Hey all! I am liking this tablet but am missing a key board and mouse. I must be old fashioned, lol. I am trying to stir up a twitter hashtag for us #gwroses but I'm not sure it'll work. I hope it does I really miss the old days here. Y'all became such great friends. I do get free books with kindle, but no free rose dictionary yet...here's hoping. Florence, each day has been a struggle but my family and roses are my reason d'etre. How are you feeling???? I truly hope all is well! Rosy hugs, carlota or @HobbesCarlota on twitter.

Jennifratrix, you took the words right out of my mouth. At first I thought "dang" then I realized I should be proud that there are others that know about the plants you mentioned. As far as native persimmons go, not many people are aware that there are seedless cultivars available from Nolin River nursery and others. Oriental persimmons are great and can be pretty large. You can find seedless and non-astringent varieties of those too. These can be eaten while firm as an apple, just wait for them to turn orange so they will have developed sweetness. I have discovered that the best time to eat maypops (passionfruit) is November, December, Janurary. The outside will be shriveled and brown but the pulp will be sweet and you eat seeds and all. A few more fruits to try are jujube, mulberry, pomegranate, and Chinese che (cudrania tricuspidata). You can also eat the fruit of cactus which of all things is called tuna. You very carefully remove the glochids then chill them and eat seeds and all. They taste like watermelon. The kiwi come in two types. Let's just say the fuzzy and the fuzzless. There are also two type of edible fruit dogwood you can grow: cornus kousa and cornus mas. Hidden Springs nursery in Tennessee has several of the fruits mentioned. About the pineapple guava, they are perfectly hardy here and the fruit and the flowers are delicious. That leaves crabapple, mayhaw and plums which will feed you and wildlife and make excellent jelly. Here is a link that might be useful: BittersweetGardens.Com

Well, I certainly agree with Chandra, Kaity, Dawn, and Ezzirah. Gardening is more than just food to me, though, altho that is very important. It is the cycle of life, a spiritual journey, the metamorphosis of a butterfly, a spider (last year we hosted Charlotte, the orb weaver, and her egg sacs are still hanging on the house), a tiny ladybug feasting on aphids, a hummingbird tasting the flowers and defending its territory, the homeless cats stretching and sleeping in a sunny corner of the yard, the birds whistling and chattering in the trees, the old warty toad living under the water hose box, the lacy-winged dragonflies perching on the trellis, the Cardinals pecking and pulling the last blueberries off, the colorful caterpillars winding and twining and munching at their host plants, the beautiful gold-trimmed, jade chrysalis of the Monarch waiting to emerge, the Gulf Fritillary butterflies mating, laying eggs, nectaring, and repeating the cycle over and over with their orange wings fluttering and their brilliant silver undersides glittering in the sun, the banana-filled suet feeder covered with the feeding Emperors, Question Marks, and Red Admiral butterflies, the smell of tomato foliage, lavendar, sages, basil, when you brush against them, the big-bottomed bumblebees lumbering from flower to flower, the perfume of good dirt sifting through your fingers, the sweet smell of rain on the winds of a coming storm.... I take a break and sit and glory in it all. I don't need to pass the time dreaming of a better scenario because what else could it be? No, I just soak in it..... Susan

Alexis, Congratulations on the new house! What a great adventure you and your DH will have doing all the landscaping and garden building after you get settled into your new home, Your garden looks so lovely right now---it would break my heart to have to yank it out, but sometimes you have to make tough decisions like that. You'll have a lovely garden next year and every year thereafter. I assume you're going to disassemble all the raised beds y'all built and take them and your great soil mix with you? That will give you a great head start on the new garden. Look at it this way---the 100 degree days are arriving this week in the parts of OK that haven't already started hitting 100 degrees and once they arrive, the plants begin to struggle in the endless heat, so the garden productivity would start dropping off anyhow. That fact ought to make tearing out the garden somewhat less heartbreaking. I do hope you tear out your tomato plants last thing so that you can harvest as much as possible from them. Remember that any tomatoes that make it to the breaker stage will color up fine and taste great, so pick and save all those when it is time to take out the plants. What a wonderful adventure you two are about to embark upon. I have such fond memories of our first home and how much fun we had not only with furnishing and decorating our home, but also with landscaping it, planting fruit trees and berries, and putting in our veggie and herb gardens and flower beds. So many wonderful decisions lie ahead for y'all and I know the two of you will create an awesome landscape and garden around your home. Keep us posted on how its going. Have you broken the news to your dog that he's going to have a much larger yard? I bet he'll love it. Dawn