Love your plants! Especially the purple one, bottom left. Do you know its' name? Looks like the tag is still in it. My neighbor gave me dormant tubers from a rhizomatous that looks like your Joe Hayden, now that it's making leaves. I hope to see some blooms like that sometime! I have a seashell just like that, also outside.

Hello Everyone, Sorry to get back to the party late!!! : ) I have been out working and the days get longer after being on vacation!!! Especially when one works a 12 hr day!!! Yikes, it gets hard to adjust back into the swing of things!!! Mike, I do use the Gritty Mix on my Citrus, C & S and most of all my young Plumeria as well as my DR's. Using this mix has really allowed me to become relaxed at watering without the fear of over watering. Some of you know that i travel for my job which takes me away for several days at a time. I may have a trip that last for 4 days. Before i leave on a trip that long i always make sure my trees are watered and when i return i water again when i get home. When i do have multiple days off, i have just used the same method that Josh uses and i know what the containers feel like and how the foliage looks. Usually, i will wait for a couple of days after i water and then check my plants visually and also check them by feeling the mix as well as lifting the pot to feel how it weighs . Sounds funny, but i do know what each one should feel like with the proper amount of moisture. Even if i want to give them more, i really dont worry because i know that they wont have excess water retention in the containers with this particular mix. My pots are lifted and when i water, i water a little and then while im watering other plants i go back and give them a little more. The excess water does drain out into a plastic plate which the containers are setting on plastic water caps. I use four per container. The excess water stays in the plates and i let it evaporate in the plates. I had every intention of using the Skewers at first, but i never really needed them. Some use them and i think its a great tool to use to see if your trees are dry or moist. My trees (Plumeria) have different watering needs. So as i look over my plants and trees everyday, i feel them and check them as i make the inspection..lol It is a relaxing way for me to unwind when i get home from work. You know how it can be crazy at work for me!!! : ) I just dont worry anymore about watering them. They usually get watered every two days, but some are different. I have a few trees that like to be watered everyother day. Some are watered every four days.. some weekly. It is like they all have different personalities!!! The Plumeria get watered if active this time of year maybe every other week. It is all about the individual plants and their needs. Hope this makes sense!!! Josh, Thanks for your watering techniques...it sounds like we water the same way!!! I really think one becomes aware what the plant or tree needs. I always check on the trees that like alot of water first. This does include my Citrus and my special other trees. Hope all is well in CA!!! Cant wait to see pics of your Ponderosa Lemon!!! I will prune the top of my tree this spring. : ) Toni, Thank you for the nice compliments on my trees. I cant believe how many blooms i have on the Murraya Paniculata either!! It really has put on a show for me and it has all sorts of pods growing.. The Varigated Maya is doing great... Im so excited about this Plumeria. Remember when you asked me about whether i had a Varigated one or not? Well, my girlfriend had purchased one for me before then and had it sent to her house to give to me for CHristmas!!! I was so surprised!!! This is my first Varigated Plumeria and i am really happy with this one!!! The leaves are so beautiful when they appear, they have this pink hue that i cant stop staring at them. I just need to watch being a "mother hen" on this particulat tree and leave it alone!!! : ) I hope you had a wonderful New Year and that everyone continues to stay healthy and happy!!! Think Spring!! I hope this helps MIke... Take care and tell Sissy hello for me!!! I will send Greg an email to see about his tree... Take care, Laura

Hi CB! Sure.. this is the latest version I do, it's so very flexible. 28 oz whole tomatoes 4 oz pickled jalapenos 2 cloves garlic handful of cilantro juice of 1 lime 1 tsp oregano salt to taste Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse to the texture you desire. I puree the stuff very thin as that seems to be what I find served around here. Again, the recipe is very elastic so if it' a little too spicy cut back on the jalapenos and vice versa. I will throw in a bell pepper or a few banana peppers if I get the urge etc.... Make it what you like. :)

more on Passe Crassane: "Finally, we get to the Passe Crassane – my all time favourite pear which comes into season in December – they are exquisite in mulled wine. They come from the Rouen region and retain the most juice and best flavour of all pears. Again location is key and, for me, these pears are always better from the Paris area than from the Alps. These pears ripen over time and the stems are sealed with a blob of wax so that they will continue to ripen and won’t dry out. It’s this that helps to keep the flavour and juiciness of the Passe Crassane pear all winter." (excerpt taken from this blog: http://www.wellocks.co.uk/flavours-of-deme-of-the-year/ ) "Passe Crassane [...] In a warm seasaon and at best, exceptional for late Jan., Feb. Very juicy, buttery, white flesh, sweet, tasting of pear-drops and highly perfumed, but in a poor year astringent, fails to develop in the English climate. Passe Crassane was France’s premier late variety until recent times, produced particularly for the luxury trade, and used to be sold with stems dipped in sealing wax to help reduce moisture loss during storage. In UK among the modern pears highlighted at 1885 London Pear Conference – one of the ‘most delicious pears known’ – but it needed a warm spot." This excerpt comes from an entry in The Book of Pears, by Joan Morgan. The same book also stated that Passe Crassane was a parent of Delsanne, which is now marketed as the popular variety "Goldember". The fruits can develop a much more yellow color if allowed to ripen further on the tree: http://www.mouneyracfreres.com/en/img/produits/cat_p1_passecrassane_img.png Another unusual fact I read about this pear, it is parthenocarpic (sometimes produces fruits without seeds), probably as the result of it being an interspecies hybrid. "...the passé-crassane, is actually a pear-quince hybrid that was developed in Normandy. It is particularly useful in cooking because of its firm, grainy flesh, but it is also tasty eaten raw." (The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth about What You Should Eat and Why, by Jonny Bowden, p144 ) The story is that around 1885 there was a French nurseryman named Louis Boisbunel in the Rouen region of France who successfully crossbred pear with quince and ended up with a variety which he named Passe Crassane. Luther Burbank later made attempts to crossbreed the two species but was unsuccessful, as most of the resulting seedlings were very feeble or died, and he was unable to obtain any fruit from the surviving ones. (Luther Burbank: Methods and Discoveries 4: 138-140, (1914)) The other pear-quince hybrid is known under the name Pyronia veitchii, sold by a small number of nurseries as a curiosity (and there are several cultivar varieties), but its fruits are not very good.