Bradybb: sorry but we do not grow A. alnifolia where I work. I cannot comment on any alnifolias except Regent since we do carry it but do not grow it ourselves. Just an FYI to everyone that running serviceberry only grows about 4' tall but suckers like crazy creating a solid stand of serviceberry. Great flavor to the fruit. This species is hard to find and I do not know of anyone growing it commercially for fruit. Usually any commercial places I hear about grow one of the alnifolia types so popular on the prairie states of Canada. My favorite grandiflora types to eat are 'Cole Select' and 'Autumn Brilliance' although all the selections and even plain grandiflora species are quite tasty. A local lady came to the nursery I am at one year and asked if she could pick the serviceberry fruit on the young trees in the field. She made jelly and won a ribbon at the local county fair with it. The local newspaper had a big article on it. She did this for several years. I do plan to try my hand at serviceberry jelly if we have a good fruit crop this year. I have read that the seeds can be poisonous if too many are ingested. Strange as I eat more than my share of serviceberry fruits when in season and never had an issue. I did find that eating too many fresh had quite a laxative affect.

The roots go a lot further down than an inch, and it doesn't look like that pop bottle has any drainage holes. I still suspect they are too wet most of the time, and probably are not getting enough sun as another poster noted. Lavender is originally from the Mediterranean region, along the coast. Yes, they manage to grow a lot of lavender in England - it is still a Mediterranean plant, however, that grows best in dry, chalky, poor soils. I think the Brits just tend to be better gardeners on average than the average 'merican, LOL! Plus they have lots of chalky coastline ... think the White Cliffs of Dover ... Lavender does NOT do well in soil that is moist all the time. If they are doing "better" since you started daily watering, I shudder to think how they were doing before, because those plants are not doing anything like "well", especially given that you started those plants way back in the spring. Here's a picture of a potted lavender that is doing well: Potted lavender advice Lavender needs 8 hours of sun a day, at least. Full sun in the garden is what they are talking about there. I don't think your plants are getting near that on your balcony. It will only be worse sitting near the window there in your kitchen (or where ever you plan to put them over winter). I understand that you are in an apartment and have VERY limited access to light and space for growing plants. Lavender is a very challenging plant (so is rosemary) for growing indoors. I've never had any luck growing either plant indoors myself. I'm not saying it can't be done; but it is a challenge. Your setup is not adequate to the task at this time. You're not getting nearly enough light; the soil mix in your pop bottles looks too heavy (lavender does better in a soil-less mix, in fact I think potted lavender may be a prime candidate for some version of Al's gritty mix). There are no drainage holes that I can see in that pop bottle and you are overwatering if the soil is never allowed to dry out. Lavender also like an alkaline soil. Adding some lime could help. ESPECIALLY if there is any peat moss at all in your soil mix, or if you are using pine fines as mulch or a soil amendment. So - alkaline soil, allow the soil to dry between waterings - not totally since these are first year plants but it shouldn't be wet or even damp all the time; and it loves the heat but dislikes humidity (hence it does pretty durn well in our dry near-desert conditions in N. Nevada). However at this point in time I hold out little hope for the survival of your plants over the winter, given their stunted condition now. I'm not trying to be discouraging; go ahead and try, you've come this far with them. But you need to repot them in a soil-less mix more suited to the plant and be prepared to supply extra heat and light, else they will not survive. Here is a discussion and fairly clear description of how to make Al's gritty mix. Personally I have found ALL the ingredients difficult to impossible to find. Turface, in particular, I have never been able to lay hands on - and though it is the virtually same stuff as certain types of cat litter or adsorbent, it isn't ALWAYS the same stuff. For instance, Napa Floor Dry has been touted as a replacement - but there are TWO KINDS and only one of them is suitable for this purpose. And I'm too tired to go dig up the links that tell you which is which. Also, having to screen and discard large portions of your ingredient isn't exactly lending itself to being affordable - let alone easy. That said - for this particular instance, I think gritty mix is your best bet - if you can only find the ingredients and get them properly screened and mixed.

I feel a list coming on (they are all in the ground): Citrus: Blood Orange - from seed to 2ft in three years, no complaints Meyer Lemon - one gallon gift has yielded lemons all three years, thriving Palms: Canary Island Date Palm - from three gallon to monster, if you have the room this is your palm Silver Date Palm - Seedling is adjusting but putting out new fronds, so far so good Bismarkia nobilis - Seedling is sulking, I hope that it is establishing its roots and puts out some growth this summer or I think that winter will kill it Chinese Fan Palm - Establishing itself, so far so good Foxtail Palm - Seedling in sun scorched to death, seedling in shade putting out new growth, three gallon in semi-sun recovering nicely from a nursery- induced spider mite infestation Pygmy Date Palm - growing as fast as these little guys do Mexican Fan Palm - Until Tropical Storm Cindy this was a big success, now it is looking really stressed, I think the roots were disturbed by the wind Queen Palms - Coming along a little more slowly than I expected, next year will tell Sabal Palm - This was a gift of a bird to the yard and is probably ten years old, it is finally developing some trunk Gingers: five species all thriving (except for the ones that the yard guy weed eats) Cassias: alata and one other whose name escapes me, too successful, want some? Cannas: at least five cultivars, Wyoming looks the best, all have leaf roller issues Alocasia: thriving in shade and sun Colocasia: sulking, too much shade, not enough water Bananas: ornata, rojo, and one that I rustled from a construction site are all thriving, they are a maintenance chore, but when kept in check nothing beats them Firespike: perfect for deep shade Tree Fern: I would not trade my Australian Tree Ferns for anything, one has more than three feet of trunk, this is the first year for the Tasmanian Tree Fern, they are all planted under trees to protect from radiational cooling Rice Paper Plant: thriving, which is both good (they resemble gunnera which we can't grow here) and bad (they pop up everywhere) Root Beer Plant: piper auretum (or something like that), it is thriving, Cindy's winds made me cut it way back, it runs like bamboo, sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it, to do over I would have put it in an area that I could control better, it has a great leaf shape if you are into that sort of thing Cuphias: I have five species of these "cigar" plants, beetles have really chewed them up this year and I have tried unsuccessfully to control them, it is an off year Castor Bean: I grow it, but not with much enthusiasm, they grow tall quickly and flop over just as quickly Clerendum uganese: An off year, I suspect some root rot Bottle brush: If you don't have one you should, great screening plant that attracts hummers, blooms heavily in spring and sporatically during the rest of the year (like now), from ten inch plant to small tree in six years Nigh blooming jasmine: you either love it or hate it Brugmansia: I don't know what cultivar it is, it was sold to me as a "white" one, but it is more of a "salmon/peach", I grow it in part sun rather than full sun, I think you get a better canopy of leaves this way, this is the best smelling flower that I have ever encountered, it can freeze to the ground and become a small tree in one season Lantana: I grow an orange and a white one, they come from an era when I wanted bulletproof plants, overrated as butterfly plants Justicas: I grow shrimp (red bracts), flamingo (pink) and hummingbird (orange) plants, these are somewhat too successful Morning Glory Tree: I don't know what to do with this because of it unusual form, it blooms when nothing else does, however, it is an awkward plant (to 20ft high) I know that I am forgetting a few like the monkey face and a few tender salvias, but it is a start.

I had a friend, she passed, but she had a edible pear tree in her yard. I wanted to have some one graf it to one or to small limbs on my eating pear. However the boys sold the place. You may want to ask around. Re Mangos, suggest you talk to the university in your area you may possibly put it in a extra large pot when you can put it in a shed for the winter. God Bless