Hi, well I think I'd wait til you can plant them outdoors this spring (after the last frost has passed), and grow them in the ground where they'll do the most the fastest. You didn't say if you were e.g. in the Hebrides vs. Cornwall (where it's a lot warmer!). If you are in the south, maybe a grower there could tell you how hardy the plants are in your area, whether they can live outdoors all year or not, or how much protection they need over the winter - they're not really meant to grow indoors and they do get awfully large. Otherwise, it is best to grow them out individually for as long (couple of yrs?) as it takes for you to be happy with the trunk growth, etc.

What a great antique tool collection. If those tools could talk, they would tell us about hundreds of hours of dirt-work. Maybe they were there when the owners wore their backs out. lol. What a great way to display and honor what they represent. I would add a garden sign to the collection. "SWEAT HAPPENS". Or a quote from a gardening poet. "Sweat Doth Happeneth". There thats better. The blue bottle tree is so great and I'll bet looks wonderful as the continuation of the blue garden balls in the other tree. Your garden bench looks so inviting. The 'hopping steps' (log slices) make a very fun path to get to the seating area. Dont forget to paint loads of wood sealer on them every season. (I had some but mine were cut too thin and rotted down quickly) The headboard has a forboding look that says, it dares any of the woods to encroch any further. "May not grow beyound this fence". lol. It all works well and you needed that pop of white to prevent the shadows of the woods from swallowing up the designs of the bench and headboard. Thank you and Carol for providing a rose garden for your princess!!!!! Roses are gifts of love. I did not know that mini roses could live through the winter and come back! Let me know their proper name (it's probably Latin). I'm all excited about learning that. Great pictures!

Konrad, Well as I said I was starting this project from scratch and not everybody is detailed in giving instructions. Back in 2012 I did a search and came up with 3 types of recommendations from the internet, straight latex paint, diluted latex paint, mix diluted paint plus joint compound. Did not know which was best so tried all 3. Don't understand why I could not find any comparison of the 3 options at the time and I have to be the one to do the testing but there you go. Heck even now if you take a look at google search for ''paint fruit tree trunk'' 1st link: https://utextension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/SP307-G.pdf University of Tennessee and no mention of dilution. In fact they say ''Use paint full strength for maximum protection.'' 2nd link http://fruitgrowersnews.com/index.php/magazine/article/painting-tree-trunks-protects-against-rodents-borers all 3 options are discussed and the Cornell university guy says ''we applied the paint at full strength'' 3rd link from 2012 post here on Garden web: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fruit/msg0115085916619.html ''Paint does not need 50/50 with water color can be any you choose. 50/50 limit to make more paint volume.'' 4th link: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101104170435AADGz8P No mention of dilution. 5th link: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/ (name redacted due to garden web spam blocking) /issue_07/winter_05_11.cfm University of Illinois does not mention dilution. ''Apply the paint using a brush or other materials such as a sponge in order to get a thick coat for better protection.'' 6th link: http://www.starnursery.com/chemicals/specialty-products/white-latex-tree-trunk-paint-1-quart.html No mention of dilution. So of the top 6 google searches done TODAY, 3 have university agriculture guys not mentioning dilution or saying to use full strength and the other links mentioning full strength or not mentioning dilution either. So I think it is pretty clear that not everyone dilutes. Having done the test of the 3 options in my particular environment (zone 4a/b, wet and cold fall - winter - spring, clay soil), I am going with paint:water:joint compound from now on and hopefully someone can take something from my experience when they are trying to decide what to use. I'm just sharing my experience on what worked for me, explaining where I screwed up and what went wrong so others can learn from my mistakes. Eg. in heavy clay don't amend your planting holes. Many references say mix up to 30% compost or good soil into your planting hole with the rest being the natural soil. Others say no amendments. Well this year I found that a 4' hole I dug and did the 30% mix had shrunk! 2 years later now, around the whole outer diameter of the 4' planting hole was a crack 1/2 to 3/4'' wide all the way around where the soil in the planting hole had shrunk and contracted away from the surrounding soil. Yeah, a 3/4'' air gap is not bloody good for roots trying to cross! Essentially I think that tree is going to be a giant root-bound plant. I tried to mash up the soil but as i said that hole was 3' deep and 4' wide so not the easiest thing to do. I'm hoping the worms will finally fill in the air gap and roots will cross. But learn from my mistake, NO AMENDMENTS (at least in clay soil), just put your compost and the like on the top of the surface and the nutrients will find their way down.

Actually, I'm starting to think it's a problem of being underwatered... late last summer when I had the same problem, I greatly reduced watering, and nothing changed. I checked the soil (gritty mix) again and it's totally bone dry. I had been watering pretty frequently, but very little each time - maybe only 20-30ml each time. The trunk only started to become a lot more solid when I began watering about a month ago, so maybe I just need to water a bit more each time I water. There are lots of new, white roots growing and no new signs of rot... it had been unusually sunny for about 2 weeks so perhaps the plant needed a bit more water during this period? I'll try watering a bit more each time I water, and maybe reduce the frequency a bit. Will keep you posted on how this goes... Thanks again for the suggestions!