HomeSeller: Friday, July 14, 2023

Q: My wife and I are trying to buy a home to retire in. With the high interest rates, it’s been tough qualifying for a home we can afford the payments to. Finally, we got everything in order and found a nice little house in Dixon where the owner accepted our offer. We have gone all the way through the escrow process and escrow was supposed to close next week. Our Realtor has just been noti fied by the seller’s Realtor that the seller no longer wants to sell the property and is backing out. My wife is really disheartened and we really, really want the house, particularly since there’s so few in our price range on the market. Can a seller just back out like that? If so, what good does a contract do for you?

A: Well, yes and no.

The question really is, “If the seller backs out, can I make her sell me the house anyway?”

As my sainted law school contracts professor would say, “a contract is simply a promise between two or more people that the law will enforce.”

The entire point behind any contract, and real estate purchase contract are no exception, is to bind the buyer and seller to a transaction under specific terms and conditions.

ket is because the exchange of -

mance of the contract occur at

plunk a wad of cash on the table and immediately take title to awhat long and involved and so the contract serves as a road map dictating what each party needs to do and when they need to do it.

There are conditions which, if they occur, allow a party (usually the buyer) to back out, but otherwise both sides are bound from the moment they sign.

The standard California Association of Realtors contract really doesn’t contain many conditions allowing sellers to back out.

So, assuming you’ve done everything the contract required of you, the seller is on the hook.

Great. Now what do you do?

Ultimately you would have to file a lawsuit to enforce your contractual rights.

Such a suit is called “specific performance.” It’s a very special type of lawsuit that generally only applies to real estate.

Instead of suing for breach of contract and asking for money, you can ask the court to order the sale of the property in accordance with the terms of the contract.

And because the standard contract contains an attorney fee provision, you can ask that the court order the seller to pay your legal fees and costs as well.

My suspicion is the seller has come to believe she was letting you have the property too cheaply and wants to back out so she can resell at a higher price.

To prevent that, someone

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Trapped in your current house

At this week’s NSCAR finance committee presentation, our volunteer committee chair Jason Russell reminded us that there are creative ways to make moving up from your starter home to your forever home affordable at today’s rates.

As I have stated many times over the last year, thousands of homeowners that purchased their starter homes from 2008 to 2015 had outgrown their homes by 2019 and were seriously thinking of moving up and then, BANG, the pandemic broke out and many were suddenly homeschool teachers and home-improvement specialists. The government spent a few trillion tax dollars to help everyone survive the lockdowns and forced rates down to near zero and mortgage rates to an all-time low.

Market values climbed by 35% from middle 2019 to early 2022 and almost all the people living in starter homes refinanced below 3.5% and some even got 2.5%. Just imagine how much equity some of the homeowners have today that purchased at the bottom from 2008 to 2012 and may feel trapped in their home.

One great idea to make the forever dream home affordable is for the move-up buyers to sell their old homes and only use 50% of the proceeds for the down payment and use the other 50% to pay off all their credit cards and auto loans, making the higher house payment potentially the same as the outgo they were paying before.

Another idea I have suggested

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occasionally for people with little or no debt and increasing income each year, with retirement 15 to 20 years away, might be to put $150,000 down on the new home and invest the other $200,000 with a local certified financial planner.

The other day, CBKG agent and my friend Sheilah Tucker, in a very upbeat and motivational tone, described this market as a “rent a rate” market which is like the “marry the house and date the rate” slogan we are all using to convince buyers that another refinance market will come in a few years, like it has 11 of the last 32 years.

I get it, a $2500 PITI house payment makes it possible to have $400 date-night dinners and vacations to Disneyland and Hawaii, and ever since the lockdowns, people have wanted experiences and travel, but nothing compares to living in your forever dream home.

Jim Porter, NMLS No. 276412, is the branch manager and senior loan adviser of Solano Mortgage, NMLS No. 1515497, a division of American Pacific Mortgage Corporation, NMLS No. 1850, licensed in California by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the CRMLA / Equal Housing Opportunity. Jim can be reached at 707-449-4777.

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Solano real estate transactions

BENICIA

TOTAL SALES: 5

LOWEST AMOUNT: $675,000

HIGHEST AMOUNT: $1,220,000

MEDIAN AMOUNT: $1,011,000

AVERAGE AMOUNT: $988,200

214 Chadwick Way - $1,220,000

06-09-23 [3 Bdrms - 2223 SqFt - 1975

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 06-21-99, $328,900

444 East E Street - $675,000

06-05-23 [3 Bdrms - 1442 SqFt - 1999

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 04-21-99, $257,693

400 Larkin Drive - $900,000

06-09-23 [3 Bdrms - 2052 SqFt - 1975

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 01-11-11, $405,000

499 Panorama Drive - $1,011,000

06-06-23 [4 Bdrms - 2928 SqFt - 1992

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 10-26-09, $466,000

126 Woodgreen Way - $1,135,000

06-08-23 [5 Bdrms - 2314 SqFt - 1972 YrBlt]

DIXON

TOTAL SALES: 3

LOWEST AMOUNT: $340,000

HIGHEST AMOUNT: $575,000

MEDIAN AMOUNT: $500,000

AVERAGE AMOUNT: $471,667

950 West B Street - $575,000

06-07-23 [3 Bdrms - 1946 SqFt - 1966 YrBlt],

Previous Sale: 04-14-23, $471,000

365 Calmace Drive - $340,000

06-08-23 [4 Bdrms - 1574 SqFt - 1968 YrBlt]

1625 Winfield Street - $500,000

06-05-23 [4 Bdrms - 1499 SqFt - 1993

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 12-06-19, $430,000

FAIRFIELD

TOTAL SALES: 20

LOWEST AMOUNT: $464,000

HIGHEST AMOUNT: $1,155,000

MEDIAN AMOUNT: $592,500

AVERAGE AMOUNT: $649,650

1336 Avon Way - $560,000

06-05-23 [3 Bdrms - 1309 SqFt - 1964

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 09-07-16, $344,000

4909 Brittany Drive - $690,000

06-07-23 [4 Bdrms - 1801 SqFt - 1982 YrBlt],

Previous Sale: 05-14-15, $390,000

734 Capricorn Circle - $565,000

06-09-23 [4 Bdrms - 2072 SqFt - 1986 YrBlt]

507 Cavalier Court - $1,155,000

06-07-23 [4 Bdrms - 2166 SqFt - 1974 YrBlt],

Previous Sale: 06-09-17, $835,000

5099 Constable Court - $625,000

06-07-23 [3 Bdrms - 1175 SqFt - 1999 YrBlt],

Previous Sale: 04-28-17, $313,000

1113 Coolidge Street - $520,000

06-06-23 [3 Bdrms - 1641 SqFt - 1958 YrBlt]

258 Daffodil Drive - $515,000

06-06-23 [3 Bdrms - 1426 SqFt - 1973

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 10-19-03, $295,000

2331 Digerud Drive - $600,000

These are the local homes sold recently, provided by California Resource of Lodi. The company can be reached at 209.365.6663 or CalResource@aol.com.

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 08-24-11, $196,000

2422 Sunrise Drive - $515,000

06-08-23 [3 Bdrms - 1130 SqFt - 1972 YrBlt],

Previous Sale: 04-24-17, $322,000

2172 Tilden Place - $540,000

06-07-23 [3 Bdrms - 1438 SqFt - 1974 YrBlt],

Previous Sale: 09-15-99, $145,000

2993 Vista Grande - $575,000

06-06-23 [4 Bdrms - 1738 SqFt - 1977

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 00/1990, $171,500

13 Willotta Drive - $675,000

06-07-23 [3 Bdrms - 1903 SqFt - 1965 YrBlt],

Previous Sale: 06-12-18, $550,000

RIO VISTA

TOTAL SALES: 8

LOWEST AMOUNT: $280,500

Previous Sale: 12-21-18, $645,000 5279 Larson Lane - $835,000

[5 Bdrms - 3321 SqFt - 2016

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 04-06-17, $563,000

643 Nevada Street - $510,000

06-07-23 [3 Bdrms - 1387 SqFt - 1950

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 00/1989, $113,000

1609 Newburgh Drive - $735,000

06-07-23 [4 Bdrms - 1926 SqFt - 1977 YrBlt],

Previous Sale: 04-27-21, $675,000

3076 Puffin Circle - $585,000

06-07-23 [4 Bdrms - 2250 SqFt - 2004

HIGHEST AMOUNT: $739,000

MEDIAN AMOUNT: $443,750

AVERAGE AMOUNT: $458,000

230 Atlantic Drive - $375,000

06-06-23 [2 Bdrms - 1172 SqFt - 2004

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 07-02-15, $245,000

640 Cypress Drive - $530,000

06-08-23 [3 Bdrms - 2065 SqFt - 1999 YrBlt]

689 Falconcrest Way - $462,500

06-09-23 [2 Bdrms - 1579 SqFt - 2016 YrBlt],

Previous Sale: 12-31-15, $302,500

860 Inverness Drive - $375,000

06-05-23 [2 Bdrms - 1105 SqFt - 1997 YrBlt],

Previous Sale: 04-30-19, $310,000

112 Merlot Way - $739,000

06-09-23 [4 Bdrms - 4075 SqFt - 2003 YrBlt], Previous Sale: 09-25-20, $589,500

514 Montezuma Street - $280,500

06-05-23

SUISUN CITY

After 36 years, her plant suddenly grew a towering 25-foot stalk

THE WASHINGTON POST

Jackie Flournoy was leaving her home in Luthersville, Ga., one morning, when she spotted a strange-looking stalk poking out of one of her plants on her front lawn. She had never seen anything like it before.

“What in the world is that?” Flournoy, 80, recalled saying out loud that day in late March. “I didn’t know what it was.”

Upon further inspection, she realized that the mysterious five-foot stalk had grown out of the succulent her daughter had given to her 36 years ago. Initially, Flournoy thought the stalk appeared overnight, though she suspects it had likely been growing without her noticing for

about a week.

“It just shot up real fast,” she said.

“I just thought it was an ordinary cactus,” Flournoy said, explaining that she was completely perplexed by the supersized stalk that seemed to appear out of thin air.

After a deep dive on the internet, she learned that she had actually planted an agave americana – commonly called a “century plant” – which is native to Mexico and parts of the United States, specifically Texas. The “century” designation is deceptive, as the plants don’t live to be 100 years old.

The perennial plant –

See Stalk, Page 9

DORIS FLOURNOY

In the span of three months, Jackie Flournoy’s century plant grew a 25-foot stalk. The left photo was taken in April, shortly after the stalk appeared, and the right was taken in late May.

How do you buy a home with little or no credit? Turn rent payments into credit score points

TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY

Zhiqiang Su, 50, and Yuping Liang, 50, moved from China to Chicago in 2020, seeking a life with better education opportunities for their now 21-year-old daughter and more freedom.

They have been renters since they immigrated, living in a single-family, two-bedroom home in Bridgeport for $1,200 a month, never having missed or been late on a payment.

But, Su said, they want a place to call their own to help them achieve their American Dream.

“I want to purchase a house because it will allow me to have a more stable life,” Su said in Cantonese as Ivan Man and Sharon Wong, two members of his real estate team, translated.

Being immigrants, however, adds extra layers of difficulty to the already challenging housing market.

The couple works hard to make a living: Su works 10-hour days, six days a week making sushi in a restaurant, and his wife does the same while working a part-time job as a home care aide. But their real estate team expects them to run into challenges qualifying for a home loan given that they may have a limited credit profile. Typically, someone needs a credit score of 620 or higher from a traditional lender to qualify for a home loan. (The Federal Housing Administration, Su’s likely lender, requires a lower score of 580 or 500 with a higher down payment.)

For millions of people in the United States like Su and Liang, the challenges that come with

buying a home escalate because they have limited to no credit, and immigrants are particularly vulnerable given that they have no credit score when they come to the U.S. Various private and federal mortgage lenders and the government-sponsored mortgage financier Fannie Mae are trying to make it easier by allowing applicants’ on-time rent payment histories and other similar payments to help them qualify for a home loan.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has found 26 million Americans have no credit record, which is also known

as being “credible invisible.”

Gunnar Blix, director of housing market research for real estate data provider Black Knight, said people with thin credit scores – people who don’t have a history of using credit –have compounding issues given their credit status and the lack of affordability in the housing market with higher mortgage rates and prices.

“We are seeing credit tightening, and we see that in terms of higher credit scores (required to finance a home purchase),” Blix said, adding that average credit scores for homebuyers have gone

up seven points since December.

Black Knight data shows that in June, average credit scores for homebuyers were 735, the highest recorded since the company started collecting the data in 2000.

The Federal Housing Administration began allowing first-time homebuyers applying for an FHA-insured mortgage to include positive rent payments –late or missed payments are not included – as an additional factor in their credit assessments in September 2022.

“If you’re regularly paying your rent on time, that’s a good indication you will also pay your

mortgage on time,” Federal Housing Commissioner Julia Gordon said in a news release from September 2022. “We hope that adding this positive factor to all of the characteristics currently considered in an FHA credit evaluation will increase access to affordable FHA-insured mortgages for first-time homebuyers.”

Fannie Mae also began incorporating new methods to determine credit readiness through a change in its mortgage underwriting system and a recent pilot program.

In 2021, Fannie Mae’s automated underwriting system began considering a person’s positive rent payment history in the mortgage credit evaluation process. The system does this by allowing mortgage lenders for single-family homes to identify recurring rent payments in a person’s bank statement data, according to Fannie Mae.

In September 2022, Fannie Mae began a yearlong pilot program to help multifamily property owners report positive rent payments to the three major credit bureaus for their renters in an effort to build or boost the tenants’ credit scores. Fannie Mae partners with financial technology companies that serve as the go-betweens for property owners and credit reporting agencies and covers the multifamily property owners’ costs of collecting and reporting rent payment histories to the agencies for a year.

Priscilla Almodovar, CEO of Fannie Mae, said incorporating on-time rental payments into a

See Credit, Page 10

E. JASON WAMBSGANS/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS FILE

Yuping Liang, left, and Zhiqiang Su prepare Zonzgi sticky rice dumplings at their home in Bridgeport, June 20.

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Stalk

From Page 5

which has large spiky-edged gray-green leaves at the base –typically lives between 10 and 30 years. Near the end of its life, the plant produces a towering stalk that grows in a matter of weeks and eventually blooms with bright yellow blossoms.

When Flournoy originally planted it in 1987, she thought it was a run-of-the-mill succulent.

“I never thought it was going to turn into anything like this,” she said.

Over the years, “it just got bigger and bigger,” she said, until suddenly in the spring, “the stalk had popped up through the big cactus, and it was so fast growing.”

Since the stalk first started shooting upward three months ago, it has grown to be more than

25 feet tall – which is likely as high as it will get.

“It’s a miracle,” said Flournoy, who has long been an avid gardener and to this day cuts her own grass. “Nobody else around here has them.”

Flournoy isn’t the only one who is enthused about the soaring stalk. In recent weeks, the plant has emerged as a local landmark in Luthersville, which has a population of less than 800 people.

“When you live in a little small town and all of a sudden you’ve got something causing excitement, the whole community gets involved,” said Flournoy, adding that dozens of people – including visitors from outside Luthersville – have stopped by her front lawn to take pictures of the plant.

She said onlookers come by nearly every day.

“We all have a laugh about it,” Flournoy said, adding that

people in town have asked her for her autograph. “It’s just a fun thing.”

Felicia Angulo, Flournoy’s niece, grew up in Luthersville. “I’ve never seen anyone with a plant that large, ever,” she said. “I didn’t even know stalks grew that high.”

Angulo and her family are tickled by Flournoy’s sudden stardom.

“She wasn’t expecting to become the center of attention,” Angulo said. “I’m calling her Jackie and the bean stalk.”

“I’m just excited that I’ve got it, and everybody is enjoying it,” said Flournoy, whose story has been viewed millions of times on YouTube.

Richard Primack, a professor of biology at Boston University, understands why people are charmed by the peculiar plant.

Although the century plant is commonly grown in other parts of the world, “it’s a rare

plant for the region,” Primack explained, adding that century plants thrive in places with desert-like climates, including northern Mexico and the American southwest. “They’re not really tolerant of frost, so they’re not really grown in places with cold weather.”

Not only are century plants seldom seen in Luthersville, Primack said, but the plant itself is “very unusual looking,” which draws attention to it. Plus, near the end of its life, it exhibits “very spectacular behavior,” in the sense that it suddenly shoots upright.

Once the plant produces its stalk – reaching anywhere from 15 to 30 feet tall, Primack said –it results in a “dramatic flower display.” After it flowers – which only happens during the summertime – the plant dies, but it leaves behind buds on the base that can root and form new plants.

Climate, Primack said, plays a big role in the plant’s growth.

“In the most ideal conditions, they can probably flower after 10 or 15 years,” he said. In less ideal conditions, he added, it can take a lot longer.

Although Luthersville has a relatively mild climate yearround, Flournoy’s plant has weathered some snowstorms and chilly conditions throughout its long life. She is impressed that the plant has survived as long as it has.

“Everybody is so excited to see what it’s going to look like when it’s in full bloom,” said Flournoy, who expects it to happen “within the next week.”

Once the plant finally flowers, Flournoy will look forward to watching another century plant grow in its place. Next time, though, it won’t be such a shock when a stalk swiftly shoots up.

“I think the whole thing is so exciting,” she said.

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Credit

From Page 6

consumer’s credit standing will create more housing opportunities for all.

“A home is more than shelter,” Almodovar said in a statement to the Tribune. “It defines who we are, provides stability to our communities, and promotes generational wealth.”

National real estate firm Related Companies is one organization that partners with Fannie Mae to report positive rent payments to credit reporting agencies.

Since Fannie Mae launched its pilot program, Jeff Brodsky, vice chairman of Related Companies, said his company reports on-time rent payments for more than 50,000 families nationally, with 4,600 of those families living in Related’s affordable housing portfolio in Chicago. The company works with Esusu, one of the fintech companies partnering with Fannie Mae. Esusu’s website states that only around 10% of Americans build credit through on-time rent payments.

Because of this partnership, more than 1,200 families in Chicago who didn’t have credit scores now do, according to Brodsky. He said in Chicago and nationally, more than 70% of residents have seen their credit scores improve, on average by 47 points.

The credit reporting service is provided free of charge to all residents, with 80% of Related’s residents opting to participate.

“This is improving the financial resiliency of large-scale numbers of folks who have very little options to do so with their income levels,” Brodsky said, adding that Related’s average affordable housing resident has an income of $15,000 a year. “This practice works and is scalable and is cost effective.”

While Related is not collecting information on how many residents go on to purchase a home, the company hopes to do so in the future, Brodsky said.

Su wants to buy a house by next year, with his price range between $300,000 and $380,000. His search is concentrated in the Chinatown and Bridgeport areas, two popular spots in the immigrant community, which make them competitive and less affordable markets, said Wong, managing broker and founder of Century 21′s Chinatown office and Su’s agent.

Wong said this makes it challenging for people like Su and his wife because their debt-to-income ratio – a calculation of how much of one’s monthly income is being spent on debt payments – would be too high given the prices of homes in the areas. She said homes in Bridgeport and Chinatown sell for around $500,000. Su and his wife have a combined income of around $70,000 a year and limited savings, but they may rely on relatives to lend them money for their down payment.

This “missing middle” housing in the real estate market is not limited to Bridgeport and Chinatown but is a problem throughout the Chicago area, though the housing shortage here is not

notice to any other potential buyers that you have a claim to the property.

as severe compared with other U.S. markets, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Su’s mortgage lender, Bing He, said that while he has not run a credit check yet on Su given that he has not found a home he wants to buy, people typically need two lines of credit to help them qualify for a loan. Su only has one, in the form of a credit card, since last May. Su will also need to get a payment proof letter from his property management company because he pays his rent in cash, and the Federal Housing Administration typically requires bank statements to show proof of on-time rent payments.

Another lender that Wong’s office works with is Citibank, which has a bilingual office in Chinatown.

Citi Mortgage, the mortgage lending arm of Citibank, has had a “long-standing” policy to consider nontraditional credit histories, according to the company.

Brad Wayman, president and CEO of Citi Mortgage, said the company considers on-time rental payment history and utility and cellphone payments to help people achieve homeownership.

“A traditional credit profile is only one piece of the puzzle when considering a person’s ability to manage a home loan,” Wayman said in a statement. “Our message for aspiring homeowners is don’t give up hope merely for lack of traditional credit experience.”

Rocket Mortgage and Veterans United Home Loans also consider alternative forms of credit for their mortgages.

Wong also works with some local banks, including Interna-

a lawsuit to make the seller do what she freely agreed to do. But that’s the course you would have to take.

tional Bank of Chicago and Royal Business Bank (formerly Pacific Global Bank), that have similar products, but they require higher mortgage rates and down payments of 35% to 50%, which is out of reach for many people, she said. Su would be her first client who she has helped qualify for a loan through alternative credit programs.

While there are many lenders who have started these programs, one of the main difficulties in reaching the immigrant community is the language barrier, Wong said. New immigrants, she said, also typically rent from smaller landlords, not larger ones like Related, making it tougher for them to use Fannie Mae’s program.

“When we hear about alternative credit, it’s just really good news for us to explore a bit more,” Wong said. Her office has been reaching out to various lenders to see how they can help more

people – not only immigrants but also younger people or others who may have limited or no credit.

Su said he has a few co-workers who are running into his same challenges and would also be interested in the programs he is hoping will help him buy a home with his wife.

For Su, being a renter is something that comes with uncertainty because his landlord could ask him to leave or raise his rent. These programs will hopefully shorten his timeline to becoming a homeowner and help him become his own boss – with someone making sushi for him, he said.

While he has only been searching for a few weeks, his goal is to find a single-family house, bungalow-style with at least three bedrooms.

Su shared an old Chinese saying, which his real estate team helped translate into English: “Build your roots where you live.”

From Page 2

filing a specific performance lawsuit can also record a document at the county Recorder’s Office called a lis pendens, which literally means, “it is pending.” That document gives

No title insurance company will write a policy, and therefore no lender will lend, until the case is resolved.

That means the property is essentially frozen during the course of the lawsuit.

It’s unfortunate that it takes

Tim Jones is a real estate attorney in Fairfield. If you have any real estate questions you would like to have answered in this column you can send an email to AllThingsRealEstate@ TJones-Law.com.

Grand Opening - Open Hous e Event

Loney & Worley Team invites you to join us at 4829 Duval Street in Paradise Valley-Fair eld

Welcome to Paradise! This is a highly sought after floor plan that is located in Paradise Valley and sits on the fourth fairway of the golf course. The primary bedroom and bathroom are located on the first floor and look out to the golf course. There is 2 additional first floor bedrooms. The upstairs has it’s own separate section that could easily be used as a separate apartment/living space. Upstairs offers a fourth bedroom, bathroom and great room. The kitchen has been completely updated. Newer stainless steel appliances, 5 burner gas cook-top with vent hood. Newer granite counter-tops, large island with dual stainless steel sinks. Kitchen opens to a large great room that looks out to views of the fourth fairway on the golf course. Newer updated flooring, high ceilings & crown molding throughout the home. In-door laundry room. Covered patio in backyard is upgraded type insulated (quiet during rain and less hot penetration during heat). Garage door is also insulated. Close to Paradise Valley Clubhouse, golf course and community park. This home also has 21 solar panels. Exterior & interior was recently painted. There are drafted plans available to review for 2 possible ADU’s to be added and/or a pool. Added bonus, there’s NO Home Owners Association fee’s in The Enclave Offered at $899,000

Fully hosted by Loney & Worley Team

Scott C. Loney (707) 290-0556 Lic#01146887 • Alicia N. Worley (707) 344-1300 Lic#01322884

Saturday & Sunday 12:00 PM-3:00 PM 2280

www.loneyandworleyteam.com

“Your Local Top Producers with Over 28 Years each in the Real Estate Industry-Luxury Estates, Wineries, Vineyards, Commercial, Developments and Residential Sales.”

Lic#01035560

Solenia begonias open up new world of garden elegance

By the time you read this, The Garden Guy will be zooming past the 100-day mark with my begonias. You may think that is nothing special, but your perspective is the determining factor.

State College, Pennsylvania,

home of Penn State University, has a growing season of just over 150 days, so it looks like I have a begonia home run from that comparison.

But in Columbus, Georgia, our growing season is 100 days

See Winter, Page 14

Annie Vogelpohl BROKER, CAL BRE #00705450

This Eastern Tiger Swallowtail paid a visit to the Solenia Apricot begonia paired with Superbena Whiteout verbena. NORMAN WINTER/TNS)

Norman Winter

From Page 13

longer, so you see what I am talking about with perspective.

I am also talking Rieger begonias, or botanically speaking, Begonia x hiemalis. I’ll chase that rabbit in a minute.

When Proven Winners tossed some Solenia begonias my way to trial, I was beyond skeptical that they would be successful in my region. Had I not seen these in the Pacific Northwest or photos on Mackinac Island, Michigan, I wouldn't have believed it could be possible. I am talking about West Georgia, where we do heat in a big way.

While I might have had a bountiful amount of skepticism, I also knew if they worked, I would be home to some of the most beautiful blossoms in the world. My mission impossible began with Solenia Chocolate Orange, Yellow, and a rich Apricot, the rarest color in the world of gardening.

Now for a little rabbit chasing. When you do the obvious Google search, you will see scholarly articles that say Rieger begonias bloom during the winter

with dainty flowers. Mine were planted in early April and have huge 3-inch flowers that look for all the world like roses. But you will see Rieger, Hiemalis and Elatior all used, and soon you might get that feeling of being in taxonomy class and your breathing starts to get rapid.

This is where I go back to Penn State and their flower trials. They did two trials with the Solenia Apricot, one in the sun and one in the shade. While the trials in the sun showed excellent and good performance reviews, the one in shade was very good to excellent. They rated four times, and the sun score was 4.5 out of 5; the shade score was 4.78 out of 5.

All my Solenia begonias were planted in containers with the very best potting soil. I have more sun starting in the spring that diminishes as we move toward the middle of summer. Since they are in mixed containers, they get watered daily and fertilized with a water-soluble fertilizer every two weeks. They did get about 12 inches tall with a 12-inch spread that elegantly tumbles off the rim of the container.

Every day when I look at these begonias it is a Garden Guy love fest. I have Surefire

06-06-23 [2 Bdrms - 1092 SqFt - 1981 YrBlt], Previous Sale: 04-02-09, $47,500

988 Callen Street - $335,000

06-07-23 [3 Bdrms - 938 SqFt - 1954 YrBlt],

Previous Sale: 04-19-99, $95,000

818 Charter Way - $550,000

Cherry Cordial and Surefire Red planted in the ground, but the Solenia begonias in containers give the feeling of having a Rembrandt- or Monet-type plant in the garden.

I have three turquoise tall planters staggered on the side of a slope in my backyard and immediately knew they would be the home of the Solenia Apricot plants. I used Queen Tut papyrus in the center and Superbena Whiteout, Superbena Cobalt and Supertunia Mini Vista Ultramarine petunia as companions.

The containers with the Solenia Chocolate Orange were more bowl-shaped and had Supertunia Persimmon petunia and Superbells Grape Punch calibrachoas as partners. As my sunlight diminishes, it is to the benefit of the Solenia begonias but becomes a challenge to the Supertunias, Superbells and Superbenas.

This coincides well, however, with the summer cutting back, which usually keeps them alive until the shifting sun returns for fall and winter. Since the containers look thin from the standpoint of color after cutting back, I usually drop in a quartsized caladium as a new partner for the rest of summer. This year the caladium I used was Heart to

Heart Flatter Me, which paired well with the orange-red of the begonia blossoms.

I split the Solenia Yellow begonias with my neighbors Dave and Cynthia. Their container was a grand slam with Superbells Yellow calibrachoa, the new Supertunia Hoopla Vivid Orchid petunia and Augusta Lavender heliotrope as companions.

The Solenia begonia trials at The Garden Guy’s house have already exceeded all expec-

tations, and I just think I am past 100 days and they are still going. There is a new, wonderful begonia world opening up. Proven Winners will be adding Solenia Scarlet in 2024 and I can’t wait to get my hands on them.

Norman Winter is a horticulturist, garden speaker and author of “Tough-as-Nails Flowers for the South” and “Captivating Combinations: Color and Style in the Garden.”

528 Honker Lane - $90,000

06-07-23 [4 Bdrms - 1890 SqFt - 1978 YrBlt]

611 Kinglet Street - $575,000

06-05-23 [3 Bdrms - 1488 SqFt - 1982

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 02-19-20, $390,000

1113 Potrero Circle - $623,500

06-08-23 [4 Bdrms - 2779 SqFt - 2001

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 03-17-10, $310,000

1415 Prospect Way - $550,000

06-06-23 [4 Bdrms - 1934 SqFt - 1985

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 04-11-14, $308,000

VACAVILLE

TOTAL SALES: 21

LOWEST AMOUNT: $300,000

HIGHEST AMOUNT: $875,000

MEDIAN AMOUNT: $508,000

AVERAGE AMOUNT: $522,73

1911 Aletha Lane #2 - $300,000

06-09-23 [3 Bdrms

- $570,000

06-05-23 [3 Bdrms - 960 SqFt - 1952 YrBlt]

970 El Camino Avenue #4 - $395,000

06-06-23 [3 Bdrms - 1200 SqFt - 1966 YrBlt]

660 Embassy Circle - $615,000

06-05-23 [4 Bdrms - 1942 SqFt - 2012 YrBlt],

Previous Sale: 10-31-12, $316,000

1025 Fallen Leaf Place - $875,000

06-08-23 [5 Bdrms - 2868 SqFt - 1991

Solano County Listings: Residential homes for sale

LOTS & LAND

From Page 14

VALLEJO

[3 Bdrms - 1008 SqFt - 1955

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 04-13-05, $375,000

934 Benicia Road - $500,000

06-06-23 [3 Bdrms - 1497 SqFt - 1932 YrBlt] 108 Birch Street - $460,000

06-05-23 [3 Bdrms - 1126 SqFt - 1978 YrBlt],

Previous Sale: 05-28-10, $180,000

9042 Cambridge Circle - $720,000

06-06-23 [3 Bdrms - 2409 SqFt - 2005

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 05-19-21, $708,000 124 Cima Drive - $195,000

06-09-23 [3 Bdrms - 1163 SqFt - 1958 YrBlt]

1908 Florida Street - $515,000

06-09-23 [3 Bdrms - 1563 SqFt - 1958

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 02-10-17, $187,500

1616 Georgia Street - $617,000

06-05-23 [5 Bdrms - 2169 SqFt - 1955 YrBlt],

Previous Sale: 00/1992, $145,000

160 Helmsman Court - $492,000

06-09-23 [3 Bdrms - 1288 SqFt - 1987

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 11-11-99, $218,000

1007 Keats Drive - $570,000

MOBILE/FLOATING

MULTI UNIT 2-4

COMMERCIAL

06-09-23 [3 Bdrms - 1066 SqFt - 1957

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 08-25-20, $380,000

1520 Lassen Court - $565,000

06-08-23 [3 Bdrms - 1923 SqFt - 1961 YrBlt],

Previous Sale: 01-08-09, $106,000

331 Mesa Verde Street - $655,000

06-08-23 [3 Bdrms - 1900 SqFt - 1955 YrBlt]

144 Morningside Avenue - $547,000

06-09-23 [2 Bdrms - 1053 SqFt - 1936

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 09-10-19, $325,000

2206 Sacramento Street - $395,000 06-06-23 [2 Bdrms - 728 SqFt - 1941 YrBlt] 40 Sandy Beach Road - $575,000

[2 Bdrms - 1124 SqFt - 1937 YrBlt],

157 Toyon Drive - $460,000

06-06-23 [3 Bdrms - 1060 SqFt - 1951

YrBlt], Previous Sale: 00/1991, $136,000

379 Valle Vista Avenue - $725,000

06-09-23 [3 Bdrms - 1803 SqFt - 1962 YrBlt], Previous Sale: 05-11-21, $650,000

32 Woodridge Place - $645,000 06-09-23 [4 Bdrms - 2030 SqFt - 1978 YrBlt]

To advertise here, call 707-427-6927