These plants are 1 year old. I clipped back most of the leaves during the winter and new leaves have been rapidly growing. I pulled off most berries last season because the plants were fairly small. However, I have other established berry plants which will be 3 this year and they have blossoms as well. They just are nothing special in terms of variety, just your generic garden store variety. I have some albion, portola and monterey coming today from Nourse. I have too many June Bearers so I wanted to plant more day nuetral varieties this year.

So I was in Staples buying file folders for my filing cabinet when I got this urge...more of a calling I'd say to go to my favorite garden centre. So off I go and I wander in and what do my disbelieving eyes see but a Domino Peace Lily in a 4in pot. I had to use every ounce of my strength to stop myself from grabbing them all and running around the store in a psychotic squealing frenzy. They've always had these in 8in pots but I just HATE buying big plants. Not nearly as much joy in growing them as there is if you buy a small one and get it to an 8in pot yourself. So though they always had those I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for about 2 years to find it in a 4in pot. Alas my patience has been rewarded and I also managed to only buy one, which wasn't nearly as hard as refraining from squealing as I dislike duplicates. Finding this plant also negates the upset that I should feel at having bought file folders that don't fit in my cabinet.

Yes half high blueberry varieties are more cold tolerant than highbush blueberry varieties. In Michigan highbush blueberry are commonly grown in the southern half of the lower peninsula. Highbush will grow north of this area but suffers a greater chance of cold injury primarily to flowering wood. This results in reduced yield and even crop failure. Not ideal for commercial production. Half high bushes are usually crosses of highbush blueberry and lowbush blueberry V. angustifolium. Lowbush is what most people think of as wild blueberry. Technically both highbush and lowbush can be wild. Half highs are shorter and snowcover helps limit cold injury. They also are more cold hardy due to their lowbush lineage. The flavor of the berry is intermediate between highbush and lowbush. There is no standard wild blueberry flavor. I have many wild blueberries on my property. There are at least three lowbush species, highbush, natural half highs, and several lowbush hydrid clones. Berry flavor, color, and size is quite variable. Some have nice flavor others not so much. Flavor of berries is often improved by letting the fruit hang for a few days after the entire berry turns blue. The beauty of half highs are that they extend the area blueberries can be grown to the north. They are also smaller in stature making them more suitable for edible landscaping. Finally I believe they are more tolerant of less than ideal soil conditions (pH) than highbush blueberry.

Well the wedding is over and I bought 4 cases too many of our wine. OH WELL :) I'm drinking a glass of the Pinot Noir as I write this. The Rose' was spectacular. I have just under 2 cases of each left, lol. I've been using it here and there. I took a bottle over to neighbors for yoga night. And I'm set for the winter! The Garnet was $15/bottle and the Commanderie de la Bargemone was $16/bottle. I got a 10% discount for buying by the case. Everyone LOVED the wine (and that killer wedding cake) This is what we got:I know this isn't about Woolite, but the thread had changed a bit in the telling ;)