I thought the tree is already to be replaced as the discussion ensued, if so, what cultivars would be better, given the history. Tomcot would be the best suited, based on Don Yellman's excellent advice. Harcot would also be nice, but recalling that the place is around the Bay Area, it would not get enough chilling hours in most years. We are 12 miles west of the Sacramento Capitol as the crow flies. In our area a couple of years ago, during prolonged low intensity rains around bloom time, there were severe brown rot, blossom blight on apricots. Peaches also got the blight and rot aside from peach leaf curl. Fruit sets were generally poor. During those times, Tomcot, Goldkist, Royal Rosa, Harcot apricots fruited adequately without needing to thin out (that means just adequate fruits). Last year, we had relatively very dry spell during the bloom, and almost all stone fruits whose diseases did not get deeper into the tree, they have limb breaking yields. Those are a few observations from around the neighborhood who seldom spray their trees. Oftentimes, it is useless to spray your trees in an urban setting, because of the neighbors. And even if you did get their permissions, not everyone will spray at the same time. So you will always have a reservoir of diseases and their vectors. Often hobbyists have a plethora of cultivars in close proximity of each other and not big blocks of monocultured trees. Planting distances of trees are designed for machineries to pass through in commercial orchards and these spacings are never applicable for a city backyard in prime costing land. Commercial growers and home hobbyists have different objectives in raising fruit trees or plants in general and have dramatically different environments in which they operate. I take the observations and experimentations of hobbyists and home growers with proper context and value them much better than the standard methods meant for commercial growers. One has to consider these primary differences when discussing various issues.

Ginkgonut - Thanks for the suggestions! I Googled them and they look wonderful. Hokie - Limelights have really made a splash in the hydrangea world, haven't they? Even I've heard of them and that means a lot since I'm such a non-gardener. They were the first variety that came to mind. Thought they might look good against some limey colored variegated hostas. I think I can only get 4 plants in this space -so I have enough room for air movement & hostas- so it doesn't look like Limelights will make the cut for this bed. Is there anything particular to hydrangeas that I should I look out for when purchasing the plant? Brown=bad is the extent of my knowledge! I've read a few comments that said it took a while for the hydrangeas to bloom. Could that be due to the size of the plant purchased? If so, what's the minimum size I should look for to get blooms next year? Don't want to spend too much since I have a lot of backyard to work on but completely understand the "get what you pay for" saying. Thanks in advance :) Jennifer

Here is what I noticed over the years. Stinkbugs have NEVER gone near SunGold. Maybe there is something to that? I notice they favor really bushy plants and they prefer tomatoes growing inside the canopy near the main stem where it's really shady and harder for birds to see or reach. I had a bad problem with them years ago but have learned not to grow ornamental millet or cucumbers near my tomatoes anymore. That has helped. I hardly get any now. What I used to do is place cardboard or shingles loosely on the ground below the tomato plants. This works best right before a heavy rain. Early the next morning you lift up the cardboard and a bunch of them are ripe for annhilation...:)

Imelda, commercial orchardists in Florida (and in all citrus producing states), don't just rely on Imidacloprid. They use a series of various foliar and systemic insecticides to try to manage their orchards. The goal for commercial growers in Florida is to try to keep the trees alive a year or two longer than the average 5 year death rate. Right now, they are rotationally re-planting their orchards, and relying on several pesticides, as well as other measures (such as the one John mentioned - planting less desirable trees around the perimeter of their orchards) to try to stretch out their replacement rates due to death from HLB. The goal for our commercial growers here in California is to kill the psyllid prior to being able to feed on the tree, or incapacitate the psyllid to such a degree, that even if it does begin to feed, there isn't enough time for a potentially infected psyllid (I use the adverb, "potentially" to indicate that we do not have any infected psyllids discovered, yet in California) to inject their infected saliva back into the tree, and thus infect the tree.And, as Steve has pointed out, most certainly would not make it to tree #2, to spread the disease. Also, imidacloprid is a neonicotinoid, and one of the useful features of neonicotinoids is that they are anti-feedants, so psyllids don’t want to feed on trees treated with them. It causes the tree to naturally repel psyllids. Commercial growers have been recommended to apply imidacloprid systemically every 6 weeks, and then use various foliar pesticide applications in between that use different modes of action. Suzi, that is the philosophy behind integrated pest management - use the least harmful management option, first. Only resorting to more intense or toxic management options if the less harmful options are insufficient. You're doing the responsible thing. I was using Spinosad only to treat CLM, but now, I am compelled to also use Imidacloprid as well, since I have over 100 citrus trees on my property, and am adjacent to 157 acres of completely un-managed and abandoned citrus trees that are a giant magnet for all manner of pests. I don't want to use systemic pesticides, as I don't relish eating fruit with pesticide residuals, which is why I grow my own fruit. But, we are in extreme times, and as they say, "extreme times require extreme measures". I am very careful to apply only the recommended amounts and frequencies. I spray my Spinosad in the evening, after the bees have gone back to the hives, and try to spray only after blossom time is over (not always possible with my lemons, as they bloom multiple times). Patty S.