I'm one state north of you with similar heat and humidity. So far my Horse, William's Pride, and Arkansas Black have sailed through their first hot summer without any diseases. They won't be fruiting for another year or so, so I can't say anything about flavor. I will add that with the last two summers of extreme heat and dry some of my Fireblight resistant pears have come down with it - I attribute that to stress and hope they shake it off, and I hope we have normal summers for a while. I got pretty excited when the local arboretum had a lecture on backyard apple growing for the piedmont. The university professor who does apple research pretty much focused the entire lecture on the commercial apple industry for the state and said that apples don't do well outside of the mountains. This has happened over and over with food crops - the university system had trouble understanding the needs of the home gardener.

Texas is right next door to Arkansas, and there's a fairly good-sized selection of disease-resistant Earthkind roses tested in Texas, roses that would probably mostly do very well in Arkansas, depending on her specific site's soil and sun conditions. If she has a situation making for wet feet during very rainy times, then no rose will do well until she raises the soil level where the roses are planted. If she has some problems because of less than ideal sun, some roses that she might consider would be many of the hybrid musks (but not all). For some good shade-tolerant hybrid musks, you might look up those via the shade-tolerant suggestions at Antique Rose Emporium. And tell her to try Grüss An Aachen, which (before coming down with Rose Rosette Disease) did so well for us in considerably less than ideal sun. Well, try Grüss An Aachen whether she has lots of sun or something less than ideal; it's a lovely, lovely rose. Best wishes, Mary

Some people sand through a tiny bit of the outer coating, others knick it with a knife. Most folks do neither. Just soak them overnight in warm water (I use tea, the acid helps break down the outer coat). Sprinkle them on top of a sterile potting media. Use a deep pot because the first thing they do is send out a tap root and it wants to go deep. It can take up to a year for them to sprout. And it can take up to another year for them to be anything more than two leaves (looking more like two broad leaves of grass). They are slow growing. Almost all palms require HIGH heat to do any growth. You want them to grow faster - heat them up. I know a guy back in Oklahoma that built a trench greenhouse/hoophouse structure - more like a shallow pit in the ground with a trench down the middle so that he can stand up in it with being stooped over. Lined the pit with black plastic. Set the gallon pots of seeds/seedlings on the earthen "benches". And covered the whole thing with clear plastic. Temps were routinely over 150 degrees!!!! Got great growth in the first year. But you have to monitor them hourly to keep from cooking them (happens around 180). Even if you have them sprouted. If you keep them in a pot you can't expect much growth. The large potted palms they ship up from Florida are grown in the pot sunk in the sand down there, they dig them up to ship north. They are slow to show signs of death and are quite adaptable really - so they handle the torture well. But if you want them to get big you gotta keep them very warm with lots of sunshine and regular watering.

Iris, can you see these pictures? Panicum or Dichanthelium.a very large Liatris4 more amazing places close by to see. I came out here looking for sassafras seeds but there wasn't any seeds on any of them.I saw more viceroys and sulphurs out here. Looks just like round headed bush clover, Lespedeza capitata.Euphorbia corrolataBidens aristosa I think.obedient plant Vernonia A Liatris. Is it aspera?