Definitely using CRF pellets is a good idea -- it provides you with a "baseline" of continuous release fertilizer for your area. That way you don't have to fertilize with *every* watering the entire year. Right now HD (big box store) is eliminating their Dynamite CRF stock here in Fresno and down south. You might check out the clearance section the next time your at an HD. About the grow bags -- there was one piece of research I reviewed and confirmed with a member of another forum that I trust that stated punching holes in any container does very little for air root pruning. The concept of air root pruning is not a gimmick, it is legit but the containers have to be specially made to force roots to grow toward to hole. When you punch a side hole into a container, many of the roots will simply "turn to avoid" the hole. In reality, the soil in front of the hole is drying out faster than the soil on the sides of the hole -- so the roots will grow toward the most favorable conditions: where air + moisture exist. Special root pruning containers are either entirely fabric containers or (poly/plastic) mold designed with special indentations forcing (nearly) every root toward a hole. They are expensive, but the air pots you were reviewing in the other post were very reasonable for large container sizes as they can be purchased individual at retail locations. You probably already know this since you did the research also, but supposedly the Rootmaker brand works well. The holes however do provide added beneficial aeration to the root zone, but that's different than root pruning. Here is a link that might be useful: Link to GW post about topic

5 gallon sized Aloe reitzii can be ordered in at Berkeley Hort Nursery or the Dry Garden Nursery, as they are being grown by Suncrest Wholesale Nursery down in Watsonville. I've also picked up some large sized 1 gallon Aloe petricola from Brian Kemble out at the Ruth Bancroft Garden, but I don't know of any commercial northern California growers for this species, although it might be worth a call to Succulent Gardens down in Moss Landing to see if they have this in 6 or 8 inch pots, I don't remember if I have seen it there. I bet it is something that might also be available if ordered in from Rancho Soledad Nursery down in San Diego County, but they don't actually list all that they grow on their web site. You might also try talking with Dan or his son at Sunborne Foliage over in San Francisco, as they now carry a good variety of larger specimen sized blooming Aloes that they bring up from Rancho Soledad Nursery, but they don't always have things labeled correctly, so if you go there, it helps to know your Aloes in case it isn't labeled. I picked up some stunning Aloe capitata var. quarzticola from Sunborne last spring, and I was really stoked to get them in full bloom. Flora Grubb Nursery in San Francisco can also have a surprising variety of Aloes shipped up from southern California, so it pays to drop in from time to time. I've had 4 inch sized A. reitzii from Annie's bloom for me two years after planting out in the garden. Regarding Annie's, she often has some less common species, I know I bought a whole flat of her Aloe castanea after seeing them in bloom every February at the UC Berkeley Botanic Garden.

H. scheideana blooms every year for me here in Berkeley, and is certainly evergreen in a wind protected and dappled shade setting, with lots of fertilizer and water as long as it doesn't freeze. It truly is adapted to our cool winter weather, because it pushes both flowers and new foliage for me even when temps get down into the hight 30'sF. There are also several other more commonly available species that will also do as well outdoors as long as the foliage doesn't freeze. These include H. latispatha, H. spissa, H. bourgeana, H. aurantiaca, H. matthiasae. Some of these can be bought online from suppliers such as Aloha Tropicals, or Stokes Tropicals in Louisiana. There are a few other suppliers in Southern California, but they don't ship. For those here in the SF Bay Area, getting the H. scheideana thru Monterey Bay Nursery is probably the easiest solution. Don't count on any of them flowering if you can't get the plant through the winter without freezing, as we just don't get hot enough to get blooms on new growth in less than a year, like they can in south Florida. Anyone growing 30 kinds of Heliconia in California has quite a collection, but I am willing to bet that over half of those varieties need a lot of help to get through a wet/cold winter, and are even less likely to survive year round outdoors here in northern California. If you stick with the kinds from higher elevation cloudforests in Southern Mexico, you can have thriving blooming clumps. Check out the Palmetum at Lake Merritt in Oakland to see a large clump of H. scheideana in bloom now. I do have some friends growing them in Sunset zone 15 conditions rather than 16 or 17, but you risk losing them to frost and never seeing them bloom.

Just went out to check all my leaves. The disease-resistant roses with glossy foliage all have 7-leafets: Kordes Flower Carpet, Pat Austin and Tchaikovsky. Kordes Flower Carpet doesn't have mildew in shade, but Knock-out (5-leaflet) has mildew. Other DISEASE-RESISTANT with 7-leaflets: William Shakespeare 2000, Duchess de Rohan, Excellenz von Schubert, Annie L. McDowell, Blue Mist, Poseidon, Cloudert Soupert, and Crown Princess Mag. ... all have leaves in set of 7. These can take wet soil well, like multiflora rose thriving in wet lands. But the blackspot-prone roses: Comte de Chambord and hybrid teas have leaves in set of 5, and much larger & round leaves. These prefer well-drained soil, and tend to blackspot with prolonged wetness & acidic rain. Multiflora-leaves are clearly a set of 7, see below pic: http://na.fs.fed.us/spfo/invasiveplants/factsheets/pdf/multiflora-rose.pdf "Each multiflora leaf as 5 to 11 one inch-long oval leaflets with toothed margins. The undersides of the leaflets have tiny hairs and are paler than the upper surface. The base of each leaf stalk has a characteristic stipule (green, leafy structure) with hairs or a comb-like fringe along its margins. Flowers. As indicated by its scientific name Rosa multiflora, this plant has abundant, showy clusters of flowers which typically are white, though sometimes slightly pink." Below is Austin rose William Morris, which did terrible in slightly acidic wet & peaty potting soil, then finally died when I put in my wet clay made acidic with cracked corn. Note the leaves are in a set of 5, which means it prefer well-drained & loamy soil, and CANNOT take acid & wetness like those of set-7 leaves. Folks complain about WM being stingy and rust-fungal-prone. The drought-tolerant & disease-resistant Rugosa has rounder leaves in set of 9, plus very bristly canes full of thistles, see below: