Mike, I think the Niagara Black is sweeter. My NB is a young tree and my LdA is a giant. I figure the NB as good as it is now can only get better.

I've never grown Golden chain trees but the trees I have grown like to be in the ground or in a BIG pot pretty early in their life. They have a long tap root and really like to stretch their roots. Black eyed susan can go in the ground now. If they have been in the pot too long, they may or may not bloom this year but you want them to get their roots down so they can give you a good show next year. If you water your pot a bit it makes it easier to tease the roots apart when planting. BES are pretty hardy and I usually just rip the root ball into sections and plant each section. Sometimes with one seedling per section and sometimes with several seedlings per section. Because of the warm weather, you will have to water daily until your seedlings get a foot hold.

Yes, some have reported so called black tomatoes that are smokey or salty and I've grown a lot of different blacks and have never tasted anything salty or smokey so I wouldn't use those tastes as criteria for good taste and I'm not the only one who has never tasted smokey or salty. There are darn few blacks that I like but as with all other varieties as many have said here, some are great in one year, perhaps not so great the next year, and usually weather related. Some humans, and I'm a human, wink, thrive in hot humid weather but I'm a human who hates hot humid weather and prefers more moderate temps and lower humidity. So too do different tomato varieties prefer certain weather conditions. And of course taste is personal and perceptual and also has a human genetic component. The few blacks that I like are Indian Stripe, Cherokee Purple, Black Cherry, Brad's Black Heart, Black from Tula and now Kazachka. There have been folks who have grown out huge numbers of blacks in one season and find that many of them taste and perform the same. That doesn't surprise me one bit b'c when I first started growing OP's in large numbers in the mid-80's there were only about FIVE (5) known black varieties. The fad for blacks started in the early 90's, has not yet abated, and now there are close to maybe 200 varieties. Where there is demand the varieties will appear, if you get my drift. ( wink) My personal faves are the hearts and the green when ripes, but of course with others sprinkled in for diversity reasons and I'm always looking for the next new variety I try to be a big winner. And I usually find a couple of winners each year. One actually was Indian Stripe seeds for that sent to me in 2002 which I then listed in the SSE YEarbook and sent it for trial at those seed sites where I know the owners and trust them, and now Indian Stripe can be found all over the place and seeds very available. it's good to know that some of my tomato kids have done well, and those would include Neves Azorean Red, Opalka, Indian Stripe, OTV Brandywine,Crnkovic Yugoslavian,Heidi,Large Pink Bulgarian, Omar's Lebanese, Soldacki, Sophie's Choice and many more. Good to know some of my tomato kids have done well since all I have are two cat kids. LOL Carolyn

Hi Gail, This week, on a small island in the middle of the St-Lawrence river, 30 miles north of Quec city, two birders count 67 Great gray Owls. I do think it is an all time record for the province. So many GGO in such a small territory( about 2 miles width and 3 long) Luc