Leitneria floridana has been hardy through 2 winters for me here in z4a. The first winter was wimpy, but last winter got down below -25F, although not for a long period as it normally would. No flowers buds priduced yet. Mag. sieboldii is hit or miss here, depending on the seed source, but I have had one since 1995, and it blooms and fruits regularly. Others that are long time successes here are: Acer mayabei Aralia elata Calycanthus floridulus Calycanthus fertilis Carya illinoiensis(very northern seed, no flowering yet) Cercidiphylum japonicum Chamaecyparis pisifera types Cornus mas Corylus colurna Cotinus obovatus Diospyros virginiana 'Meader' Euodia danielii Fagus grandiflora Forsythia mandshurica 'Vermont Sun' Ilex x meserve 'Blue Boy', 'Blue Girl' Liriodendron tulipifera Picea asperata Picea crassifolia Styrax americanus(kankakee seed) Thuja koraiensis Thuja plicata 'Cuprea' Viburnum carlesii Viburnum x 'Juddii' Xanthoceras sorbifolia

Chandler is so sweet. The strawberry I loved best was called Douglas. It was popular along with Sequoia but Chandler replaced it in popularity. I never got a good crop from my seascapes. I had good luck defeating the bugs by making little fruit hangers out of bent pieces of wire to keep the fruit up in the air away from the bugs. The best thing to defeat bugs is self watering hanging baskets but then when the summer heats up, the roots can roast on the sunny side of the pots. You always get more fruit from a 1/2 barrel or the ground because the plants have more roots. I had less bug damage planting the in the barrel than the ground.

Does it taste good? If it does, I wouldn't mess with it regardless of whether it sets up or not. A flavorful syrup is always better than an overcooked or rubbery jelly. Keep in mind also that a jelly can take as long as six weeks on the shelf to set, so what you're seeing now, not even 24 hours in, is no indication of what you'll be looking at down the road. Carol

Gardenlad, from what I have heard & read, the chances of beans cross-pollinating vary greatly. In some locations (perhaps yours) crossing is virtually non-existent. Then there are years when it is widespread, even where it was normally rare. So different people around the country can make completely opposite claims about crossing - and each be right, for their own area. Tomatoes are the same way... but that is another topic. I suspect that most often, these differences are due to variations in the local pollinator population, and the availability of other pollen & nectar sources nearby. My main pollinators are bumblebees (which are quite common here), and "sweat bees". The good news is that bumblebees pollinate everything, including my limas & scarlet runners, which do nothing until they appear. The bad news is that they can _cross_ pollinate everything. For me, crosses are fairly frequent, unless I take preventive measures. My garden now is perhaps 25-30% vertical; I trellis everything I can, and where I have a choice between bush legumes & pole, I generally choose pole. I plan the trellises to create "baffles" to confuse pollinators, and as windbreaks to protect tender crops (another topic). I have observed bumblebees feeding. Unlike honeybees, which will generally visit only one specific type of flower at a time, bumblebees work the whole garden... so interplanting different species as baffles to one another, and interplanting flowers that are "bee plants" throughout the garden, is very effective for me. I use a combination of marigold, cosmos, cleome, sunflowers, basil, and a blooming mallow (Malva sylvestra). All but the marigold & basil have naturalized, so I just transplant them as necessary. And some of the trellised cucurbits are also good bee plants; bitter melon (Momordica charantia) and the vine sold as "Mexican sour gherkin" (Melothria scabra) seem especially attractive to bees, and tend not to attract cucumber beetles. As gardeners, whenever we save seed, we walk a fine line; we want to attract pollinators for our outbreeding plants (like squash, melons, cukes & cabbages), but not allow them to contaminate our inbreeding plants (beans, peas, peppers, tomatoes). The Jimenez bean, I suspect, has some trait that makes it more susceptible to cross-pollination, much the same as some tomatoes (cherries & potato-leaf) are more likely to cross. Larger or more open flowers, perhaps. I have heard good reviews of the variety, so I may try it again (hopefully with pure seed) and will study the blossoms closely.