Kippy, you can most cetainly grow cherries in your area, no problem! The 'Minnie Royal' and 'Royal Lee' (cross pollinators for each other) were specifically designed for our warm, coastal California climates. They produce right on the coast. And I'm meaning literally. On the beach in Encinitas, Carlsbad and Oceanside. I've seen them loaded with cherries in these areas in various San Diego Hort Society members' yards. Mine bore for me in their first season. Just a couple of cherries, but they were really outstanding. Bay Laurel Nursery will be carrying these varieties again for 2013 as bare root trees on New Root 1 (3CR178) rootstock, which would be my choice for rootstock, as I have mine on Colt, and there really is no dwarfing at all from Colt, they are growing at nuclear proportions, I can barely keep them contained. I am seriously considering pulling them out this winter, giving them to my next door neighbors and replacing them with a pair on New Root 1. The only downside is I again have to wait for cherries, whereas, if I leave my current pair in the ground, I'll get a nice crop next May. They ripen in early to mid-May for me here. Fabulous cherry choice for you. Patty S. Here is a link that might be useful: Bay Laurel Nursery: Cherries

Okay, as far as your cholesterol meds go, just tell your doctor you need to switch to Crestor, so you can enjoy grapefruit (and pummelos) again. That is so dumb. I wish doctors would pay better attention to this (I am an RN, Crestor, rosuvastatin, does not interact with furanocouramins). Citrus, and especially grapefruits and pummelos are part of a healthy diet. If you like them, you should be able to eat them. No problem at all eating grapefruits or pummelos if you're on Crestor, that will fix that issue. Jean, I had a Valencia orange in my back yard in Huntington Beach, and it was delicious, so it should do just fine for ptr in Manhattan Beach, especially if she's a bit away from the coast. Huntington Beach is cooler and foggier than Manhattan. Navel oranges may not get enough heat units, but you shouldn't have any issues with a Valencia. As far as mandarins, I would suggest Seedless Kishu. Pixie is also wonderful. Another good option is Clemenules (Nules) mandarin. All really excellent, rich, very sweet, easy to peel, super delicious. Lemons - the best true lemon out there would be a Santa Teresa Feminnello, which can be found at Four Winds Citrus. Pink Lemonade is pretty to look at, but the fruit is pretty worthless. Dry, pithy, not juicy. Pretty tree, poor fruit. A prettier tree is the Improved Meyer lemon, but it is a hybrid, and if you're looking for a true lemon, then this may not be to your liking. I would suggest tasting a Meyer lemon before you buy a tree. I love them, no all lemon lovers do. And, if you change your statin, you can consider a Cocktail pummelo hybrid. All the sweetness of an orange, but tastes like a grapefruit. And, doesn't need heat units to sweeten, like most grapefruits do. Just love them. ptr, are you originally from South Africa by chance? Patty S.

For those in the San Diego area, I just thought Id mention that the Armstrong Nursery on Morena Blvd (by SeaWorld Drive/Tecolate Road) has some great tomato varieties. They started offering more obscure varieties last year (than you would usually find in a nursery around here) and the plants look great. I was just out there last weekend and they have Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, etc I picked up a Sungold plant there last year which did great in my garden. And I did same thing this year. I usually plant about ten varieties from seed and this year I decided not to do Sungold from seed because I could just pick up a plant from them thats about 18" high, healthy, and only pay $4 for it. Last year they also had Kelloggs Breakfast which did really well in my garden. I didnt see it last weekend but may do a drive-by tomorrow to see if its back.

Re: alfalfa. I've read wildly differing reports of it's NPK content; some saying it's especially high in nitrogen(eg 512), some saying it's a very good balance (usually still slightly lower in P, eg 212 or 323). It seems it varies according to the source/form. All agree it also contains a fabulous assortment of minor and micro-nutrients, thus, as Jeri points out, making it an especially effective rose fertiliser/amendment. As I understand it, the micronutrients make other nutrients more bio-available, amongst other benefits. I've been wondering lately about growing it amongst roses - it has a very pretty violet-blue flower which I thought might be a reasonable alternative to eg catmint in aesthetically complementing the roses. However, I haven't actually seen it growing to be sure of of whether the whole plant would actually look good enough. Since alfalfa hay is often on sale around here, I'm assuming it suits our hot, dry Mediterranean (mild, wettish winter) climate. The point I'm getting at is that after flowering, it could 1) be used as a green manure, ie cut down at ground level leaving the roots in the soil to do their nitrogen-fixing thing; 2) the stems could simply be chopped and left on the soil as mulch, providing soil moisture evaporation protection (or composted first, if preferred) 3) meanwhile all its other important minerals and micronutrients would be released into the soil as it gradually rots down 4) eventually the whole plant would become incorporated into the soil, where it could do its spongy long-term moisture retention/soil structure improvement thing... 5) sow more alfalfa. Or maybe it would self-seed if plants were left long enough before cutting down? I kind of think this sounds like it could make for a pleasingly simple and cheap all-purpose system, in theory at least! Nate, maybe some system like this could be just enough to keep your HTs fed and healthy??? While placating management's rather unusual horticultural 'idees fixes' - 'cos after all, you're only putting back what was actually growing there. Of course they wouldn't have grown alfalfa with their HTs in the 50s!! :¬D - but maybe management could be persuaded, perhaps, say, to allow it to be grown as a border around the bed if not actually between the rose bushes - like the clover suggestion, though ahem!.. rather more conspicuous? Just a thought, anyway... I'd be very interested to know if anyone has actually tried this, or has any comments/ thoughts on the idea. Comtesse :¬)