Sorry for the late reporting. The July 4th holiday schedule in my house was quite crazy. I'm happy to report that my fig tree started to grow again! It was absent for the last 3 months. I have attached a picture showing new buds on all the tips. Terry, thanks for the tip of using sun shade. I actually used this trick when planting a young guava tree, which worked really well. However, the fig tree is facing a canyon, where the wind is very strong. I haven't been able to get the canopy staying in place, but have some other idea to try this weekend. As the old leaves continue to curl and drop, I think I have to try this trick with the watering change. I agree with you on the compost vs. chemical fertilizer. It's quite clear to me now that I'm guilty of over-fertilizing the fig tree, so I stopped doing it except some coffee grounds outside of drip line to amend the soil. BTW, my soil is ph7, very uniform, so not sure if I should use agricultural lime. HD, thanks a lot again for the great tip of coffee grounds. That's a lot of information on coffee grounds from your link! I'm not a coffee drinker, so instead of getting coffee grounds from Starbucks, I've been getting about 1/2 lb daily from my office for more than a week. I actually have a question following your mulching tip. The fig is sitting close to an edge of a slope. I did pull up ground cover and extended the mulch area away from slope, but kind of debating if I should do the same toward slope since ground cover is there to prevent soil erosion from rain. The ground cover seems improved the soil quite a bit. For the places without ground cover, the soil was really dry and barren, while the soil under ground cover were moist and rich. I've found fig roots as far as 2.5-3 feet away from trunk. Do you think I should replace more ground cover with mulch? One thing I don't know is if ground cover will compete with fig on water and nutrients. However, in places where ground cover and fig roots co-exist, the soil is better than those with fig roots alone. I've been using dripping from buckets to better water the tree, which seems to be working well. I also plan to install automatic dripping converting my sprinklers. The challenge I am not able to solve yet is ground cover and fruit trees need to be on two different schedules, but I have only one zone covering that space. Here is a link I found very informative to calculate how much water fruit trees need, which I miscalculated really badly before. I realized that I was giving my fig less than half of what it needs! http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/The_Big_Picture/Irrigation/ Bud, your tree is in a much better shape, as it grows really well. My tree after 3 years is less than 5 feet tall. However, I wonder if both of us are guilty of over-fertilizing the tree. From my reading, too much nitrogen during its fruiting time will lead to premature dropping of fruits. Does it apply to your case?

Not particularly rare......just a relatively recent introduction. So no indication that it may be fussier or more delicate. It IS a Chinese wisteria afterall and a tough, tough plant. I'd wait until the vine is dormant and move it to a more favored location.

Beautiful photos arctictropical!! I currently have my one year old wisteria planted on the south side of my husband's garage- it is in full sun at the base and will have some shading from the overhang for the vines once they get going. My questions is: where is the most suitable spot to plant these? - In regards to optimum growth. This winter, I thought it had died, but sure enough it popped out about a month ago and is seemingly growing well but still very small. ( no mulching or protection ) Any imput would be appreciated as I'm from Vancouver and would LOVE to have this in my garden. I live in NW Calgary now. Thanks for your time, Elisabeth BTW - I bought mine last year and just saw them today for sale at Golden Acres off McKnight in Calgary ( approx. $40 ) 2 gal

This is a question you really don't want to hear, and probably don't want to answer. But given what you've described, I think the possibility of drug use has to be considered. Is there any chance he could be using/dabbling in prescription drugs, or street drugs or steroids? Sadly, children who have money, but few financial responsibilities often find themselves tempted by pills that help them party, or make them feel better when they aren't. If he's not drugging himself or drinking, then you have a child with some serious problems with responsibility. You probably can't 'fix' him at this point, unless you're willing to be really tough and make him face teh consequences of his actions. I will warn you, though--keep bailing him out, and unfortunately you may find yourself in the same position as my in-laws. They had one responsible child, and 3 who were money pits. One--their only daughter--expected them to bail her out even after she was married. Her husband had a good job (6 figure salary) but it wasn't enough for her. Their bills were unpaid (FIL had to more than once pay the water/sewer and other bills to keep service on and prevent liens on SIL's property). When they needed a new roof? FIL had to pay for it. FIL had to buy their appliances when they broke. Eventually, SIL coerced her parents into changing their wills, making her their sole beneficiary--but she flubbed up, lost the new will, and MIL died intestate. But I'm getting ahead in my story. After FIL died, there was about $700 left for MIL's end care (she had alzheimer's). that included the house she lived in. Within a little over a year, SIL had spent a QUARTER OF A MILLION $$$. MIL was in a paid off house, being cared for by family members. SIL was spending her money on: family vacations, helping her brother buy a house, $200-300 restaurant meals, and all sorts of things that weren't for MIL's benefit. DH and I had no choice but to hire a lawyer to stop the hemmoraging. We're out of pocket over $20,000 in legal and forensic accounting fees at this point, the nighmare has been going on for 7 years, and is not over yet. I'm just letting you know one of the possible outcomes of helping children a little too much, and not allowing them to become responsible for their own bills, welfare and messes. Please--don't do to your son what my in-laws did to most of their children. Don't do to YOURSELF what FIL and MIL did to themselves. FIL ended up working as a plumber into his 80's--until he went into the hospital for the last time--to support his daughter, and his 2 deadbeat sons (I lucked out and got the one responsible one of the bunch, thank goodness). Look, it's a lot easier, to 'help' children who seem to need constant propping up. But the real help is when you let them fall a time or two, and to claw their own way back up.