Hi oldryder, It helps to understand the soil you're dealing with. In my case, with heavier clay-type soil, I experienced the reverse. In my efforts to do the right thing, I killed some young peach trees by watering too much. I learned (probably through this forum) later that some stone fruits don't like having "wet feet" and I drowned them. The apples were effected much less. Now that most of my trees are established in their 3rd leaf, I let them fend for themselves. They are doing very well. Chad

New homes (like ours 22 years ago and probably yours) are generally leveled and graded with the subsoil extracted from digging out the basement hole. The topsoil is stripped and if any soil has to be added for final grading (i.e., even after spreading the basement subsoil), it is not topsoil generally. This "grading" soil is usually very rich soil but devoid of organic matter. And, as you now know, organic matter is needed to get this soil "alive". You just have to add MASSIVE amounts of organic matter to make it friable. Every year, I mulch mow a HUGE amount of autumn leaves all around the yard and garden. It is something you have to do every year (i.e, adding organic matter). Raised beds are good for veggies and flowers but you can amend strips of the existing soil by adding massive amounts of organic matter and digging it in. (You'll have to make the raised beds out of purchased topsoil, Canadian peat and compost, etc., to get them "ready to use" immediately. I'd keep the compost in the new raised beds at about 10 percent IMHO.) Now is an absolutely perfect time to do this. Go around your area and see if you can find any curbside leaf bags and dig those into flower or veggie growing areas you want in the future and/or mulch mow them EVERYWHERE. Now is the time to do this and I recommend you do this on a MASSIVE scale. You'll have to run the mower over the thick layer of leaves 3 to 4 times to get it real small. Over time you will see dramatic results IMHO. All this organic material addition/amending is alot of work but it is great exercise and very rewarding IMHO. Good luck!! Tidbit: I talked to Dr. Elaine Ingram (she's an expert on soils) a few years back asking about the typical suburban soil around new homes and she basically said: "You probably can't add enough organic matter in your lifetime to make the soil 'too organic'." What she was really saying was "have at it" and don't worry about mulching massive amounts of organic matter onto the soil. Compost, shredded leaves, mulched grass clippings, wood chips, etc. Dr. Ingram isn't big on digging stuff into the soil but she said for new suburban soils this is fine to get things "started". She also said autumn leaves are great organic material.

Linda, Thank you for asking. Yes, I confess. I love cannas. In my climate, there are only a few people I know that can leave them in the ground year round and I consider them magicians with microclimates. The rest of us must store them over winter somehow. I prefer not to dig mostly out of laziness. You are exactly right about the bubble pack and brown paper. Brown paper for darkness and bubble pack to provide some insulation since my garage is not heated. Once they all green up, I will pull out all the brown dead leaves from last year and clean them up. In late May, they will be able to stay outside all day. For now, the canna trolley it is. I also gave them some kelp water about every 3rd water. And this year, I gave them a sprinkle of milorganite because I read that it can give you huge cannas. I don't know all the variety names that I have. I never really kept track. I do know that I have Bengal Tiger which I bought last year and a yellow one called Harvest Yellow. I actually found that out by posting on this forum which was so fun! I have a red one, a hot pink one, and I have a dwarf variety as well. The pots are pretty full and I should probably divide. I did divide the yellow one last fall so I'm waiting to see how that turned out before dividing others. I don't have the best pictures of mine, but promise to try to get better photos this year. Harvest Yellow - photo taken August 2016 (this one blooms really late)

Hi all! This has been one of my favorite plants since I started gardening! I tried them the first year I gardened and fell madly in love with them. So I've been looking for seeds high and low! I finally grew them from seed for the first time this year. I didn't collect the seeds from the plants (although I may try that this year). I used a pellitized seed I ordered from Parks and had nearly 100% germination rate. The only problem I have encountered is that I started them late and my plants are still tiny. I will definitely start them super early next spring. Glad to see more people are discovering this beautiful annual and that more nurseries are starting to carry it. It used to be so hard to find, but I even got it at Lowe's this year! Hope I've helped! Tara Here is a link that might be useful: Parks Angelonia Link