Norma, I'm very sorry to hear that you lost your plant. I do get overly attached to mine. Did you also get high winds in the last round of rains? I was wondering if that had anything to do with it since just rain in the past didn't hurt your plants. caudex, I thought about covering my plants but they are the columnar type (dragon fruit and C. perunianus) and I'm afraid that the weight of the rain/winds would break them. I guess that people who grow their c&s in the ground just have to take their chances... beachplant, I can only speculate that your plants are acclimated to the Texas area which is typically hot and humid so they do okay with the rains. The problem here in SoCal is that we're in such a dry area and the plants are used to the dryness and lack of regular watering. When we get these heavy and constant rains the plants just can't handle it. Sandra

Hi Lynn, I have grown the 1943 All American Selection Jubilee/Golden Jubilee (sold under both names but I think they are the same variety) several times, both in Fort Worth years ago and here in Oklahoma in 1999 and the early 2000s. Jubilee is a good yellow/orange tomato, but not the best yellow/gold variety I've ever grown. As grown in my garden, it is a medium-sized indeterminate plant that has proven to be quite disease-resistant. (I think it has shown VFT resistance for testing and labeling purposes.) The tomatoes are about 6 to 8 oz., sweet, meaty and juicy. During the droughts of the late 1990s and early 2000s it produced quite well under difficult conditions. It also holds well on the vine if you get busy and don't get around to picking tomatoes as often as you'd like. For me, Jubilee produced more tomatoes per plant than Nebraska Wedding but fewer than Azoychka or Dr. Wyche's Yellow. Nebraska Wedding, however, produced larger fruit and, at least as grown in our garden and to our taste buds, Nebraska Wedding had a tastier, heirloom-type flavor. Since individual taste buds vary, you might find the opposite to be true. The last few years I have tried various other yellow and orange tomatoes with mixed results. Both Persimmon and Russian Persimmon produced as heavily as Jubilee, but the fruits were somewhat smaller. They both had good flavor. Aunt Gertie's Gold has not been a heavy producer for me, but the large golden tomatoes are yummy and it handles our heat well here in southern Oklahoma. Yellow Brandywine had luscious flavor but not very many fruit per plant. Dixie Golden Giant is an outstanding choice, but I only grew it in Texas years ago and haven't grown it in Oklahoma. It does, however, handle the heat extremely well. I don't care all that much for the flavor of Lemon Boy although it produces lots and lots of tomatoes per plant. Two relatively new tomatoes that show great promise in our climate are Little Lucky and Lucky Cross. Little Lucky produced smallish mostly yellow-orange tomatoes with a reddish blush on the blossom end of the plant that radiates about halfway up the fruit. It had excellent flavor and produced fruit all summer long in 2007. I grew it both in the soggy, wet ground that resulted from last year's abundance of rain, and also in very large containers on our concrete patio. Both produced equally well. Lucky Cross is a large tomato, about the same size as Big Boy in our garden. The fruit have a little more of the traditional bi-color marbling. The flavor is also outstanding. I didn't get a huge number of fruit per plant last year, but that may be the fault of the excessive rain, coolness and cloudiness that plaqued us until late July. Jaune Flamme' is a small orange tomato that we like. It was one of the first plants to produce ripe tomatoes last year and one of the last.....it still had tomatoes on it when a freeze killed the plant in November. Last year it did better in a large container on the patio than in the ground. The heat didn't seem to bother it at all. Jaune Flamme's flavor seems worse (as in little flavor, almost none) when it is very wet, cool and cloudy. However, on the patio where it baked in the heat reflected from the patio, the flavor was better, so it might do especially well when grown in hot, dry conditions. I've never grown Powers, so can't help you there. I especially adore the yellow/orange cherry/grape tomatoes and always grow several of them. For us, SunGold is the tastiest, followed by Ildi, Dr. Carolyn and Coyote, which is pale yellow to white. Snow White tastes wonderful but always has foliar problems here. In your lower humidity, it might do very well. And, I almost forgot two favorite golden-fruited heirlooms: Livingston's Golden Queen and Livingston's Gold Ball. Both produced until frost in our garden last year and both have excellent flavor. (Queen has larger fruit and Ball has more fruit.) They are both very heat tolerant. I haven't grown Powers. Dawn

Luckily no one was killed, which is amazing after seeing pictures of the destruction and damage. Nighttime tornadoes are especially dangerous because many people are asleep and not aware of watches and warnings. I think NC unfortunately leads the nation in deadliest nighttime tornadoes. I have never experienced a confirmed tornado, but believe I was in a weak one a few years ago - everything was completely vertical, trees down all over the place, and on top of cars, buildings damaged. It is my worst fear for sure...since a young age IÂve had too many nightmares about tornadoes! I feel for people that live in tornado alley. So it is really important to be aware of tornado watches and warnings. Once the warnings were issued last Sunday, I was glued to the local news for three hours straight!

We are in the process of having our wood siding replaced. We have serious problems with carpenter ants, woodpeckers, and rotting. Granted, this siding is 30 yrs old, but virtually everyone in the neighborhood has gotten it replaced. We're one of the few remaining houses with the original siding.