I am a camera phobe from way back. I did buy my first digital camera a few months ago, but I have not figured out how to post pictures from it. I will take pics this Spring, including of the banksie, and this will be an incentive to post them here. Meanwhile, if you go to Cass Bernstein's web site at "www.rosefog.us", and click on "Grand Ave. Giant", you will see a wonderful picture of one of our over 75 year old roses - it turned out to be a giant Le Vesuve. Holleygarden, our banksie lutea (which is only about 15 years old - I planted it myself) does not take up much of the bed it is in. That is because it went straight up the house (with encouragement from me). It is planted at the back of the bed, next to the house. It has formed a giant trunk, which has lovely peeling bark. It branches out at about 3 feet up, and from then on is covered with foliage. So, I have planted some smaller roses in front of it - a Little White Pet, a bush Cecile Bruner and Lavender Lassie, a hybrid musk. The banksie does look stunning when in full bloom - I will try to get some digital pics. The same wall has also got a 3 story high Cecile Bruner on it, which takes over blooming when the banksie is done. Last year for some reason they both bloomed at the same time - it was remarkable. Jackie

Wish I could be there. I actually need some good advice about pruning my OGRs. They're getting enormous and I haven't a clue what to do with them!

That is a beautiful greenhouse. I enjoy more sweet flavored citrus (like navels) rather than tart (like grapefruits). But I pretty much love all oranges and mandarins, only like lemons and limes for cooking and aides, and am indifferent toward grapefruit. I love the staple of navels: Washington (aka Parent navel). It however has a wide range of flavor quality depending on where it's grown and especially the night temps during ripening. (As you are probably aware, most citrus, stone, and other fruit tree flavors are largely determined by acid/sugar ratios which are established during cool or chill hours.) I also love the flavor of Clementines -- but they are actually close to tasting and having flesh like mini-navels. I like Satsumas even though they are slightly more tart, however they have extremely juicy with minimal flesh cells and minimal pith, so it really makes up for it. Some Good Resources There is some great reading material, albeit somewhat technical and many times focused on commercial growers, put out from Univ. of Florida extension and Univ. of Calif. extensions. I've seen materials from other states, incl. AZ, TX, and even a couple from WA. Even Kern County here in CA provides good material for our local growing climates. Maybe you can find some for your area. I'm glad to find technical material from these centers because it seems like every book or guide on Citrus are nearly identical and their cursory style is suited for the masses. But with technical material also comes a need for background knowledge and critical thinking particularly in when recommendations are made because of the dissimilarities of their environment and yours. After reading citrus books in the library and at stores, you'll also realize not much more would be learned from that method. So FWIW, Here are some of the online sources I've used to educate myself on citrus. For Florida there is the Univ. of Florida IFAS Extension Site or go directly to their BULLETINS You can google or UF/IAS for the extensions document numbers: HS949 and SP248 that provide some OK rootstock information. Or the Univ. of CA. has a great Free Publications website. And the individual UC shools have their own sites that contain some unique (and many duplicate) articles. UC Riverside and Davis are big into citrus. UC Davis Citrus for Home Orchard This might interest you: Cold Hardy Citrus Myth? for WA A great site that is attempting to house all citrus variety technical information is the UC Riverside Citrus Variety Collection . It's listing is un-paralleled and the major varieties are complete, but many varieties are lacking details. Do with it as you see fit.

Let them flop over back to you for easier pickings.