You face several problems in the Denver area. There are some areas with natural wind drainage from the mountains where hurricane force winds are not uncommon. I am familiar with one such area between Boulder and Denver. Also, when Littleton was a new community, people were having trouble getting any kind of tree started. You will be facing several problems. 1) Alkaline Soil. Raised beds are the best solution for this. Rhododendrons and azaleas have shallow roots, so a raised bed that is 12 to 15 inches high is normal. Use a good acidic soil that is well drained. 2) Alkaline Water. The raised bed won't help if you use alkaline water. Use only rain water including water collected in cisterns or neutralized water. 3) Winter wind and sun. These are serious problems. A wind break and some winter shade are necessary. Summer sun is not trivial either. Some summer shade is necessary. 4) Hardy plants. Being from Idaho, you are probably familiar with this problem. All azaleas and rhododendrons have a characteristic hardiness. Winter hardiness and summer hardiness are both important. They usually go together. Here are some interesting references: Gardening challenges for newcomers to Colorado (Colorado Extension) Iron chlorosis (Colorado Extension) Growing Azaleas and Rhododendrons (Missouri Extension) Azalea and Rhododendron Care and Culture (Oregon State University) Here is a link that might be useful: How to grow rhododendrons and azaleas.

It’s weird, I have one bush that really struggles, and the same bush that’s like 10’ away doing fairly well for the location (roadside)..the one that’s doing bad I blame on a maple tree that used to be right next to it..I just cut that tree down last year (hated the thing anyway) and the bush is doing a little better...not tremendously better..but I’ll know more after this growing season...this is also the bush that had issues with mildew (the healthy one never has) but again prior to maple tree being cut down...after tree gone, no mildew..it’s weird.

Hi, AnneC, For me, it is about the growing, not the keeping. My innate perspective is different. Or maybe it has shifted. I am definitely a collector who does not crave that many. It is not difficult at all for me to part with violets. I grow them to give them away. Coming from an agricultural and farming family back a generation, crops were raised to be shared--sold or given away. Also, with a limited growing season, I was not used to plants living longer than a few months. So the concept of raising 300 indoor African Violets would have seemed like an unusual hobby. My ideal situation would be to have a greenhouse and raise them for market. The problem with raising them for club sales to the public is that unless people grow them, they don't understand how to care for them. So club sales are not that successful or rewarding for others where I live. I have observed over the years on this forum where the same questions are asked over and over about growing and getting them to bloom. They are not an intuitive type of plant to grow. In a way, they are a manufactured plant, serving no purpose aside from ornamental. I can understand the hybridizing of roses. They are an outdoor flowering shrub with far more versatility and widespread appeal than AVs. They have commercial value and the bonus of fragrance. Joanne

Hi! I hadn't check in here for awhile and there are so many new comments and wanted to thank you all! 1. A few of you noted that German persil is not widely available in the US. I live in a very eastern European neighborhood in north Brooklyn and a fair amount of mom and pops carry European imports. Oddly they are all inexplicably cheap and even carry most of my favorite chocolates from the UK for 60% less than other places [Lion Bar FTW]. It's a unique experience and also great for odd jams and biscuits! After a quick look [long, actually, because it's not in english] at the box, and a google, the Henkel Polska seems to be formulated differently than the german, but based on my use so far it is working very well. I will try to get my hands on some of the actual german, do a comparison, and come back here with my findings. 2. I promise to not use blueing again. I think I was only doing it since my grandma said that's how things were done? I now know she was totally wrong on that [and other things, like putting hot dogs and rice in casseroles. Together. ]. 3. Individual replies: @Donna-37:Awesome I will look to find the Target Ever spring, sounds like a good twindos dupe. I'm not near bigbox often, but when I next am I will pick some up. @theclose : You mentioned using tide liquid for when a load would require liquid detergent. When would that be? I read through a lot of the threads in this forum and it seemed like powder was mostly preferable. Is it a certain kind of stain that requires liquid? @livebetter :Do you like the Miele color powder? I have started with the persil, am loving the Miele Ultra white, but hesitant to buy another variety until I use up the persil box I have [which on 1-2 Tbsps per load might be 2030. @rococogurl : All Hail the Queen! Honestly your cheat sheet is amazing! I do have the leblanc on my list-to-buy, however my husband was super wary after we installed the machine and then I bought a vast number of detergents and extra phosphate stuff for our miele dishwasher based on reading old houzz forums, so I refrained for now. I've been very careful about sudsing, when something new [but vintage linen] is purchased I run it with no detergent, prewash with sodium percarbonate, and extra rinse. It's insane when I see how much sud is in the washer when I am washing these items with no detergent. For my first few loads of normal clothing I followed your sheet, but did the measurements by half. I've tweaked with cycles and have come up with what works for our water and only the smallest trail of bubbles ends up on the bottom slope of the door glass. The Polska [not german as I OP'd, but Polish] Persil powder has almost no sud, I have not yet experimented with the Polska persil gels, however the perwoll sport worked well for my workout stuff and didn't rash me [sensitive skin] and didn't sud at all [maybe because sweat?]. I have Bosch compacts at my upstate place and for my rental property. When I wrote my initial ask here I didn't really understand them and was only using cold water and like half a cup of budget liquid detergent [it now sounds insane to me that I was doing that]. I am now using them correctly [using your cheat sheet for them too], getting exceptionally better results, and trying to figure out how to instruct my longterm tenants without sounding insane about fabric softener sheets being outlawed and them using too much soap. I now think the miele and the bosch are equal in result, the miele is just more plug and play and the cost made me actually research how to use it, vs. the bosch I just installed and walked away. Bosch are great machines; It's my own fault for not learning how to use them correctly.