Hello, Thanks for the information. It is good to know that they can withstand some severe pruning or in this case (branch loss). You said that you already have some olives... when can I expect to see them budding? They are about 2 years old now, should they fruit this summer? I have attached two pictures that show the tree. Some of the branches are starting to look a little droopy but the leaves still look healthy. http://photos.gardenweb.com/garden/galleries/2007/05/olive_tree.html This second picture shows the break and how I tied it to try to restore some symmetry. http://photos.gardenweb.com/garden/galleries/2007/05/olive_tree_break.html Regarding pot size - you can see it in the picture they are roughly 18 inch pots at the moment. I expect that I will have to upgrade to bigger pots some day but they seem ok for now. I kept them on my enclosed porch for the winter and they did fine. It is not heated but does not freeze and receives roughly half of day of sun. Any comments are appreciated. Even if it is to yell at me for doing something wrong. :) Thanks, John

Yeah, I don't really bother with standards because they do require extra pruning, particularly after the first flush of flowers to head back those growing laterals. Because standard roses will bloom on new wood, you can be fairly harsh with the pruning and shaping, just do it between flushes. Basically, like all pruning, you are doing it for shape and size control (which is why little and often is better than stimulating the rose into overdrive with a hard prune), control of disease and passage of air (take out tiny twigs, inward growing canes to keep the centre open). Usually, the rose trunk should be clear so you may have to pinch out developing buds along the trunk but as a rule, it is the same as pruning hybrid teas but just do an extra summer cut to shape - and with some vigorous weeping types, you might need to trim throughout the year, just to maintain a compact shape. Winter pruning is when you need to consider the whole bush since this is the time we can take off extra wood without the rose immediately breaking into new growth-you can really cut the head of the bush tight while keeping an open centre. A bit like pruning for fruiting spurs on apples, I do the pruning in dead of winter rather than spring, when I am attempting to keep a plant a bit more compact and neat. Much also depends on your climate (which I have moved the page on and cannot recall) so someone near you may well chime in with a more considered and nuanced reply.

Christine- you saved a life! Not many can say that! I like to think I'm the type that won't panic but since I've never been in a true life threatening situation, I can't know for sure. I was an athletic trainer in high school, in football country, so I've had my fair share of calming injured persons down. This is completely anecdotal but football players are WAY more "sissy" than softball/volleyball girls. I had to restrain several girls and tell them "NO, I need to look at that ankle!" while I had to tell at least one football player to get up and get off the field! The closest "panic" experience I've had was when my 2 year old severely burned herself. I only had panicky feelings AFTER she was at the hospital. During the moment, I was in the moment, using the skills and knowledge I had to help her. Did I ever mention my original "when I'm grown up I want to be..." was a doctor? Probably helps that my dad was a first responder and I remember sitting around the dinner table and him telling about reaching into a guys broken leg and pinching the femoral artery shut. When we were at a family gathering later and he was sharing the story, others were disgusted and couldn't finish their meals!! That's when I learned that other people have a different tolerance/panic level than we (my family) do. Marrying ketshup....EWWWW!!!!!!! Look, I'll save the old, almost empty bottle (in the fridge) to use next time but mixing them? Bleh!! Shaken, not stirred? All juices, salsa, ranch, BBQ sauce, basically all condiments, chocolate milk, tea. I'm a southern gal but growing up my mom only drank unsweetened tea. It wasn't until I was a teenager that I learned that southern iced tea is generally sweet tea. Still can't stand it to this day. IF I'm going to have tea it will be iced and NOT sweet! Also, no one else has said it but can I just say that canned veggies need to die a horribly slow painful death? The only veggies I got growing up (remember mom HATED cooking) were canned. Canned corn (Meh, OK in a pinch) canned peas (SOOO mushy!!), canned carrots (OK, if I can't have fresh I actually do prefer canned to frozen), canned beets (BLEH!!! Still my most hated veggie to this day) canned green beans (THIS is LITERALLY the worst!!! Salty, limpy, bad flavor yuckiness put in a can!!!) The only one I actually liked and still buy/stock my pantry with is hominey. My canned goods storage is very different from my moms. Her pantry was/is stocked with canned veggies, soups, beans, etc. The cans in my pantry are generally tomato sauce/paste (hoping to start growing my own next year!!), and prepped beans. Pinto, black, refried, black eyed peas, etc. I really want to start my garden next year and grow tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, garlic and herbs to start with. Hopefully, years from now, my daughters will talk about mom's atrocious pantry with ready made foods because they have grown accustomed to having fresh food. :)

The comments about under-watering issues when using the 5:1:1 are unfounded and misleading. Undoubtedly, plants in a 5:1:1 mix with pine bark as the primary fraction are going to meed watering more often, but that is a very good thing. Since we all know the 5:1:1 mix is very productive, and, the grower is 100% responsible for seeing the plant's water needs are met, any under-watering issues would rightly be considered grower error. It's not reasonable to think one can grow in a highly aerated, fast-draining medium without comparatively shorter watering intervals, and no matter what medium is being used, if the grower isn't watering appropriately by way of stretching watering intervals out too far, there is going to be an issue. If we give it some thought and really identify the reason growers have so much better luck with highly aerated and fast-draining media, we'll see the purpose is to rid our growing experience of the limitations imposed by perched water. As long as there is perched water in any medium, it is a limiting factor; so, from the plant's perspective it's always a good thing to eliminate as much excess water as possible. In the extreme and all else equal, media that actually NEED watering twice per day will offer much better opportunity for plants to realize a much greater of their genetic potential than even a well-made 5-1-1 mix, and far more opportunity than other media based on large fractions of fine materials. The growing experience often involves compromise. Assuming, arguendo, we agree plants that need watering twice daily have much better opportunity to realize more of their potential than plants that need watering only every 2 weeks, we'd almost all agree we're not willing to water twice daily, even if it does serve the plant better. Somewhere between twice daily and every 2 weeks is a compromise watering interval that suits our priorities. What's important isn't whether or not everyone goes all in and waters every hour on the hour, what's important is understanding there is a compromise to be made and how to make it. It's not uncommon, even within the span of 2 consecutive posts, for grower A to pooh pooh a name brand medium known to be very water-retentive and hard on plants, and grower B to pooh pooh the 5:1:1 or gritty mix because it doesn't provide at least a 2 week watering interval. No one can tell grower A or B what is better for them because we don't order their priorities, but we can say with a great deal of certainty, if all else is equal, that the grower who has to water and the medium that supports the least amount of perched water is capable of providing much better opportunity for the plant to realize more of its potential. What the grower actually decides shouldn't matter to us, no matter how much it matters to the plant. That's the view from here. Al