Well, my climate is totally different than yours, but for what it's worth, I've grown Over the Moon for just one season. So far it has respectible, if not standout, bloom production, but the flowers it produces are wonderful, clear bright peach, with moderate fragrance. The bush seems pretty healthy; it's not yet a mature bush. Blooms last fairly well cut or on the bush, and it has handled hot, humid, weather as well as cooler weather, whether rainyor dry. I got mine hoping it would be a reasonable replacement for Just Joey, which though beautiful and fragrant, just didn't want to perform for me. I'm pretty satisfied with Over the Moon. Go for it. You know you want it. ; ) Mike

Thanks Dave. I have several Cham. Obs, that have been in the ground 4-5 years now including Crippsii that are stunning. Would love a specimen that is as slender as yours. Since the heavy snow loads aren't ususally a problem (except this past winter we got 12" in one of the four snowfalls we received). When you say lower than zone 5 do you mean 4-2 or do you mean south? I have only burned up a couple of C. Ob. cultivars so far and found that when given afternoon shade they do well. I have two great micro climates working for me so I am lucky there. D

It very well could be. One of the basic rules of safe home canning is that you usually cannot home can your own recipes. You have no way of knowing what the pH is, the density, or the processing time required. There are tested and approved recipes for most anything you want to can. Personal recipes are never recommended as safe unless lab tested. The risk of botulism is just too important to ignore. Home canning, especially pressure canning, is not something one can just jump into blind. It has a learning curve. I'd suggest you begin by first comparing your recipe to one of the approved ones in one of the approved canning publications or at NCHFP. The differences could be vital. Otherwise freeze your chili. http://nchfp.uga.edu/ Dave PS: and please, for your own safety do have your inherited canner checked by a professional. A 40 year pressure canner may be fine but it may also be quite risky to use. And a 40 year old gauge (or petcock if it has one) is very likely inaccurate.

"desertsteph, I have a 7 cu. ft. chest freezer (Haier) that almost never needs to be defrosted. It's been going for about 4 years and just only now has a little bit of ice on the sides." thx for the info on it. do you mean that it hasn't needed defrosted in 4 yrs? holy moly, I read reviews of them needing defrosted every few months! not necessarily a Haier freezer. I'd probably be good with one even 4 cu ft. that's a bit bigger than the one in my fridge. I'll be checking them out again this year. I don't have a lot of space in my utility room (it gets the heat of the AZ sun from May-Oct from about 11 - 7 pm / it gets a bit warm in there). I've even thought about one of the smaller ones - but I'd have to set it up on something so I wouldn't have to bend down to it. I don't know how safe that would be. I have back problems and now a knee problem so I don't like to bend down if I can avoid it. one of those food saver machines is next on my list, then I'll start looking again at freezers. I've tended to look at the major brand names. Good to hear that Haier might be a good option.