Elaeagnus Ebbingei is blooming! The flowers smell delicious. Kinda like jasmine or honeysuckle, very sweet.

Be still my heart!! They look like Tea Olive blooms. Do you have a link with more info on this or where you purchased it?

Hearing reports how tropical milkweed is overwintering well here, Now I think I'll plant those Pentas in the sunny beds too I have two nice big ones in pots by the front door. The moonvine is starting to look crappy, losing older leaves. Salvia Coral Nymph is the hugest I have seen, five feet! Black and Blue salvia (guarantiaca) also overwintered just fine out in the back with no special zone-pushing help.

@Chantell, http://plantsbymail.com/elaeag...
This is where I got mine. They're supposedly a very common landscape plant in the UK, but it was difficult finding them in the US. It's an honest to God wonder-plant: drought tolerant, wind tolerant, salt tolerant, nitrogen fixing, grows in full shade to full sun, incredibly fast and thick growing to 10' or more tall and wide, fragrant fall-winter flowers, edible berries in spring, AND evergreen. Hardy to zone 6. Think I'll try to root cuttings for the spring swap.

I have Elaeagnus umbellata in my front yard - it has large thorn/spikes that I forget about until pruning. It blooms in early spring though I think..amazing fragrance!! I let the ornamental tobacco reseed beside it...figuring the oxygen balances out That's also why I allow clover to grow in my potted plants. I'd love to hear folks thoughts on that though as I just started doing that this year.

Will someone explain to me what all the N-fixating is all about?
How does it work and why is it beneficial to the lawn?

I have lots of white clover in my front yard. Some in the back too...
Heck! It's green.... G.

@gitagal, some plants create a symbiotic relationship with ground bacteria along the roots. This bacteria (forgot the name) pulls nitrogen from the air and makes it usable for plants. I don't know about lawns in particular, but nitrogen is one of the big three nutrients for plant health.

Thanks, Mike. Thanks for the explanation.
I heard back from Jeff and Cam as well.

SOOO??? Should I just put up with all this clover in my lawn?
A couple years ago--I tried to pull it up by hand--and, I kid you not--
the mesh of roots under it looked like a fisherman's net. I could stick my fingers
under it and try to pull it up! it was crazy!
I need to spread some Millorganite over my lawn. Haven't done it since spring.

You can't beat the price. $12.78 for a 35lb. bag at HD. I push it on a lot of people.
It has become my mission,
One of the "hooks" i use is asking them if they have problems with deer.
Then I explain what it is made from and suggest that it may "deter" deer because
to deer--that human waste smell is akin to having this territory "marked".
Then--I also tell the men that they should go and pee around their fences and property.
Like--REALLY marking your area! Then we both have a chuckle....
I also tell them to Google Milorganite and see the manufacturing get-up they have to make it.

I LOVE chatting with my customers! Gita

Does Milorganite go down pretty easily with a broadcast spreader?

Jill--Absolutely!!! it is NOT a powder--nor does it cake or have any other small bits of stuff in it.
It is quite uniform, very small, round, black "beads". Maybe similar to the size
of a Hibiscus seed. It's NPK ratio is 5-2-0. Works great in spreaders.

On the bag--it says it covers 5000 sf--but they base it on "double" coverage--
with the spreader going in a grid pattern. No need for it.

I like it because it is fairly "clean". You could scoop up some in your hands to look at it.

Some people think it smells---but there is just an earthy/humousy smell when
you first open the bag. No waste smell. No poop smell...NO pee smell.
Nothing offensive--at least not to me. Others noses may be more sensitive.

Go for it! You can't beat the price. $12.78 (or12 .98) for a 35lb bag of ORGANIC fertilizer
you can use at any time of year--on any part of your garden. You don't have to water it in--
--can be put down even in the hottest time of year--and it won't burn the grass.

In our store--it is located outside, under the cover, at the very end of of the aisle
where all the Scotts fertilizer bags are sold....the ones with "N" up yout ying-yang!

Let me know what you thought after you used it. Give it time--it will green up slowly.

NOW--at least in our store--if you are buying a torn bag--of anything--we will give you 50% off.
You can ask!!! Big savings! Tell them (whatever store you shopin) that
White Marsh (store #2502) does it. It may not be every store's policy-but matching prices
has always been important to keep you as a HD customer.

I better get a bag myself. My lawn sucks by now! Gita

Thanks... sounds like they've improved the formulation. i remember it as more of a powder, and one that did have a distinctive odor after water/rain. That's why I've been avoiding it despite hearing you adn others sing its praises. But my lawn definitely needs help this fall!

No, not a powder any more, Jill. It's baked in an oven at around 1100 degrees F to harden it then it's crushed into small granules. VERY easy to apply with a broadcast spreader. I do my entire lawn in 20 minutes. Now would be a GREAT time to put it down. Check out the 10 day weather forecast.

OK; I'm on it.

Hey CAM, I bought some lime I the spring. Is now a good time to apply it?

You know--I have NEVER applied Lime to my lawn as far as I can remember.
I have no idea what my lawn's Ph is--but everything is doing OK.

HD sells pelleted lime only. GOOD! It is in the bay next to the Milorganite.
The powder form used to fly all over the place.

I bought 2 bags of Milorganite today. I think they have changed the N-P-K a bit.
It is not the numbers I gave you. Just a tiny bit different.....6--4.5--0

G.

@Sequoiadendron4 Any time is a good time for lime. I wouldn't put it down in winter but you know what I mean. But yeah, Any time the ground is not frozen is a good time to put down lime. I normally put down three applications spread out from April until October.

Alright I might do that in a couple weekends. Sheesh, I didn't know you had to lime several times a season. What is the advantage of lime again? Does it make the grass greener?

Yes, especially if your pH of your soil is below 6, grass likes a pH between 6 and 7 to be the healthiest and thickest and greenest it can be.

Not several times per season. You don't have to exactly sneak up on 6.5 pH.

Just get it there all at once and the lawn and flowers will be happy immediately.

Given our acidic soil in MD, it would be pretty hard for you to overdo it.

If you really want to do it right, test your soil and see what the pH is and add the lime as often as it takes to get your pH to the 6.5 to 7 range then test it every now and then to see if it's stable.