Maybe if I garden long enuf, I'll figure it out! Just a few years ago, we had a very cool, wet, windy spring. Melons died and the squash & cucumbers did very poorly even after it warmed up with a fairly normal summer. Tomatoes came on to have a bumper crop! This year, we had a very cool, wet, windy spring. The cucumbers are wound up for what looks like a tremendous crop! Melons and squash are doing okay. Tomatoes? There are barely a few . . . Posted by oldroser Best pole bean of all is Fortrex . . . I think it was 'roser who convinced me to try Fortex about 10 years ago. I know that a number of others have greatly appreciated that variety. Not to my taste but they may have had a productive season despite that. (Should probably know better than to argue with 'roser, tho'. ;o) The beans here aren't having the bestest of years, either! Still, the bush beans I usually grow did just okay, seem to have survived harvesting and should come back for a 2nd crop. Another chance should allow them time to grow a little! I have grown (what might be) Oregon Giant since that swing and miss with Fortex. I like the flavor and appreciate the size and long season. This year, I tried something different and planted them in mid-July . . . they'll have to hurry and are spiraling up their teepee. I'll just have to see. At least, they missed having that difficult June to beat them up. Steve

Linda, Thank you for asking. Yes, I confess. I love cannas. In my climate, there are only a few people I know that can leave them in the ground year round and I consider them magicians with microclimates. The rest of us must store them over winter somehow. I prefer not to dig mostly out of laziness. You are exactly right about the bubble pack and brown paper. Brown paper for darkness and bubble pack to provide some insulation since my garage is not heated. Once they all green up, I will pull out all the brown dead leaves from last year and clean them up. In late May, they will be able to stay outside all day. For now, the canna trolley it is. I also gave them some kelp water about every 3rd water. And this year, I gave them a sprinkle of milorganite because I read that it can give you huge cannas. I don't know all the variety names that I have. I never really kept track. I do know that I have Bengal Tiger which I bought last year and a yellow one called Harvest Yellow. I actually found that out by posting on this forum which was so fun! I have a red one, a hot pink one, and I have a dwarf variety as well. The pots are pretty full and I should probably divide. I did divide the yellow one last fall so I'm waiting to see how that turned out before dividing others. I don't have the best pictures of mine, but promise to try to get better photos this year. Harvest Yellow - photo taken August 2016 (this one blooms really late)

Hong I'm so glad they are coming through the ordeal and that you won't lose them. I would have been devastated if I did that!! I am fighting broadmites now and the forbid is helping. Will hit them today with spectracide. Hopefully they will be ok. Linda

Hi David, I am glad you started this thread; your observations are exactly what I have experienced with my JM trees. It must have something to do with the sap freezing because my grapes, and crapes did the exact same thing...the tops died and new growth coming from the bottom trunk or roots. You know, when something freezes it expands so maybe the frozen sap expanded damaging the tree's vascular system??? I don't know the theory of being closer to the ground, because I have much smaller trees that died...and one large 8 foot, 15 yr tree too. My Emperor 1 has one new shoot, just above the graft, and looks smaller than one of those one year grafts bought on ebay; that is pitiful...and it was at least two feet tall if not taller. My severely damaged list (some of these might eventually be added to the RIP list): Ocopus Red Feather Baby Lace Crimson Queen Corallinum Butterfly Green Hornet Jiro Shidare Omuryama Yezo nishiki Red Dragon Garnet Mikawa Yatsubusa RIP List: Waterfall Orangeola One large 15 yr tree ??? type Seriyu Sunset Irish Lace Inabe Shidare Stella Rosa Azuma Muresaki -Ivy Here is a link that might be useful: App-A-Lot Ranch