Oh my Carol, I am envious. There is nothing better than fresh CA avocados right there in CA. By the time they get to the east coast they are better than nothing but that's about all I can say. Such a difference.

It really shouldn't make any difference, other than shipping cost, because they don't ripen on the tree anyway, and as far as I know they don't gas them like they do tomatoes. That being said, I love that overgrown tree, and prefer free avocados to $1.59 each that I sometimes have to pay at the store. When I first came to Ca. at 9 years old ( from Wa), you couldn't force me to eat one of those green, slimy things. Now I want it on everything. Besides, they're great for bartering.

LOL, you have no idea what CA fruit tastes like by the time it gets to the east coast. It looks so pretty but think plastic tasteless strawberries and spongy bland peaches. After eating fresh fruit in CA I know it is very different and delicious out there. I think they grow varieties that look and ship well for destinations in the east but the flavor part is lacking.

Ha! We get the same thing here. I try to grow tomatoes every year because what we get at the store is gross, and they grow in fields all around us. That's just about marketing. I would grow all of my own produce if I had room.

I bought a tiny Poinsettia 3 years ago! It was really cute that first Christmas! I placed it every Summer outside and brought it into the greenhose in September with all the others. Since I don't use artificial lighting in the greenhouse it always turns red by this time.
I really cut this one down last Spring!!

I have never even tried to re-flower a Poinsettia in all the years, Ursula. Unfortunately, all my greenhouses have supplimental lighting (lots of it) and that presents a problem in re-blooming Poinsettia.

Yes, it would. The first year I was a bit surprised to it turning color, since the neighbor sometimes leaves a bright outside light on. But that doesn't seem to matter.

how pretty is that? I've never seen one rebloom.!

Alice, we had mentioned in the other post about drifts of daffodils and the orange daylillies...While looking through the depths of my computer files for other photos...I found these two from my days on the Chesapeake Bay..


I had gotten a large clump of these from my brother in Yorktown..and divided them over the years to make a huge semi circle across the whole back yard...Included in that first clump were a few of the protected 'Yorktown Onions' which (allegedly) only grow on the parkway..but happily established themselves in Gloucester just across the river..and later in Greenville , NC.





This was my reality 5 -7 times a year..with NorEasters...extreme Lunar tides and hurricanes.
The daylillies, rugosa roses and wax myrtles just shrugged the salt water off. During hurricane Isabelle, I had 7' of salt water in my yard for 3 days. But as a Master Gardener, I have never been more frustrated than I was here in VA.

Wow, those lilies look sure look familiar. Things grew so well there for me, I was young and became so spoiled. I was sure I could replicate those planting wherever we moved. LOL

You were certainly a lot lower than we were. We were on a river, the Wicomico, we we rarely had such extreme conditions. We did live on a sharp bend and barges regularly took out sections of our dock. One time a barge came right up about 100' into the back yard. My boys had been playing ball out there and ran in to tell me a barge had come calling. Those things are huge. The shipping companies would pay us and we would repair the dock/yard ourselves and buy another boat with the $. At one point we had 6 boats.

I guess I haven't been on this thread for a while...THANKS, Alice @ardesia for the pretty fall colors you posted for me last month! I love Japanese Maples...and they're another thing we can't grow here!

Lindsey...I have re-bloomed poinsettias here out in the yard... easily! When the first bloom comes off I cut em back by a third, put them in a 'real' pot with some good soil and fertilize. Late summer (if I remember) I fertilize again and they always seem to re-bloom on schedule for me! It's funny though, they will do this for a few years, growing lush every summer, blooming when they are supposed to and then they up and die for no apparent reason! It's happened to me a number of times...

At the MG Christmas party/gift exchange, I gave one of my Apopka Catts for this Hippeastrum hybrid Amaryllis. This one really has the pollen.



Jim

It is gorgeous! Always a favorite around Christmas!

gorgeous Jim, and with 2 flower spikes...it must be a huge bulb!

I still have a little color outside.

Abutilon 'Sweet Tea and a noid Gerbera


Noid, passalong Billbergia



Bouvardia ternifolia


Lots of grapefruit, not so many tangerines

So many fruits!
The Abutilon is very pretty!

I started up the new thread for 2017 here
The thread "Let's see what else we are growing in 2017" in Orchids forum