I just had another Angel Red. It was a big beautiful red fruit, but the flavor was lacking (and it was not as sweet as I remember it last time). It's hard to say whether this is indicative of the variety, since there are so many factors that can affect fruit quality and flavor. Maybe the fruit should have been left on the tree another 2 weeks to ripen. But on a more positive note, I found this review on TropicalFruitForum.com: "Parfianka is considered by many as being the best tasting but this year, my first year with fruits, the Angel Red tasted better than the Parfianka. The Angel Red was sweeter and had better sugar acid balance to my palate. The Parfianka tasted like a Wonderful with very soft seeds. This could be because my trees are so young but remember that everyone's palates are different." - posted by simon_grow, December 27, 2013 - From what I have read, Angel Red is not really an exceptional variety among pomegranates, but it is an exceptional variety among the pomegranates that are ready to harvest in September. Therein lies the appeal of Angel Red to commercial growers, it is an early-producing variety; it's better than any other pomegranate variety commercially available in September. ( "Market Watch: New Angel Red pomegranate debuts in Southern California ", Los Angeles Times, David Carp, September 24, 2010 ) Most people seem to be saying that 'Angel Red' tastes like 'Wonderful' but with softer seeds.

Paula; They are little "Green Sawfly Larva" - similar to the Pine Sawfly, which attack "only" deciduous azalea's, and especially newly emerged leaves. Yes we do get them in the "Northern" tier section of the country, I have not heard of anyone experiencing this in the "Southern" areas. It seems that when flowers are almost done flowering on the deciduous, these little buggers will chew the new leaves down to the stem, yet leave the evergreen azaleas alone. So far the only method I have used is to pick them off, but with more azaleas in a garden it's becoming a chore to do that. I do see "paper wasps" visiting and "searching" the tops of the azaleas, maybe , just maybe they are "our" control method- I have searched the publications for these Sawfly before, but there is "scant" info available, I even wrote to a professor in SIU about these, but no useful info is available, thus Bt could also be an answer, but for now I guess I will just let nature take it's normal course.

These are not in mulch at all. They are growing in the soil where a tree used to be and I believe are growing on the old dead roots of that tree. The tree died some time ago, it was a lilac. I planted a butterfly garden around where the tree was. Unfortuantely some of these plants are now in danger of being lost because these things are popping up. I have some special plants in there (fern leaf peonie, peach maltese cross, unusual coneflowers etc.) that I may not be able to get again. I am being very careful about pouring the vinegar because I do know it will kill the plants but my hope is it will kill any spores that have dropped into the soil. I haven't had a chance to check out there yet today as I have been at work. I will when I get home later. Thanks again for all the ideas/help.

Despite nearly daily rainfall this year, mosquitoes are no more annoying than usual in my yard. My garlic bed - on a friend's rural property - is another story. They made the mistake of putting a pond in their yard, and the mosquitoes are swarming. They fly up in clouds from any disturbed vegetation. Tried to weed the bed last week, armed with long sleeves, hat, gloves, and a coating of bug spray... it made no difference. The swarm would quickly find any point that was unprotected, such as your eyes. DW & I put up with that for 10 minutes, then waved the white flag & ran!!! Guess I'll have to dress up like a bee keeper when it comes time to dig the garlic, and that is an all-day process. :-( Will be moving the garlic bed to a less hostile location this Fall.