It is always fun to pick up where a crazy lady gardener left off! I suspect future owners of my house will refer to me as that :-) One thing you might be forgetting is that all plants are basically green most of the time, so stuff going together is really not that big an big issue. One exception is probably forsythia with pink flowering cherries, but then, I hate forsythia so I may not be seeing that correctly. But on the whole, in the type of project you have in mind, I would feel quite free to go with whatever plants you like. Another thing, a single forsythia can get pretty big so unless you like that garish yellow colour a lot, three of them might be overkill. One is permitted to throw plants in the compost even if they are still alive. Your kids will be safest if you simply teach them not to eat anything from your flower garden, although I have to admit that I have never been able to bring myself to grow monkshood, even though my kids knew the rule (my son could say Euphorbia when he could barely talk because he knew not to touch his face if he'd touched the euphorbias "dis a euphorbia?"). But the list of poisonous plants is astonishingly long and limiting, and if you also worry about what's poisonous to cats you can't grow anything at all, especially not lilies. Do try to beat your weeds before you plant. It's way easier. Karin L

as soon as the new growth starts in early spring. Not to late right now if you are not in a really hot area. graft the piece into your root stock then bend the root stock branch over in an arch, so that it's past 90 degrees to the ground, and the grafted piece is at the top of the arch. This will encourage more energy to go the the graft. Once the graft has solid growth, cut away the root stock above the graft and let the branch straighten back up. A big rubber band is a good way to keep the arch in the root stock.

This doesn't really relate to blooming, but I have 3 Loquat trees currently in pots. I dug them up last year from a massive number of seedlings that sprouted around one of the many Loquats on the USC campus. They're all about 4 feet tall now, and I want to put at least one in a large container and the others in the ground. The ones I see on campus are large and thriving, growing very close to buildings. (And I do mean very close - many are actually growing against the sides of the buildings and are quite old, judging by thier size and appearance.) Any advice on (1) whether or not it's a good idea to grow one in a container and (2) if they will do well in my oak-pine forest, sandy soil environment?

As with anything else take with caution and enjoy. I have used the fruit mostly for pies and sauces. I have also used the whole fruit dried like a spice in my cooking. Great for heavy stews etc. I don't de-pit for drying as spice and we're still alive and healthy! I have yet to use it for the famous Italian liquor or the leaf tea. I have experimented with the pits in letting them sit in a tiny amount of sugar/water solution and there seems to be a sap that eventually comes out. Does anyone know what it contains and if it is useable in any way?