Wow, you're getting pretty technical, Saaod. I now know whom to turn to for foot candle calculations. :) A lot of mine are "full" sun - annuals, perennials, roses. An example is my smallish lemon tree in about a 15-20 gal pot. As a healthy, maturing tree, it would probably do ok in full Vegas summer sun planted in the ground (winter freezes would actually be the bigger concern here) with sufficient water, fert and care. In a pot, even a big pot, I got to keep it in the shade from 1pm on. Soil just gets too hot, leaves burn, trunk would probably scald. It gets all the sun it needs before afternoon to grow like a weed and thrive. Keep in mind also the killer component of reflected heat off an adjacent wall or pavement. It's nice during the cooler months but a west-facing wall will burn up all but the hardiest desert plants in the ground and nearly 100% of any plant in a pot in that type of microclimate.

HI Mike; Thanks. Are you talking about Turface MVP or one of the finer Turface products? I've starting using turface with a lot container trees that I am growing outside and it has seemed to work very well, in hot weather, most pots are pretty dried out in a day. I just watered a bonsai outside that was watered yesterday that is in turface, and it was pretty dry. It was a pretty small pot though. I can't remember what day I had watered the jade last, I will watch it with your week guideline in mind, but I am pretty confident that it will be fairly dried out a week after being watered. The folks over on the bonsai form were the ones that suggested I put in about 10% compost with the turface for the Jade -- Not saying that I'm sure that is correct, that's just where I came up with the mix. I have some mixed that I used turface, perlite, compost & or vermiculite. With any amount of compost (more then 10-20%) or with any amount of fine vermiculite, my mixed got too heavy. Also got too heavy with sand in them, though I think the sand may be too fine. I have tons of grit & perlite here, so I can add it in if necessary, I'm hoping not to have to re-pot it again, but will modify it if necessary of course. What would have been your idea growing medium mix for a large Jade? Do you have a preferred soil mix that you use for house plants in general? I have most major soil / and soil-less mix ingredients here, with the exception of bark mulch - I've not found a good source for bark mulch that is ground to a proper size. Thanks Jamie

Isn't it wonderful getting more sun? I've had lots of treework done (mostly Norway maples and thinning), and my lot has gone from mostly shade to partial shade. I want more sun! I have a plan with my tree guy to take down the last huge Norway maple in my yard as soon as the snow melts (we have about 2 feet right now). I can't wait to get rid of that thing and grow more stuff. :-D I grow bronze fennel and it doesn't produce the bulb. That is "Florence fennel" and it's a cultivar of Foeniculum vulgare that has an enlarged bulb. It is similar to celery but has a mild sweet licorice taste. I cook them with brussel sprouts and carrots, or other winter veggies. It sounds like the pesticide applicator is targeting the woody plants. Hopefully he won't hit the host plants. Next time you see the sprayer, I would go over and ask him about the herbicide. Probably Triclopyr or 2-4-d. I think they kill broad leaf plants but not grasses?

Hmmmm, I'm going to look up the link to skylight covers in a sec. Interesting. But if Steph is thinking of making her own, it isn't that difficult, you know. The Home Depot sells 100 foot rolls of what is called SHADE CLOTH. I bought a roll of it intending to make roman shades from it, but DH opted to have plantation shutters installed here in Alabama like the ones I persuaded him to install up in Massachusetts. He really likes them. Now, I will probably use the shade cloth to make a cover outdoors for my shade loving hosta that I've gone nuts over. I have two roll up shades made of it on the totally Lexan walled sun porch, and it truly cuts the heat down, plus like Shelayne says you can see through it looking out. You don't want to put a shade on the INSIDE of your skylights Steph, because in AZ what you have is radiant heat, which will come in regardless of you stopping the LIGHT, if you don't stop it on the outside to keep the glass from heating up and transmitting/radiating the heat inward. If those purchased skylight covers can be bungeed into place, then you can see about making them yourself....or maybe ask your SISTER to sew them up for you? Are you handy with the sewing machine? Didn't we just chat about that sitting unused in most of our homes? Well, think about running a few flat hems easy as making a towel, threading the bungee through the hem, and get some young buck of an Arizona cowboy to climb up there on your roof and install it for you. Isn't your neighbor's boy big enough to help you do that? Think about it, Steph. You get the shade, and still have the light. It will make a difference.