Here again, what you have demonstrated confirms what I have been talking about and you have proven the so-called expert (saying that you need 10 t0 12 hours of sun) WRONG No one ever said that. And except for you, everyone else understood what was actually said. Shelia - as michael explained very well there is a variance in internode length from variety to variety and type to type. There are "averages" determined by studies done on many of the common varieties but the usual way of evaluating it is to measure the difference between the internodes on the plant itself as it grows. With an indeterminate variety when it is provided with ideal growing conditions and ample light they will each remain approx. the same length, have the same spacing, as the plant grows. With insufficient light each internode markedly lengthen as the stem grows. Now I think we have inundated the poor OP, who asked a simple question, with enough emails since this thread was ripped way off topic. I'm done. Dave

I don't agree with blanket statements that more sun is always better. While this might be true in places with high humidity and lower elevations, here in the hot arid SW at 5000 feet, there is such a thing as too much sun, and plants which receive a few hours of shade/partial shade always produce better and are less stressed. Plants here that receive 12 hours of direct sunlight will develop a blasted look in the summer where the color is more grayish-green than lush green. The lower leaves get leathery faster than shaded plants, and the leaves rarely provide a flattened surface to the sun, no matter how carefully you maintain moisture levels. At a certain point here, sun ceases to be a critical component and becomes a stress factor. Plants grown in buckets in these conditions do even worse. They dry out very quickly, and the buckets can get extremely hot when placed on surfaces like concrete, brick, or stone. To help, you can put a layer of mulch in the bucket to help retain moisture, and if your ground temperatures are high, you can place the bucket higher up on some type of stand. Regarding your plants, yellow pear does have thinner, more sharply jagged leaves. It's typical of that variety. Under the right conditions, they can become obscenely large. Since you only have one plant to compare, it might not actually be the conditions that are unfavorable, but it could be the individual plant itself. When you transplanted the yellow pear, was it still in any type of peat container?

I love growing hybrid tea roses. My favorite is called 'Double Delight.' It's the photo I use for my avatar. Its blooms start out a creamy yellow color, but in direct sunlight, the petals turn a deep red, and they are so fragrant. If the blooms open up on a very cloudy day, then they don't color up as much and stay a creamy yellow color with just a hint of pink around the edges. Your photos immediately reminded me of this trait. It's cool to see happen in other plant species. I can't decide which or your blooms I like more. As for my 'Double Delight,' I prefer it when they change color. It seems like the hotter and brighter the sunlight gets, the deeper red and more fragrant the roses become. Thanks for sharing, they're so lovely.^ I went to check on my garden one night, after a severe thunderstorm rolled through. When I shown my flashlight onto this one, I thought it looked pretty cool. So went in and grabbed my camera and snapped this photo.

I've grown tomatoes in 6h of sun and they've done really well until fungus hit them, which I've wondered if the sunlight largely being afternoon sun has contributed to that. No morning sun=morning dew not drying all morning. Other than that, the plants have always been fairly healthy though. I would do as suggested above. You may be surprised at the production you get out of the 6h bed. It would be an interesting experiment. I'm not sure how warm it gets in the San Francisco area, but if it tends to get too hot where you live the 6h could be beneficial.