Yeah, I didn't think late frost was going to hit by this point, so I went ahead and planted my 3 avocados. My friend is going to be over later to do laundry, but before they do laundry, we are going to re route the washer drain to the avocados. They are the heaviest waterers I have, so hopefully the washer water keeps them alive. I did pick up a banana pup, but I'll be putting those in clay for the water retention. Almost all my nectarines (5) are flowering, my pomegranate has a couple blossoms on it, plum has a blossom or 2 my apricot has small green fruit already. Only things that haven't swelled yet are 1 peach, my pecans, and my Santa Rosa plum. Oh and the Asian pear and apple are showing signs of maybe swelling. I doubt I'll get apples this year. Not enough chill time. My dwarf lemon has a bumper crop, but the tiny ones have turned yellow already. My eureka lemon has a few fruit on it already. Good news is the grapefruit that was absolutely disgusting last year has turned sweet this year. I was ready to tear it out, but this crop is delicious. Go figure. Oh and my strawberries have small strawberries on them. They're supposed to be June bearing. But my blueberries are doing great, even though they are on almost no water. They're just mulched heavily. Now that there is fruit set, I have to water more though. Farmers almanac says not until 2017 will we see lots and lots of rain again. So 3 more years of this. I can deal with that :)

No, there aren't any citrus that will thrive outside 12 months per yr..Unfortunately.. I planted rootstock, (Poncirus trifoliata) that bears small, bitter, very seedy fruit, but was surprised when it made it through our first icy winter. Poncirus is quite thorny. Still, it was a great experiment and lived 3 yrs..If I had mulched, (mandatory) in late autumn like I had in previous yrs, I'd bet it would still be living..I fed it citrus fertilizer and applied Superthrive during growing season. There's another rootstock called Citrus Ichangensis that is also quite hardy. Citrus Junos/Yuzu is hardy to 0F. I would think all 3 citrus/rootstock could grow here, w/a good amount of mulch in winter. Check out www.worldplants.com Click on Catalog, then C, scroll down to citrus..open, and you'll see pics of these plants.. The citrus at worldplants are on the small side, (9") but there's another nursery called Mckenzie Farms that sells hardy citrus..He ships taller trees. August wouldn't be a good time to plant though, if you're interested, I'd wait until spring, after all signs of frost is gone. Spataro, do you ever shop at Jamacian Gardens in Morton Grove? They've got lovely plants, and 'just looking, lol' is worth the trip..They have a second store, smaller, further north, I believe in Libertyville..They both sell citrus, but prices are fairly expensive. I also love shopping at Ted's Nursery, and want to visit Sid's some day. Most of my citrus came from FL, but w/the current ban, we can't order.It's ashame because two nurseries I order from, Briteleaf and Harriscitrus ship nice-sized, healthy trees, for 15-20.00 each.. Good luck w/your palms this winter..Do you add Christmas lights to keep warm? Toni

Hi MT! Oh, gosh, thanks for the compliment that I "seem to know so much". I want you to know that I am rolling on the floor laughing because EVERYTHING I know I have learned the hard way by doing everything wrong and then having to educate myself to correct my errors!!!! Of course, experience is the best teacher, but it can be a painful (and expensive) one. Anyway, if we'd had an internet with something like Garden Web when I started gardening as a young adult in the 1970s, I think the learning experience would have been a lot less painful. LOL I'll try to come up with some suggestions for shade, but I don't have a lot of experience with shade, as we built our home in an old cow pasture in between two wooded areas, so I have almost all sun, except for the shade of the one large pecan tree in the front yard. I do have lovely natural wooded areas on some of our acreage, but the copperheads and rattlesnakes enjoy them more in the warm weather than I do. First, when you say you have shade, I don't know what kind of shade. Heavy shade? Dappled shade? Shade all day? Most of the day? For the sake of making a list of shade-loving shrubs, I'll assume you have fairly heavy shade all day long. Some good shrubs for shade are: Abelia grandiflora, aka Glossy Abelia: This is a graceful, arching, spreading shrub that will become about as wide as it is tall. It can grow in full sun to part shade, but I don't know if it will flower well if it is in heavy shade. The leaves are fairly small. It flowers in late spring to early summer, and the flowers are small, sort of tubular and white to pink. The old standard form gets about 6' tall and 6' wide. There are smaller dwarf varieties, like "Sherwoodii" and "Compacta" which eventually get about three feet tall. A taller one (3' to 5' when mature) that has really pretty purple flowers is "Edward Goucher". Abelia is considered semi-evergreen to evergreen. Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hyndrangea quercifolia). Different from most hydrangeas, this one has leaves shaped like an oak leaf. It will get about 6' tall and will eventually spread out that wide. It has lovely fall color, which is a bonus. It blooms in early summer. There are many cultivars in different sizes. It isn't truly evergreen, but its foliage and flowers will stay on the plant until mid-winter. Oregon Grape Holly (Mahonia aquifolium): One of my favorites for shade. It gets from 3 to 6 feet tall, and 3 to 4 or 5 feet wide. It has beautiful bluish-green evergreen foliage. It has lovely yellow blooms in the spring, and the berries are bluish-black. It is really prickly, so don't plant it too close to paths or play areas. English Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) does better in our climate than Japanese (littleleaf) Boxwood. It is just your standard, compact green foundation shrub that has little pest and disease problems. Sometimes in very cold winter the foliage will turn brown, though, so that's a negative. It does need very well drained soil as it will drown and die if it sits in waterlogged soil for any length of time. There are many cultivars of English Boxwood available. Kerria aka Japanese Kerria (Kerri Japonica) is a lovely flowering shrub for shady sites. It prefers shady sites with rich, humusy soil. This is one of those shrubs that grows in an arching manner, so it needs room to spread out. You can't prune it tightly like you could Boxwood, for example. It blooms in spring and early summer. And it is prone to foliar dieases, so it needs good air circulation. It is deciduous. Possumhaw Holly (Ilex decidua). I have these everywhere on my property, from full sun to full shade. When mature they can get to be the size of a small tree...15 to 20 feet tall and spreading 5 to 10 or 15' wide. It is deciduous but has lovely berries that stay on the plant until mid- to late-winter. I think it will grow in any soil. There are many named cultivars. One of the prettiest is "Warren's Red" or "Warren Red". It has gorgeous red berries and lots of them. There are some dwarf and compact cultivars that stay much smaller. The birds love the berries. Southern Wax Myrtle (Myrica cerifera). Another of my faves. There is a standard version and a dwarf version, which is Myrica pussilla. Wax myrtles are in the same family as bayberry and the foliage has an attractive aroma sort of like bayberry. The standard wax myrtles can be pruned and limbed up like trees, which is how I treat mine, and the dwarf ones will top out at about five feet, while the standard ones can go to 15 or 20 feet. They are fairly fast-growing. The foliage is a light green that is almost a yellowish-green. I had to look for quite a while before I found some of them at a Lowe's, as they are not easy to find. Viburnum (Viburnum species) There are many cultivars available in many different sizes. Some are tall, some are short. Some are evergreen, some are deciduous. I have the common native Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum. Many named cultivars are available commecially. Spirea (Spiraea species) These are fairly compact shrubs, reaching from 2' to 6' in height and from 2' to 4' or 5' in width, depending on which cultivar you plant. They bloom in late spring and early summer, and most have flowers in various shade of white, pink or red. They are deciduous. I have them in a place where they get early morning direct sun, and then dappled shade at mid-day and full shade from mid-afternoon on. They are easy to grow. There are many, many cultivars available. Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria) Many cultivars of this evergreen shrub are available in many sizes. They will grow in almost any soil, and in everything from full sun to almost total shade. Mine get some afternoon shade. They bloom in early spring, and the berries are lovely. Some of the common ones you'll see in stores are "Stokes" which is a dwarf and "Pride of Houston" which is a tall, upright version. I don't know of any dwarf red oaks, but Shumard Oak is among the prettier oaks with red fall color. If you have heavy shade and good soil, there are a lot of red-leaved dwarf Japanese maples. You can plant dwarf crape myrtle anytime now, I would think. Hope this info helps. Dawn

Thanks, Brian! Steve, this one is on a C-35. The other Meiwas I grafted are mostly on C-35, but I think I also have one on Kuharske and/or US-897... I'll have to check. John, I could do that, but I figured that the trifoliate leaves were still making food for the plant. I didn't think those leaves would cause issues; what effect do they have? Thanks! -Tom