If true then there should be peaches on it. I would guess it is up against the south side of the home where it gets protection from the cold. http://www.starkbros.com/products/fruit-trees/peach-trees/reliance-peach http://www.flaminfury.com/www.flaminfury.com/Flamin_Fury_Peach_Varieties_2_2_1_2.html If it turns out to be a productive peach tree ask him about whether it is for fresh eating or canning and if he does anything special to protect it in the winter (paint trunk white, wrap trunk, cover bare tree, prune back severe)? If you get a peach tree or two to grow but it is unproductive you might try grafting a scion of his onto a branch for future use on topped failures (if they survive just no fruit). I really would be surprised but if true this variety deserves to be preserved and propagated.

Tammy your potted callas were likely forced. I'd just plant them in the garden. They should grow all season and either be lifted after the foliage has been hit with a frost or left alone. Put them somewhere like a garage and once the foliage has dried store them like any other tender bulb or they can be left inground over the winter. I used to lift them but then I noticed that the ones I missed were coming back in the spring so I started leaving them out. You can put the amaryllis in the ground and lift it in the fall or you can keep it in a pot. I'm not sure what you do to make them bloom but I'm sure you can find info online. I have Brown Turkey figs in the yard and some tender varieties in containers. The container figs are fully leafed out. I fight the squirrels anhd birds for the fruit but last year I had quite a bit so all were happy. There's several figs that do well in zone 7 though they should be planted in a protected area.

First of all, I am a new fig gardener. I am on Longboat Key -- the barrier island off of Sarasota. We are in residence here only seven months of the year. We head North in mid-May, and return mid-October. I started last winter, around Christmas time. I now have a grand total of five trees. I started by buying two -- a Brown Turkey and a Green Ischia. They came in as four feet tall -- and bare-rooted. I planted them on the south side of my house -- actually right next to the foundation. I soon added another store-bought into the ground, a Black Violette from Paradise Nurseries (Sybil). (I also bought two Celestes in one gallon pots, which I carried back North and stuck in the ground. We are in Princeton NJ. Hopefully they have over-wintered (carefully wrapped) and should surprise me -- or disappoint me -- on my return.) I have a Greek neighbor, who started me in this, and who gave me a couple of cuttings. (What he called a "black" and a "white.") I applied some Rootone to them, and started them in one-gallon pots, and transplanted them when the roots started to show from the pot. We returned here last July, and the Brown Turkey was very fruitful. We picked about a dozen. Well, this fall, on our return the Brown Turkey and the Violette were producing, deliciously. Now, the Brown Turkey has lost all of its leaves, and has dozens of buds. The Green Ischia is fully leafed -- and has a couple of dozen figlets. We have a dozen Violettes filling out -- they are black from the start, but still small and hard. But, my prize and joy is the Greek "White." It is fully leafed out and is putting out the most gorgeous and delicious pale green figs. Twice the size of the Brown Turkeys. It started from a twelve inch cutting, and is not double-trunked and four feet tall. The Greek "black" is healthy and growing leaves -- but that's all. My neighbor is "green with envy" while eating my "whites". His father tree is still bare -- and he swears that he has still not gotten it to fruit. They do not require a great amount of irrigation -- I try to keep the soil from baking out. Fertilizing, minimal -- but they do require liming. (Actually they are a great source of calcium.) So -- I think it is the fact that having the trees against the house -- and baking in the noon-day sun -- is the answer. They all just sat there all summer, untended except for occasional spraying by the gardeners -- irrigated only once a week. (It was a rainy summer, anyhow.) Come back to me if I can help. Be well :)

Amur maple is a tree, getting to around 15 feet tall. You'd have to do an awful lot of pruning to keep it at about 3 feet to hide the base of your deck. I'm not sure why the person at the nursery suggested an amur maple to you, unless you wanted a tree to form a canopy over your deck to shade it. There is a creeping type of cotoneaster, so you may be able to train that up the sides. But the "hedge" form of cotoneaster grows to 6 feet tall and wide, and is a bee magnet come flowering time. I know, because we have a hedge of them, and you can hear the whole thing buzzing quite a ways away. Most shrubs do flower, even though some are quite inconspicuous. If you are considering shrubs to go around your deck and you only want them to be a certain height, look for ones that only grow to the height that you want them to be. It makes for a lot less pruning. I've got mainly perennials around my 3' tall deck and they hide the base quite well. And if bees are a concern, it's much easier to cut off the flowers of perennials and still have them look good, as compared to shrubs. Unless of course, if they're evergreen, like spruce or juniper. Good luck! It can be hard trying to pick the perfect plant, isn't it? ;^) Laurie