klsm54

Here is a link that may give some insight to your pepper problems, snellma. http://ipm.ncsu.edu/vegetables/pamphlets/peppers/peppers.html

Thanks for the link, an interesting site. I'm not able to do much gardening these days, but I used to grow a lot of peppers. Or maybe I should say I grew a lot of pepper plants... ;D I always planted 4 or 5 varieties of hot peppers and a couple of sweet peppers. When we would have that rare year that the weather was right, they all produced well. But it seemed like 2-3 years of very small pepper yields for every good year. Peppers around here can certainly try ones patience.

Got my Brandy Boy plants from Burpee's last week. Pleasantly surprised.... 8) They were very healthy, nice thick stems and arrived in good shape. That's the first time I ever mail ordered plants. Certainly not for you big gardeners, but I only put a few plants out. A little pricey but I'd do it again to try something I can't get around here, or that I waited too long to start myself.

Okay, you're keeping me busy just reading about all these trees..... 8) You've talked me out of the Magnolias. I'm disabled so my wife has to do all the yard work. I really don't want to add to her work with a messy tree, and I have no protected area so frost would probably get the magnolia most years too. The Cleveland Pear sounds like a winner. We're on a hill, so the Bradford Pear was out as it gets pretty windy here. I had a Bradford Pear that did good at our old house, but it was close to our house and well protected. I don't have that option here. Our daughter loves the Dwarf Japanese Maples so a couple of them will get worked into the foundation plantings, Thanks for the tip on the Dogwoods, the Kousa looks like another winner. The Lilac tree and a Washington Hawthorn, along with the Kousa Dogwood and Cleveland Pear, should be enough for this year. Hopefully I can find them all. Oh....but there was that Purpleleaf Plum too.... :-/

Thanks, gives me some food for thought. I like the Flowering Plum idea. Looking mostly for smaller trees like that, though I might put a shade tree out back. The Locust would be an option for that. I'm not a big fan of the Crimson King Maples. I had a Silver Maple, won't do that again. I'll have to look into the Magnolia and Flowering Pear. Also thinking of a Dogwood or Washington Hawthorne.

Seems to be lots of experienced gardeners here, I need some tree advice. We built a new house 2 years ago, now it's time for landscaping. I'm looking for ideas for trees. Nothing for right around the house but something to spruce(no pun intended) up the yard. My wife wants a Lilac tree, so I suppose we'll get that, but maybe a couple other trees. I don't want anything that makes to much of a mess. Maybe some flowering trees, or a fairly fast growing shade tree. Obviously something that does well in this area. I'm open to ideas.

I ordered 3 of the Brandy Boy Hybrid plants. I guess I'll find out in a few months. Hopefully I'll have better luck than you did, lavender, with the Brandywines. Don't know why I'm trying anything different, I love the taste of Big Boys. I think I'm going to dump the Early Girls though, they don't come on that much earlier and I think the Big Boys taste much better. We don't can much, so the tomatoes are for fresh use most of the time, and of course for fried green tomatoes, my favorite food in the world.... ;D

Thanks for the suggestions. I've planted Big Boy's and Early Girl's for years. I used to plant Roma's but they seemed too susceptable to Blossom End Rot. I usually stick with hybrids as they are more disease resistant. I see Brandywine winning taste contests all the time, but I never knowingly tasted them. They are an heirloom, which would break my hybrid theory, but I see Burpee has a hybrid Brandy Boy that I might give a try. I never mail-ordered plants before, but I doubt I'll find them around here.

What are your favorite tomatoes to grow and why? I'm always looking to try something different.