Appreciate all these responses. Lloyd - I haven't been able to get UCG's in quantity before. Always put my personal grounds in compost container in kitchen or add some water to my coffee press and drizzle around plants - have been feeding my pansies with them. Bagged stuff I've gotten from Starbucks used here and there. But now we have a Starbucks at a new grocery nearby so I'll be able to get hundreds of pounds in the coming months, and of course, this will be ongoing. The ones I have now I'm going to spread out on a tarp to get drier and try spreading on the lawn with my fertilizer spreader. My one huge rose will get some too. Everything still soppy wet. But great weather coming this weekend. Will try to mulch mow more leaves and get a big messy pile started. I'm fenced and have no concerns about how it looks. Shane, thanks for the Ground to Ground link. Good program, great links. Keep the idea coming - we all benefit. Rosie, in Sugar Hill, GA

I have a feeling you are not going to have any dahlias this year. Your dahlias should be starting to bud, even bloom by now. I would certainly contact Swan Island so that you can get advice and a guarantee of good bulbs for next year. Did you verify that the tubers you got had eyes on them? Personally, I have had the worst luck buying tubers from mail order companies. I have been growing dahlias for about 10 years, and the best ones I get are the ones I buy from Home Depot and Lowes. I have bought from some of the best rated dahlia suppliers, and they do not grow well. I planted 14 tubers this year, and none are in bloom and at least half of them are too small at this stage to grow enough to produce blooms. And the cool spring and early summer certainly did not help.

Mcmann i don't like to recommend things to folks for sake of argument on the forum, most folks have there own way and with fig plants they are very forgiving. I do mention things i do and or use and post pictures for those to enjoy of my plants. What i will say if it were my plant and will come out of pot in 2 springs and go into the ground i would slide plant out of pot with its current soil mix some soil you will be growing that plant in from your yard and keep it watered and fertilized for the 2 seasons then transplant it into your yard. In past i have grown a some fig plants in plain ole dirt in a container for several seasons when i first started out years ago and when i pulled it to root prune i decided to use potting soil, its much ligthter in weight and easier on my back to move container around for me, also the soil here from my yard did get compacted and made it very difficult to root prune the plants in containers. The plant will be fine for several years with whatever type of soil you use there pretty tough plants. If you look around the net at fig trees from all over you can see they will grow in pratically anything even out of stone walls ! Martin

"Propagation: Rosa Damascena is propagated through one year old stem cuttings. It can also be propagated through the divisions of old plant, lateral sprouts with roots and seeds. Stem cuttings are collected at the time of pruning in mid October to end of December; 20 cm long, 0.75-1.50 cm thick cuttings are planted in nursery; 2/3 of the stem length is inserted into soil. IB A @ 200-250 ppm is given to induce rooting. These cuttings are ready after one year for transplanting into main field." http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2478/V10133-010-0032-4 ---------------------------------------------- " The cultivars and ecotype of Rosa damascena Mill. have been grown by using cutting or two old-suckers for many years" "Stem cuttings are collected at the time of pruning in mid October to end of December; 20 cm long, 0.75-1.50 cm thick cuttings are planted in nursery; 2/3 of the stem length is inserted into soil. IB A @ 200-250 ppm is given to induce rooting. These cuttings are ready after one year for transplanting into main field." "Rooted stem cuttings are taken out from nursery and put in the pits." "The best time of transplanting of rooted cuttings in the field is mid of November to mid January. " http://www.plantsrescue.com/tag/damask-rose/