That's a great point Steve... the older the tree, the higher the chance of root problems/rot that only get exacerbated/noticed once we try to repot. This may be why I am always complaining about my record buck trees... I have tended to buy the biggest ones and the rootballs have always completely grown into hard-packed, super fine mix that I can never get rid of... hence transplant shock and an ailing tree. The one smaller one I have from them, a varigated eureeka, has bounced back the best and is doing really well. I think previously I was in the "bigger is better" camp... I may be changing my tune. Also smaller trees are cheaper to ship :). That being said, the 1 Four Winds tree I have, my oro blanco, was in quite nice mix and when I repotted it the roots came easily free of the mix so that was a pleasure to repot. It also suffered no transplant shock so perhaps you can go bigger when coming from a vendor that uses a good mix. Just my musings! :)

After a very unique and wet winter in here NorCal, my little citrus trees are looking good (except for the marsh grapefruit, but he's making a comeback). You will see a companion plant all around my citrus (and all my roses too). It's called Lacy Phacelia and it's a CA native annual that is amazing for pollinators. I sprouted them from seed and they all took off! I know some people believe in not planting anything around citrus trees, but I experimented with this anyways this past season. I noticed something REALLY awesome about Lacy Phacelia... so before you knock it, let me tell you about it! ;) Eureka lemon... WA navel orange... Clementine mandarin... Mexican lime... Meyer lemons... You will see the Lacy Phacelia are barely starting to bloom. Lacy Phacelia (foliage, not just the blooms) seems to attract these little flies that are striped green and black and hover around to eat aphids and all sorts of other pests! With all the rain California has had this winter... the aphids are crazy. Some plants have the most aphids I have ever seen personally in my life! But all the plants near the Lacy Phacelia have almost NO aphids! And the Lacy Phacelia itself has absolutely none!! There are lots of those little flies nearby that are eating all the aphids. Sorry I don't know bugs that well so I'm not quite sure what they are, but I think they are hover flies ... and I know they are hungry! Very interesting! It's quite a noticeable difference. If that's the case, this is definitely going to be an annual addition to my yard! I tried Lacy Phacelia initially to help with pollination, but this is an amazing and unexpected happy surprise! They are also an annual, germinate really easy (in my yard), pull up really easy, and supposedly 4% nitrogen, so if you compost, they are a good nitrogen fertilizer source. :)

My cute tangelo enjoying some afternoon shade. It gets tons of full sun too but with the temps we've been having, this spot is advantageous. This was a couple weeks ago -I just noticed this thread and its HOT so I'm not going out there to take current photos lol. The leaf curling in the new growth in this photo isnt happening for the new growth in getting now. I'm thinking I wasn't watering enough at that point- the common cause of anything here when it's so hot. Sun scald on the navel after we had a couple 120° days. Glad to say it's dropped to 110° so the rest of the tree is still a good color. The top half is going to suffer for a bit longer but I've see them make it before. Hoping we make it to monsoon without another scorcher! Once it cools down maybe I'll get some current photos and my lime - this is their first summer and I'm impressed they are doing this well. ❤️ Loving all of your photos on here - makes me want to get more citrus trees! I'll have to pick your brains about kummwats - I've always wanted to try them.

I love all poppies but my favorites would to be the Papaver paeoniflorum (peony poppies). I really like the huge fluffy blooms. They are amazing. These are annuals, but allow them to reseed - don't cut the blooms - and you'll be rewarding with flowers next year. I also like the "feather" types - Papaver laciniatum. That's the one featured in my first pic.