Nope, never had orange juice pancakes. I usually make them from a delicious buttermilk pancake recipe I found online and add a generous handful of blueberries. I keep some mix here, too, for those mornings when I just don't have time or inclination to cook from scratch, or when I don't have real buttermilk for them. It's acceptable but nowhere near as good as the scratch ones. The Black From Tula tomatoes were decent but I won't grow them again. They're not good enough to justify the space and energy. I grow Better Boy and Big Boy, too. They're almost always dependable producers of good tomatoes. I like trying new varieties every year and keeping some of the old standbys for the majority of the production. This year I also grew Mortgage Lifters. They were okay but I don't think they lived up to their reputation. I've grown Brandywines, too. It was a year that I had trouble in the garden with disease and drought and they didn't produce much at all. I might try them again another time. We do a taste testing day at the Heirloom Tomato Demo Garden every year and this year my favorite was Todd County Amish. It had more true tomato taste than the others. I hope to grow some next year in my garden. If the Demo Garden folks have seedlings I'll probably get some from them rather than buy seeds. I usually order from just one or two catalogs (Totally Tomatoes is a great one!) to save on shipping. If I can get the majority at one place, I'll order a special or two from some other company. Otherwise, I rely on local seeds or transplants. I can't see adding several dollars to the cost just to get a couple of packets of seeds. One of my favorite books is Dr. Carolyn Male's 100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden. I've learned a lot about growing tomatoes in general and often try a couple of new varieties based on her recommendations. Okra is delicious in soups and stews! My sister and her husband used to grow a lot of it but I only want enough to freeze some for winter use along with a little in summer. I grow it about every 2 to 3 years. I've been a Master Gardener since 2000 and love every minute of it. Our record keeping is very simplified and done online now. The only difficulty is sometimes recording the demographics at these seminars or at clinics but I usually have a helper at the seminars (a new MG in their first year) to do that. I also work the new to us Ask an Expert email system and answer a wide variety of questions through it. I mainly teach the veggie classes but have done a number of different ones, too. For example, last year I taught a group at an assisted living facility how to do a cut flower garden. I work full time in my husband's business and volunteer in two other organizations (both work related) so I really do burn the candle at both ends! I'd like to have more time to devote to the Extension programs, but can't do it right now. Love blackberry cobbler! I don't make jelly or jam much anymore but remember the year we picked 125 quarts of blackberries! That was a great year and we lived where there were tons of vines. Not so many where we are now but enough for a few good pickings. I've thought about growing some in the end of the garden but never bought any. Do the cultivated thornless varieties have the deep blackberry taste like the wild ones? Maybe I could get the grandkids interested in picking thornless ones. They seem to be "alergic" to the scratchy wild ones here! Sandy

Hi getgoing100_7b_nj! I haven't had much luck with gardenias either, and I'm supposed live in a zone where they thrive outdoors. Two gardenias I planted in a spot with lots of sun and gave them good soil and fertilizer, and they never bloomed. One I planted in soil that is hard like a rock, in full shade, and although the plant is a little spindly, it gives me blooms every year. Gardenias just died if I kept them indoors. I would recommend that you get a cold hardy gardenia since you live in zone 7, to have on your balcony. They will do much better outside than inside. There are a few cold tolerant varieties so here is an example: Kleim's Hardy Gardenia. I hope this helps! Have a nice weekend, damask_rose_5 : )

@mmmm12COzone5, that part of my house only gets less than 2 hours of morning sun from 7 to 9 and afternoon sun from 3 to 6. I went there at 5 pm ( the hottest hour of the day) and touched the wall and the cement floor underneath the sunshade and it was not hot at all. So, I think they would be ok there. I have a tiny backyard that it was not suitable to grow anything in the ground. The front yard is covered with rocks and I probably could not dig a hole myself. Now, I put the hope on housing market in Las Vegas to go back to 2010-2012. That time the price was like 1/3 of the today price. Then I will buy a house with a big big lot! And I could have a rose garden! (Hopefully, by that time I wold already master the art of growing roses (keep them alive) in the desert) :) @mojavemaria, I took your suggestion putting them in the cardboard boxes. I found two boxes and put them there. Now it is much easy to move them around. Thank you! @Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR and @Lynn-in-TX-Z8b- Austin Area/Hill Country, I am not sure why it is so hot at my house. All the plants that I have could not handle direct morning sun. The leaves were fried and the tiny buds turn black. I had to move Star Jasmin, desert roses, plumeria out to the shaded area around 10-11 am.

YELLOWING USUALLY INDICATES TOO MUCH WATER...DOESNT IT? THEY SAY TO STICK YOUR FINGER IN THE SOIL TO 3 INCHES,,,IF MOIST ITS OK AND THEN WHEN YOU DO WATER IN THE POT WATER UNTIL IT COMES OUT DRAIN HOLES,,,IVE KEPT MY SEEDLINGS OUT OF THE HOT DIRECT SUN,,,(HERE IS PHILIPPINES) HEAT IS TOO MUCH WHEN YOUNG,,GOING TO TRANSPLANT TO GROUND ONCE LARGER,,THEY DO WELL IN MOST ALL DRAINED SOIL...THATS ALL I KNOW BUT GOING TO TRIAL AND ERROR,,,OH IF YOU HAVE DOGS AROUND,,,PROTECT,,,NOTHING WORSE FOR ANY PLANT!!!,