Hi Dee :-) The best ideas come from rambling! In the business world it is called 'brainstorming'. [g] You throw out as many ideas as you can think of, no matter how remote and if you only end up with 3 out of 20 ideas that are workable, then you consider it a success. The only way that works though is if the participants feel free to suggest whatever pops into their head, even if it sounds stupid, without feeling foolish. [g] Sometimes, just a kernel of your remote idea can lead to another really 'on the money' idea. Like your ideas today....I hadn't thought of using pot in pot ideas but, that is a great idea. I normally like to do something once and be done with it, but maybe three changes a growing season would be easy enough. Spring, Summer and Fall. Pansies can go out early but won't keep pushing out blossoms when the heat comes and changing to summer plants might coincide with sales at the nurseries perhaps and Fall....I usually make up a container or two with Fall plants. Lilies and Phlox for fragrance....even if I don't use it in this container, I will think about using them in part shade more. I have 'David' and I'm planning to order more. I am also checking out lily bulbs, have any favorites? I do have Honey Bee Blue Agastache too. Don't you just love collecting seed from these? That rootbeer fragrance! I noticed last year that one had seeded not 2 feet from the trunk of a maple tree in just about complete shade and flowered. Very surprised at that one. It was a little scraggly there, but still. Kevin, I love primrose and I haven't seen any that are fragrant. You lucky duck. [g] I do have primrose and I did buy some hardy polyanthus, and come to think of it, they offer them here when they offer pansies. I might think of adding a couple with the pansies if I were doing a spring to summer change over. Thanks!

Gregg: My opinion is they won't set much fruit this year. If they do I thin extra heavily and leave a few. Sort of the bird in hand vs two in bush deal. My opinion again is that a little fruit can't really hurt much. Growing conditions will affect tree growth, size, and future production much more than a few fruit left on a small tree. My trees nearly always bear well every year once they start. And they usually start the 2nd or 3rd year.

I'm no expert. But my mulberry easily puts on 10'-15' of growth per year. The biggest problem i've seen with bigger limbs is rotting from open wounds, but this thing is an old beast of a tree. Makes magnificent shade. It's a male, and only recently grafted with fruiting varieties.

Please read this in a good natured tone of voice. I am not being snarky. To someone whose idea of gardening is to buy a condo and let the landscaping crew mow the lawns, a fruit tree would look complicated. Growing organic fruit can be a challenge. I gave up and I spray. The upside to that is I actually get to eat fruit. When I grow fruit trees, I am producing food for my family and I literally spend less time working on the trees than it takes me to drive to the market and buy tasteless, under-ripe, expensive fruit from the produce department. Thanks to the internet and especially thanks to this forum, all the information about how to grow fruit trees is readily available. Seriously, it is simply paint-by-the-numbers to get started. Follow simple instructions. Get a couple of easy trees to begin and then you can get fancier as you learn. I'm still not ready to espalier. My veggie garden is a lot more work. I only have to dig one time to plant the tree. Did I mention that tomato horn worms are close to being the grossest thing on the planet? I'm going to agree that berries can be easy, as long as you like feeding the birds. Pruning brambles can be intimidating. They fight back. I find grapes to be easy, but I know that they take a lot of spraying in climates different than mine. The simple truth is that some people like to garden and some don't. For those who don't, that's why they build condos.