I'm here Bob taking my trees outside after the great freeze.

Steve, it’s about time, right? Mine been out for a long while. They dodge 3 hail warnings, caught 2 minor ones, no damage, 2 tornado warnings, when by, no touchdowns. No funky stuff, I hope.

Bob, which two varieties are on the tree? Looks healthy.

Older one is a Xie Shan, the other a Shiranui.

We had a bunch of tornado come through Cincinnati. We named them Bengals1, Bangals2, Bengals3, and Bangals4. Like our over paid last place professional football team. NO TOUCHDOWNS.

Steve

never of this team, no wonder no touch downs, you are lucky!

I'm here too Bob. Not even tornado warnings here, no thunder either. Nice looking tree up above. Where is Amy, Brian and many others? I hope ok.

Bob I love your amy tree! I hope she sees this. I’m glad to see you all here, you too mike! :) mike how are you doing? What about your parents? And your fathers care home?

bob im still waiting for those cuttings going into a few weeks now I wonder if I should call pino. Anyways hope I get them soon as soon as I do I’ll post on here! But I did get a dwarf honeycrisp it’s on a M27 dwarf rootstock it’s not going to get taller than 6ft they say but I have to baby it and put it in during winter The rootstock is not the hardiest people say and it’s tough to get fruit but I thought I’d give it a try I’ll repot it into something bigger soon. Sorry to hijack this thread :)

Bonsoir monsieur Bob, je suis la! Your Amy tree is so beautiful but I am not surprised because all of your trees are. It’s such a coincidence that the tree has the two varieties that I love the most. I tasted a xie shan from my tree this winter and I thought that it won’t be good because my tree is still young. Oh I was so wrong! It was delicious! Please, keep your pictures coming because they always put a smile on my face. Bob, I got myself an early fuyu and another saijo. They make me think of you.

Jan, I love honeycrisp!! Will you keep it it the container?

Steve, oh my god tornadoes are so scary!!! Please be careful!

Mike, how is the weather? I hope that we will have a beautiful summer this year unlike the spring we’ve got.

Mike, one of my orchid flowered and I took a picture for you:

Guys, I am so glad to here from all of you!!! I was finally able to move my tree outdoor. Can you imagine that we have a little bit of snow just last week. Thank god, the temperature is warming up now.

Amy there you are!!! So glad to hear from you! :) How is it over in Quebec have things started to normalize or are you guys still on lockdown? here in Vancouver restrictions are being lifted slowly and I will be back at work starting July :) I send my prayers to you guys out there! Amy I too love the honeycrisp! Can’t wait until It flowers and fruits I think I will get a large container and plant it in there and bring it in every winter into the unheated garage I have been reading up on the m27 rootstock and I think it’s quite sensitive to everything! Oh Amy I just love your orchid!! the colour is so beautiful I’ve never seen anything like that! Is it one of the fragrant ones? Oh amy a picture for you :) I did a heavy pruning of my variegated pink lemon and I’ve never succeeded in cuttings before but this time I decided to do it in my aerogarden and guess what it took! It’s starting to grow in it :) I have very tiny roots starting at the bottom as well!

It’s great Jan! I never thought of rooting my citrus in the aerogarden but now I am so tempted to try. Jan, our government is also lifting some restrictions but not all. We can now have a bbq outside with our family (no diner inside however). The gathering must be less than 10 people of no more than 3 different families and must keep a safe distance of at least 2 meters loll. Shopping malls are still closed but stores not in shopping malls can start to open. Nurseries are open thank god. I was quite happy for them because we all know that if nurseries must stay closed during spring and summer they will go bankrupt. This will be very sad!! Jan, how is your tropical fruits endeveour going? Have you succeed to root your fig cuttings?

Amy, that is one beautiful orchid!! Thank you for sharing it with me. I have been ok, just rather tired from all this Covid crap. I do have an orchid that smell so heavenly that some day I will be able to give you a piece of. The most strngest sweetest I have ever had in the Encyclia family...So many of my friends out of work, sick or dying. Thank God my mom is ok and so am I. My plants are doing ok too, now that they are outside. Funny, all of them started blooming like crazy even before I brought them out. Now my whole yard smells so nice. I just love it and the ability to water as much as I want at any time outside)))

How are you and your greenhouse? I miss your pics too. It's finally warming up and yet the heat alludes us. We will get a day here or there, then bang, that dreaded ocean breeze that can leaves temps reeling in the 50's when just a day before it was in the 80's. Never stable(( Cyber hug big time for you!

Jan, I see you are still around and I am so happy to see this. I love it when you are here too. My dads nursing home has 47 with the Covid virus but no symptoms! They are all carriers which they found out through tests. My father tested negative thank God and they had to move the ones not infected into a different area away from the infected ones, actually the National Guard had too. Crazy. My mom is ok. She lives with me since I am caring for her. I stay home a lot, either in the yard or watching movies with her, with our chairs at least 6 feet apart. NO hugs, kisses which is something we always have done. It's sad. She begged me for a hug last night and I had to say no((.

I told here I didn't want to risk infecting her in case I am a carrier . I am typcally vey healthy, very active, work out and in good shape. I eat right and I always keep my immune system in check, but I do work an essential job so I take every precaution I am suppose to but that does not make me 100% resistant. So, no chances. The weather here is struggling to get warm and in fact we are running ten degrees colder than we should the whole month. The ocean water is still just 50 dgrees so anytime we get that easterly wind, which seem to happen frequently, we are jipped of the warm temps we should of experienced back in April. I live 25 minutes from sea. It was only 50 degrees yesterday at the coast, 60 here, and 70 to 75 just ten more miles west of me. I wish I lived more inland. Only low 60's today and grey skies. Tomorrow almost 80 depending on the winds. South winds, hot, east winds freeze. Crazy. I have been worried about my friends here including you and Brian..

I hope Brian is not sick. It's not like him to stay away for so long. I did get your e-mail I just saw last night and I will soon reply. You are such an Angel my friend. Cyber hug for you too))

You should see my gardens right now. I have been in them day and night. Maybe I can snap a shot of the pond area if you would like) NIte lights too.

Much love to you all and stay safe, please. What happened to Bob too? He started this and has not retunred to talk to us. I hope he is ok.

Hi amy!!! Lol it does make family gatherings a little awkward we are just about to have one this Thursday however we have to take turns with multiple families to keep it under 6 people to a gathering and distance at all times! I think the restrictions being lifted where you are are very similar to here I do hope things will get back to normal soon however because weve already lost our Vancouver aquarium to covid19 it’s gone bankrupt and closing its doors it’s so sad I dont want anything else to close All the small businesses too! Thank god for all the nurseries and plants that we have to keep us occupied! Amy I just got the figs cuttings from pino I’m particularly excited about the ciccio Nero apparently it’s very very very productive and great for container culture i hope it will all root :) will keep you posted! I haven’t gotten a chance to get any other trees on my wish list though such as the jaboticaba it seems as though all these nurseries are so so busy now a days it’s either sold out or very very pricey! Oh amy just a question what do you plant your orchid into? Straight up bark?

mike!!! It’s great to hear both your parents are safe! I know it’s hard to keep away from them though but I know when our loved ones are ill the feeling there’s nothing worst so you’re right better safe than sorry! We just lost my best friends cousin not long ago and it’s devastating and she’s so young too barely 30. i think your immune system really does help in times like these I too am starting some sort of exercise regime lol I wouldn’t call it strenuous though one step at a time i suppose :) mike the weather here has been cool and poor too! I can’t say we’ve had such a crummy Spring before it barely feels like summer is rolling in. I worry about Brian too it isn’t like him to not pop up around spring or summer to share pictures. I truly hope brian and his family are all alright it’s the worst not knowing and just anxiously waiting for him to show up. Please let me know if you hear from him!

A small bouquet of my eden rose to lift spirits :)

Jan, I am so sorry! I just saw your question about my orchids. I don’t know if it’s just me but the user interface on houzz has changed and I am all mixed up.

Jan, I know pot my orchids in 5-1-1 and I think that they like it.

This one is a phragmimedium so it really loves water. It can sit in a saucer with water and it wouldn’t mind. Jan, how is your fig cuttings doing?

This year, my violette de Bordeaux decides to give me quite a lot of fruits. I will try to take a picture tomorrow fpr you! I love figs!

Oh amy i do that too!! Just so glad to see you here everytime :) oh 511?!? hmmm I wonder if it would work on my cattleya orchid. I am so excited to finally see new growth on my cattleya after so much time of it doing nothing! Right now it’s in pure bark with a few pieces of sphagnum moss in there too! ill try to take a picture of it when I’m out in the greenhouse tomorrow amy :)

ooooh amy I too Am in love with figs!! I’d love to see a picture! I just checked my cuttings today and I see a very very slight new green bud growing so I think they’ve rooted!!! Do you like the violette de Bordeaux as I’ve been meaning to get one of those too! I’ve heard it’s one of the best for figs?

Here Jan, this is a picture of my Violet de Bordeaux. I hope to taste some fruits this year for the first time. It’s a heavy producer but the previous years they didn’t have time to ripen enough. This year the tree wake up earlier since it was im my greenhouse. I will report back how they taste.

Jan, how is the situation in Vancouver? Here, in Montreal, nurser just had the permissions to reopen not long ago so we don’t have the selections we used to have for this time of the year.

Did you have time to visitPhoenix Perrenial this year? We just received an email saying that citrus and avocado trees have arrived!

Here is a picture of my passion fruit. Can’t wait to taste the fruit

Wow amy!!! They’re gorgeous!!! Your fig tree is loaded with figs!! Please tell me how the fruits taste both the fig and the passion fruit! I’ve never heard of anyone growing passion fruit here! Tell me more lol how big of a pot is it in and do you treat it like your citrus over the winter? Looks like I can add that to my wish list lol it’s growing so long I don’t know how I’ll fit all of them if I do buy all the trees on my wish list!

amy here it’s been a hit or miss with shops, some are deemed essential so they are open such as nurseries so I’ve been to Phoenix a couple times awaiting the citrus but last week when I went they were just sorting out the citrus preorder so I actually didn’t get a chance to get mine yet. It’s funny you mention that because Im on my way to Phoenix as we speak! I’ll take a couple pictures when I get there apparently this year because of the self isolating people went nuts and ordered all sorts of citrus just like we did lol so there won’t be many leftover! They sold out of a lot of things! Amy speaking of preorders I know brian ordered a bunch of Citrus from Phoenix as well I really hope he’s alright and checks in with us. Amy I heard that Montreal has been hit real bad with the virus, are schools even allowed to open yet? over here they’re rotating the kids so Monday’s and Tuesday’s last names A through to F go to school and so on and so forth! What a weird world we live in now and they’re saying it will be a while until things normalize.

Amy I see a green bud about to grow on the bottom right node there of my ciccio Nero cutting! I saw on the fig forum that this one is eager to fruit and I can get ripe fruit as soon as next year! I’ll update you and if they turn out really well I can send you some cuttings! :)

Hi amy!!! I just got my Shasta gold and valentine they’re a little smaller than I hoped but I haven’t repot them or anything I’ll have to take a picture later! For now I can tell you that there’s barely anything leftover up front at their retail shop they did have tons of lemons kumquats and lots of owari satsuma! But nothing else besides that. there’s a tall key lime tree that was a whopping $189 from another source besides four winds.

Amy my shasta gold tree quite small Finally got to repotting it today but not the valentine! Let me know when you get your Phoenix trees Amy I can’t wait to see yours :)

Jan, your shasta gold is vey cute! Don’t worry about its size. Knowing your skill, it won’t be long before it will be big! Jan, sadly, my trees are on hold for now because Phoenix Perrenial are waiting for post Canada to be back their normal service so I don’t know when I will get them. Fortuneltly, I get to see yours so it‘s almost the same lolll

Jan, I am more anxious about my avocado trees. I ordered a Pinkerton and Reed but Gary call me to say they didn’t get any Pinkerton so I replace it with a Gwen. It‘s supposed to be a semi dwarf so we shall see. Gary told me that they are almost 4 feet lollll.

Lol!!! amy Yes I suppose it is!! What is mine is yours :) amy I can’t believe how much they’ve sold out on this year even my dwarf honeycrisp was the last one and it was just a few days after they posted that it was sold out already! Amy the reed avocado is the one you truly wanted right? How about the Gwen is it just as much a sought after variety As the reed? Thank god they’re sold out when I went there otherwise I’m pretty sure I’d have gone home with an avocado tree too lol I did see a couple avocados that have been put aside im guessing one of them was your order lol I should’ve taken a picture for you! Lol amy if I were you I’d be bouncing off the walls with anxiety I hate the waiting! I hope you get yours soon amy I’m anxious for you!

Amy, oh Amy, I want to know how that Violet de Bordeaux tastes too!! I can't believe you got those figs like that. I too have such a short season and it never occured to me to use my greenhouse to wake a tree up early. I'll be. I am going to do that with some of my figs although I have yet to get that one. I heard they are very tasty! On a positive note, my Chicago hardy survived my winter without being covered growing from all branches to the top, but no stinking fruit!! I am just glad I got the thing to survive.

Jan, you have a very nice bunch of trees there!! I am very proud of you. How is the greenhouse now? Is it empty or do you have other plants in there for summer? Hugs to both of you!!

Where's Brian anyways?? Has anyone heard?

Mike

Mike thank you! Your turn lol let’s see all your beauties mike! believe it or not I have two weeks of rain coming and very windy too today so I put them in lol it’s just like winter again in there! It’s filled! I even put some to the front of the house I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do come winter since I have two more additions now with the Shasta and the valentine pomelo I didn’t even get the eustis limequat like I planned to and instead got some figs! Lol I think I’ll only make room for a boukhobza blood orange other than that no more! Lol or do what bob does and maybe combine some trees into a fruit salad tree. Mike have you heard from Brian? I don’t think anyone else has I am very worried but unsure how else to contact him. I wonder if anyone on here knows him personally as in knows his number or something I just hope he’s alright with everything going on in this crazy world these days.

Mike I was just in the greenhouse i thought I’d show you just how cramped things are in there! I still need to fit in a 5ft sugarbelle and my 7ft tall cara cara I have no idea how I’ll do it!

Jan, my dear Jan..Are you crazy!!!!!!))) I would never not let my trees get weeks of rain, even if it were heavy every day. Rain falling on your trees and into your pots is so much different than watering them by hand and there is NO salts in rain water. Your mix will only be moist, never saturated and your trees would LOVE the welcomed nutrients from rain. There is no reason at all why anyone should have to bring them in summer unless their mix turns to mud or tornado in the area. I'd put them right back out, and you should. Listen to a citrus grower that can hear his trees singing in the rain. lol.

But you are right, wow. It seemed like yesterday when you built that and you had room even for a bed in there.lol I think you even had a desk and lamp in there too. A bar, like Brian? lol

Well, at least you have a small meditation matt set down there.lol Maybe you can sit on that and picture yourself in a tropical paradise. You really need to get a few orchids and set them on the tops of those pots or hand them. They would love it in there! Beautiful I tell you and what a great job you are doing!

I just worked out last night and I finally have my abs back. Maybe I can help you lift those back out if I visit you tomorrow. lol Do you do all that moving around by yourself or do you have help? I miss Cory. Remember her? She was such a good person her and so much to learn from. You remind me of her working hard and doing it by yourself. My hats off to you)

That middle tree. WOW, what a beauty Jan. Wow.

I use to e-mail and text Brian then I lost his number and then he changed his. Now we are not in touch like before but I want to be. I miss him. I really need to fin a way to see if he's ok. I pray he is. I'll keep trying. He's special you know. Hugs to you and Amy.

Mike

Lol mike my dear friend!! I agree I did let it out for about a night of rain except that almost all my trees blew sideways so I quickly brought them in lol who knew it’d be so windy and most of my trees are quite young so they’re not exactly strong yet but I’ve brought them back out now lol mike all this picking up and putting down before you know it I’ll be hulked out like you mike! :) lol anytime you’re around let me know mike I sure could use an extra pair of hands lol

mike that middle tree is the Moro blood orange I have yet to get fruit from it since I got it in 2016 lol crossing my fingers this year! Lol mike I really do have an addiction then to make it worst I met enablers like Amy and Brian and well I guess let’s just say I should’ve gotten a larger greenhouse lol! Mike I do have one ailing cattleya orchid in a clay pot in a mix of peat moss and bark. I do see more roots growing and now a little new bud has emerged I hope I get some flowers this year :)

yes I miss Cory and Brian too I really hope they’re ok I haven’t seen Laura in a while either here. Lots of good people really hope they’re alright. Maybe Brian just has a really bad cold like last time and is out for a few months hope to see him in here soon though and make sure he’s alright. Did he email you back mike? Well I’m glad atleast you Amy and bob are still on here :) now I’m off to clear out the garage lol spiders here I come! Hugs to you and your family mike!

Mike, oh no! I didn’t get your email! I looked in my inbox and also in my pm on houzz. Do you have a copy? Mike, talking about tornado, we just had two days of strong winds and my twelve years old cherry tree broke!! Not a twig, not a branch, the whole tree broke and thank god it didn’t fall on my greenhouse!!!!

The weather has been really crazy here. Temperature will be on the cool side today with only 17celsius and then we will have a heatwave next week! It’s been like this since the beginning of June! Oh I don’t mind the cool weather but I hate the strong winds. A couple of my trees lost branches.

Jan, you have a very good memory loll. Yes, Reed is my first choice and it’s supposed to be a very good, creamy avocado. I hesitated between Gwen and Pinkerton at first but choose Pinkerton because it is supposed to be precocious. Gwen is supposed to be a semi dwarf avocado and really good too so I am not disappointed at all. Jan, just start an avocado from seed. when it will be big enough I will send you scions so you can graft. I saw that you are a pro of grafting now so no need to buy anything! Friends are meant to share! I have a Bacon (type B) and will get a Reed and Gwen (type A).

Whoa amy! thank god your cherry tree didn’t fall on anything! I know what you mean about the weather this year for some r3ason w3 are having an unbelievably cold and wet summer so far all the way into June it’s never been like this before it was 13 degrees just last night very cold I could even see my breathe it was so cold lol my dog just refused to got out for her walks turned around and walked right back into the house! oh amy thank you so much I would love a cutting! I cannot wait until you post some pictures of your tree haul from Phoenix! Amy you know what I went to Lowe’s the other day and there were lemon and Lime bushes for sale for just $28 so cheap I almost got some but we were in such a rush lol and here I thought I was cured of my citrus addiction but you know I’m such a sucker!

Oh amy I meant to ask you if you need two avocado trees in order for cross polination? Or if it’s just a good excuse to tell our family so they’ll allow us to have more than one lol! Amy Have your bacon avocadoes fruited yet? I hear they’re amazing! In no time you’ll be swimming in avocados Amy!

Lol yes amy that is what I’m telling my family that I must have two! I just love the avocado leaves please post Pictures of your order once you get it :)

Bob, your Amy tree looks great! You picked great varieties too!

Jan, did you get your valentine pummelo this year? Gary just called me and he said that they didn’t get any pummelo in this year so I am so confused.

Amy, I think ThongDee I think is a little better than Valentine. Last winter some of my wife,s friends find ThongDee more than excellent. This coming winter will give you more info.

Laura, the Amy tree took a beating, I been nursing this tree and watching closely. It had way too much fruit on it.

Oh no amy! I got two trees from them and I remember putting a hold on the eustis limequat But maybe I didn’t after all now that I think about it because I didn’t think I’d have enough room and I already had a bears lime so when I got the two trees I figured one was Shasta the other one was valentine since I decided not to get the eustis but I’m guessing now that it was a eustis limequat then And I ordered three instead of two and I only got two because the valentine was missing? I Must admit I didn’t see a tag on the valentine So I just assumed it was!! The leaves do looks smaller than say my oro blanco but I figured maybe they were stunted due to the shipping or something!! I’ll try to take a picture tomorrow of it! Oh no!! I don’t understand but the preorder went live and I saw 5 of the valentine on the pre order being sold. Did he explain there was somehow a mixup or maybe that they didn’t ship it and so are missing from the stock? I’m very confused I guess I got my Eustis like I always wanted then I can’t say I regret the eustis but I’m very sad about the valentine! So what is he sending you Amy? Just the Shasta?

Jan, Gary told me that they didn’t get any valentine pummelos from four winds this year but he will try to have some for next year. I am very disappointed because this is the one I am looking forward to you know. Anyway, things like can happen all the time and Gary did the best he can. Let’s cross our fingers for next year pre order loll. Gary told me that my order has been shipped and I am gonna get a shasta mandarine and a reed and gwen avocados!

Bob, loll, after reading your comment, I feel less disappointed about the valentine pummelo. I ordered two valentine but next year I will only order one and have a spot for thongdee but it’s a really hard one to find loll

Amy, this is what a ThongDee looked like. Laura, if you don’t like that tree you want to get rid of, why not regraft!!

Amy. still crazy weather!! Two days it feels like fall, like today, then it will be like Arizona by Saturday with highs in the mid nineties... If I didn't spray a disease spray, all my plant would have mold because the humidity has been almost 100%. So bad, my hair curls up.lol Then the rain, all around me flooding the days of drought. It's all over the place and scary. Amy, did you ever get my second sent message from then? I am loosing track..lol I think I am loosing my mind. I have been missing you all, How's the greenhouse doing these days? Do you have anything left sitting in there? orchids? Ha. Still waiting to hear from our buddy. I am only thinking the worst but I hope I am wrong( Wow, I can't believe those winds took that tree out. You must be so sad about that. It looks like a good producing one too. Yikes. Winds are fierce here too, Have your potted trees been staying up? I hate the winds. YOu are right, after days of 75 percent humidity and temps in the 90's, having a couple of fallish days which is very weird, feels so so good. Like God turned the A.C. on....It felt good driving home from work last night with my now long hair flowing in the wind with the top down))) Many hugs to you. I like to think we are pretty good friends even though we never met in real person. It is possible. It's been done many times here.

Jan, Hello!! You getting more trees? I think I will have to come up and help you build another greenhouse twice bigger than the one you already have..lol Wait untl it's time to bring them in. Unless you cut them all way back, you maybe have very little room for even an ant to take a stroll.lol As they say, there is always room for one more, right? lol

My Dekopan tree almost died last winter. I lost half of it branches and stems((( I called the nursery I got it from and explained that it's the third try and third time they did horrible after a winter and guess what? They sold them to me on the wrong root stock for my area. So they sent me a new one with the proper root stock and it's doing so good. I am also glad to report I saved the one I almost lost. I'll probably have to plant that one in ground in my greenhouse since the root stock is meant for in ground. Ugh. My frogs are still hanging around the pond. If you would like to see pics let me know.. Many hugs to you too!!! Know you are loved.

Bob, hello, you akways have a way to make me laugh. You are a very good man. Steve too Thank you!