Actually, 24-8-16 is an excellent fertilizer choice for an extremely high % of all containerized plants. It supplies nutrients in almost exactly the same ratio as that actually USED by plants, which allows you to fertilize at lower rates (EC/TDS) than fertilizers like 1:1:1 ratios and high-P products and still avoid deficiencies and excesses (toxicity). In fact, it would be very difficult to make a case for fertilizers other than 24-8-16 and the rest of the assortment of 3:1:2 ratio fertilizers as not being the most logical choice as your 'go to; general purpose fertilizer. I use Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 (another 3:1:3 ratio fertilizer) on all my containerized material. If you're still interested, Barb, you might find the accompanying link of interest. Al Here is a link that might be useful: More about fertilizing plants in containers here

Thank you for all the informations Donna. The final news is that the therapy works well. First of all I powdered the sick places with cinnamon and left for a while and then got the fungicide spray (also went to buy chocolate eggs for Easter) and used the spray three times, leaving at least 30 minutes between each spraying. I'm leaving the bulbs to rest over the night and dry a bit and will put them on soil in the morning. The good news is that most if not all of the rust and red spots are gone. All mould and decay too. I do hope the bulbs will grow back, and the stress won't influence the blooming period. Robert

Your peonies look planted at the right depth. You would not normally have the tall blanched stems you have this year, from having been in too little light before you got them. Those stems are too delicate for full sun, protect them with some shade until they get hardened off. I agree that peonies in California sunshine often benefit from some protection from the west sun. Al

I'm sure most tiles will pop up easy but grinding off the old thin-set residue can be a chore of a job. I would think the choice to do this work will depend on how much noise and dust you can stand and how strong you are. Often saving tile is more work than replacing it. Do the work to reduce land fill waste - be green. Don't do the work to save time and money....