ft in the Great Basin, but comes down at least as low as 3,000ft. That's as regards its native range - in the garden it might still do OK. However, the elevation means it gets plenty of water as the snow melts in the spring - and I don't know how wet it might be in LA in spring. It blooms in spring before withering with the summer heat, spending the hottest times of the year resting as a root well below the soil surface. But don't tidy it up too much - each spring it will send up new shoots through the withered remains of the previous season's stems; if you remove the dead leaves and let the soil fill the stem's hole, the soil can 'pan' (harden) and prevent the violet coming through next spring. It naturally grows amongst sagebrush in gravelly soils. The closest to LA you'll find one of these violets in the wild is Inyo County, CA. Closely related to V.beckwithii are Vv. douglasii (Douglas violet) and trinervata (sagebrush violet). Both of these grow in similar habitats to V.beckwithii and hence would be worth trying. So when trying to find a source for V.beckwithii, ask for these others at the same time. V.douglasii would be worth tracking down since it feels at home in well-drained sunny hillsides and at low altitudes and as far south as San Diego County. It is almost exclusively Californian. V. trinervata is scented like beckwithii, and although it grows in soils which get baked solid in summer, its native range does not extend further south than Oregon, so it might just object to cultivation in LA. In semi-desert of Utah, Nevada, and California Viola purpurea (pine violet) occurs, and in several forms (a source of much confusion for the botanist). If you can get hold of any form(s) of this, it is worth a try in your LA garden. Despite its name, it is usually yellow flowered. Saving the best until last... V.pedunculata (California golden violet, Johnny-jump-up) would be worth tracking down since it can make a glorious show on well-drained low sunny hillsides - not perhaps up to the California poppy in dazzle-factor, but nonetheless a lovely spectacle. And it is native to southern California - perfect for you. I understand it is sold as a cut flower by florists, though I have never had the pleasure of seeing it as such. Nor have I seen it in the field. Maybe you could keep an eye open for it on your travels (best March to May): various places southwards from Sonoma County, including the Carmel River Valley near Monterey, and some of the islands offshore southern California. Tell me if you find it. These violets are not often offered by nurseries, but horticultural societies' seed exchanges might list them; and of course you could try asking in the SweetViolets discussion list if anybody has seed. Also try John Whittlesey. If he can't help with any of the species I have mentioined, I know he has collected Viola seed from a small hot gravelly plateau near Oroville, CA (a long way north of LA, I know). I don't know which species he found there, but whatever they were might do well for you. What about species from semi-deserts elsewhere in the world ? V.arborescens comes from near sea-level in the western Mediterranean, often growing in crevices in baking limestone rocks. It is twiggy and has narrow greyish leaves, but the flowers are not very showy. There are several species from Turkey to India might grow for you, but I have little information on them and I expect it would be very difficult to obtain seed. So, on balance, I would suggest sticking with US species. You can find photos of most of these species at the UC Berkeley Digital Library Project on the Web: go to http://http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/photos/flora/ and search for Viola. Also have a look at the California Native Plant Society's web site http://endeavor.des.ucdavis.edu/cnps/ Last point: I have mentioned seed rather than plants. This is because most of the aridity-tolerant species adapt to their soil as they grow over several years, and can be next to impossible to dig-up (because of fragility of the roots and hardness of the soil) and transplant. And nurserymen would be unlikely to sell plants grown in pots since they would not establish well, methinks. Hope this helps, Good luck, Regards, Mike -----Original Message----- From: SGra361920@aol.com [SMTP:SGra361920@aol.com] Sent: Friday, April 16, 1999 7:17 AM To: SweetViolets@onelist.com Subject: [SweetViolets] Re: Welcome to SweetViolets@onelist.com From: SGra361920@aol.com Hi. My name is Sherry and I live in central La. My first questions is can Sweet Violets be grown in zone 8. We may have been rezoned to Zone 9 due to the heat of the passed few years - I do not know if they have rezoned yet, but I did hear the zones where no longer accurate. I'm a very stubborn gardener - I'll give it another try anyway. I planted one last year, but it disappeared within a few days. I'll try again this fall. Nothing much survives this summer heat. Besides gardening, I'm also a crafter. I'm looking forward to reading your list.