What would you want to monitor about your compost pile? What are you interested in?

HI- 1) If you're monitoring an edible plant (like lettuce), the light/water/temperature needs are fairly constant across culitvars. We provide different cultivars as a convenience. So even if we don't have your exact cultivar, you can monitor a similar variety. 2) We're constantly adding plants--orchids are particularly tricky as they are NOT similar across the species. 3) This is good feedback about what our users want...we're listening. Thanks Edith Harbaugh, Product Manager, EasyBloom

You can read a much longer article about hardiness zones and why the National Arboretum map wasn't adopted here: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=climate-change-backyard The issue of zones is one our botanists closely monitor--for now, we shade on the side of caution, as we want to make sure we're not advising risky plants.

In other words, I know people who try to keep lemon trees in Dublin, CA (zone 8b), even though they know lemon is a zone 9a plant. But if it's a cool night, they pull the lemon tree inside. The EasyBloom is calibrated to show plants that won't just survive (ie, barely make it through the winter), but thrive and do well.

HI Aimee- Sorry for the holiday delay in responding. We use the "official" USDA map, which was released in 1990 and can be seen at the National Gardens Association site. The link you cite was released by the National Arboretum, but never formally adopted by the USDA. Why wasn't the National Arboretum map adopted? Some felt that the 2003 version skewed too warm. Basically, the hardiness zones are used to show what plants will survive over a winter--ie, are "hardy". Sometimes we gamble on a warm winter, and a plant WILL make it. But a hardiness zone is meant to show what plants are guaranteed to make it.

HI Aimee- We use the same zones as the National Gardens Association. You can see them here http://www.garden.org/zipzone/ What zipcode are you in? ---Edith

HI Davide- What we recommend is that users know their yard has different light throughout the year is take different readings. This can give you a "truer" picture. I have heard from multiple users that they have been surprised that assumptions they've made about their yard have been wrong--a neighbors tree has gotten bigger than they thought, or people just overestimate sunshine! I hope this helps you Edith

HI Miriam- Almost all pines, spruces, and firs are evergreen. You can check out our list of popular Christmas trees. http://easybloom.com/plantlibrary/list/common-christmas-trees

I have a potted Meyer Lemon tree. When it has lost leaves, I've put them in the pot. Now, it looks like some of the leaves are molding. Is this ok, or should I keep the leaves out of the pot?

We added this-- you can find it here http://easybloom.com/plantlibrary/plant/wild-lilac If you have photo, we'd love to use it!