"Strangest".... That's pretty funny, as I am the only one in my entire neighborhood that grows *ANY* fruit at all.... The neighbors look at me like I am some sort of anachronism for growing a little garden and some fruit trees.... But... The "Strangest" of all the common stuff I have is a cider pear, a Citation Rootstock peach/plum that had the graft die, an American Purple plum seedling, and a roadside dug-up seedling peach. My Purple and black tomatoes probably classify as what folks around here think is weirdest... They look and say "But... It's rotten!" On the sugar cane thing - if you poke around and ask the old timers at the feed stores - you will find that most farm families in the Deep South used to raise their own sugar cane for sweetening things.... As Jolji said - you bury them over the winter, then dig them up and plant them shallow after Easter... This year, I want a Jujube and a couple filberts... In years past - people expressed wonderment at my Vanilla orchids... Thanks

Hi raul, I am glad to hear that it worked for you at such high temps. but that in not the norm!!!. I prefer to teach novice fishkeepers to keep fish that are compatible for tank size, temp and water conditions, and compatibility to each other. I would never recommend that a novice fishkeeper start by pushing the limits. BTW I have 20+ years experience with fishkeeping and fishbreeding and maintaining my own large fishroom.....I won't say the exact number of years because that makes me damn old. LOL!!! I specialized in different fishes at different times...catfishes.....mainly cory's for quite a few years. I also have the education in both fish and aquarium plants to back up my experiences and what I say. My list goes on, but I don't see where that really matters. Skygee, Yes fish can be pretty adabtable....however if the proper conditions can be set up for their environment why not provide it. Mollys are proun to fungus, so they are best suited for tank water with salt in it. They don't have to be kept in water with salt in it.....however they do much better. Isn't that what most fishkeepers want...to have the healthiest fish possible? Oceanbubbles, .....I don't want to confuse you by not agreeing with raul.....nothing is worse than conflicting information. So I am going to leave......if you want my help however just let me know, since I already started to help you. You are definately on the right track now with your discus!!! Keep up the good work! and keep learning. Happy fishkeeping to you and your fish!!! :)

Hoovb, you are right. No water, no roses. Everything else comes second. More water = better roses. In this dry place you have to be willing to shovel mulch. Lots of it. And with all that water and mulch, you have to be willing to prune...unless you have the gift of a very large garden and you have the plants very far apart. It's pretty easy to get fast rose satisfaction around here as long as you water and mulch and weed. No one near me grows the truly large rose plants and so weeding is required. I saw a fair number of well planted rose beds fall to weeds and then get abandoned or removed. The major cause of rose disaster here is not disease but the lack of water, improper pruning due to crews and weed takeover. Patience really helps. I was sure I got something else instead of Lion's rose. The little bitty nothing special flowers and small size bush. Then after it had some root growth for a few years, up came the robust canes and sprays of huge delicate hued blossoms fading gently to white. I just love this rose now. I was so very discouraged when it was a young plant. It's a wonderbush as a large plant. I learned to be realistic about what would do well here and let go of the ones that wanted to be in a different climate from mine. I learned to reduce the number of plants to what I could care for. A few years ago, I passed that point and I was feeling overwhelmed. I had many annual beds and too many potted fussy plants and those that needed water twice a day ( the big collection of potted azaleas, hydrangeas and blueberries with their never ending thirst) . It looked great but I was getting tired out keeping it all looking good. Now it's mostly roses and Camellias with some other things like epies and orchids and one or two azaleas and hydrangeas but not the massive diverse collection I used to have. It was getting to be too expensive to water and repot them all the time. Now that's it mainly roses, I feel like I have time to enjoy them again.

When you delay going to the doctor (to find out if that pain in your right side is really your appendix) two hours while you water the baby (mostly tomato) seedlings, move them to the basement, and set up the timer and the last shoplights so they'll stay alive in your (possibly extended) absence. When you spend hours of your recovery time writing and printing labels with not only the variety names, but detailed descriptions for the several dozen extra seedlings you're giving to the scholarship plant sale. [It wasn't ever very painful, but the CT-scan impressed the radiologist, the appendix impressed the surgeon, and I didn't get home for 3 1/2 days, which is ... not normal. (I'm convinced it would have been a day or two less if only they'd ever let me sleep.) The seedlings did quite well in my absence.]