Well, right on schedule, I noticed the first rose bud of the season
this morning, a modest little puppy on my first blooming rose of the
year - Old Blush. It always beats everything else by weeks. I expect
to see hundreds of buds crop up in the next few days. For those who
want to cover a chain link fence, this is a good plant to use as it
grows fairly rapidly and densely. You'll only get one really good
flush a year, but what a flush! You *will* get some small-scale
scattered blooming the rest of the year, but nothing worth writing
home about. One thing that I did was pair it with The Fairy (Cl).
Those two two year old plants have completely covered a 25 foot long 4
foot tall section of fence. The nice thing about pairing those plants
is that The Fairy doesn't start to bloom until Old Blush starts to
fade, so you get over a couple of months of good flush (even though
it's only half and half on the fence).

Monday and Tuesday were spent feeding and doing some light pruning.
Seems like I've lost my standard (I didn't heel it in, so this should
be an object lesson, right Shiva?) The Europeana with the rose gall
doesn't look well at all, but we'll see what happens. I'm disappointed
with the way that Ingrid Bergman has weathered winter as well and I'm
thinking of moving it. I actually haven't pruned it yet though.

Otherwise, everything looks like it did OK this winter. Aloha is
really starting to leaf out and it looks like it's going to look
pretty nice this year. I'malso going to try some grub control products
in May to see if I can reduce the number of Japanese beetles. Anyone
have any experience with these products (I'm not talking about milky
spoor, but that direct granular stuff that you apply as the grubs move
toward the surface later in the season)?

BTW, regarding rose gall, I spoke to the guy at Edmunds and he says
that you shouldn't *necessarily* consider it a death sentence. First
of all, efforts to "disinfect" the soil is pretty pointless, as the
bacterium that causes the gall is present in a lot of soil anyway (I
think that this has been pointed out here on occasion). Second, he
claims that a rose can live a pretty nice existence even with the gall
and he keeps 5 or 6 such examples around (one of which he says is
quite spectacular) just to show that you don't necessarily have to
freak out if it occurs. He said that one of those roses is over 10
years old. He figures that the main thing that will happen is that it
will go into slow decline prematurely.

dave weil wrote:

Well, right on schedule, I noticed the first rose bud of the season
this morning, a modest little puppy on my first blooming rose of the
year - Old Blush. It always beats everything else by weeks. I expect
to see hundreds of buds crop up in the next few days.

Grrr! How do you get a bud this early! I'm green.


Monday and Tuesday were spent feeding and doing some light pruning.
Seems like I've lost my standard (I didn't heel it in, so this should
be an object lesson, right Shiva?)

Hell, I guess so. I've never had a standard. If you can't grow them
without burying them for the winter, bet I can't.


The Europeana with the rose gall
doesn't look well at all, but we'll see what happens.

I have a little KMart stumpy Europeana (it's true, as I saw one little
bloom last year) in a pot that made it through the winter and appears to
be taking off. Speaking of cheapy stumpy bagged roses--the ONLY one I have
that now looks like a normal rose is Tiffany. (Yes, it is PINK but I can
tolerate that opaque, creamy, dinner-mint pink petal color in combo with
their clear yellow base. Nice rose.)I have resisted the bag roses so far
this year. But it is early!


I'm disappointed
with the way that Ingrid Bergman has weathered winter as well and I'm
thinking of moving it. I actually haven't pruned it yet though.

What is wrong with her? I want Ingrid, and also Christian Dior, since
another poster raved about it. My cheapy bagged Chrysler Imperial made it
in a pot but is down to one healthy cane. The plan was to dig out Mr.
Lincoln (very sad but the last rose with terrible canker left in my garden-
-gotta go) and put Chrysler there. But Mr. L. may have won a reprieve
since Chrysler may be on its last legs. Of course, there are always the
potted roses!! They ought to arrive first week in April.

On Wed, 26 Mar 2003 12:49:23 -0500 (EST), "Shiva"
wrote:

dave weil wrote:

Well, right on schedule, I noticed the first rose bud of the season
this morning, a modest little puppy on my first blooming rose of the
year - Old Blush. It always beats everything else by weeks. I expect
to see hundreds of buds crop up in the next few days.

Grrr! How do you get a bud this early! I'm green.

Get Old Blush. chuckle

Nothing else is even close to setting buds...

Monday and Tuesday were spent feeding and doing some light pruning.
Seems like I've lost my standard (I didn't heel it in, so this should
be an object lesson, right Shiva?)

Hell, I guess so. I've never had a standard. If you can't grow them
without burying them for the winter, bet I can't.

Well, I didn't leave it in the shed like I usually do. I don't
remember how it got outside but it did, and it stayed through the
snows...

The Europeana with the rose gall
doesn't look well at all, but we'll see what happens.

I have a little KMart stumpy Europeana (it's true, as I saw one little
bloom last year) in a pot that made it through the winter and appears to
be taking off. Speaking of cheapy stumpy bagged roses--the ONLY one I have
that now looks like a normal rose is Tiffany. (Yes, it is PINK but I can
tolerate that opaque, creamy, dinner-mint pink petal color in combo with
their clear yellow base. Nice rose.)I have resisted the bag roses so far
this year. But it is early!

You'll really like Eurpoeana as it should throw some nice clusters
this year for you.

I bought a new cheap one myself and it looks pretty healthy (it's in
my next to the porch garden).

I'm disappointed
with the way that Ingrid Bergman has weathered winter as well and I'm
thinking of moving it. I actually haven't pruned it yet though.

What is wrong with her? I want Ingrid, and also Christian Dior, since
another poster raved about it. My cheapy bagged Chrysler Imperial made it
in a pot but is down to one healthy cane. The plan was to dig out Mr.
Lincoln (very sad but the last rose with terrible canker left in my garden-
-gotta go) and put Chrysler there. But Mr. L. may have won a reprieve
since Chrysler may be on its last legs. Of course, there are always the
potted roses!! They ought to arrive first week in April.

Ingrid is looking a bit anorexic. There are only two good canes now.
One of them is pretty stalky so I'm going to have to cut it off. The
other is just a nub, but it has new growth coming out of it. It's just
too close to Old Blush I think. It needs to be out in the open...I
think I'll do that after the last frost, which should be in the next
week or so...

On Wed, 26 Mar 2003 14:54:29 -0600, dave weil
wrote:



Grrr! How do you get a bud this early! I'm green.

Get Old Blush. chuckle

Nothing else is even close to setting buds...

I am not sophisticated enough to appreciate once-bloomers, don't you
know. G




Hell, I guess so. I've never had a standard. If you can't grow them
without burying them for the winter, bet I can't.

Well, I didn't leave it in the shed like I usually do. I don't
remember how it got outside but it did, and it stayed through the
snows...

Damn, Sidney! One of those walking standards. It might be better for
all of us that it did not live.




You'll really like Eurpoeana as it should throw some nice clusters
this year for you.

Believe it or not, Europeana was among the second batch of roses I
bought--and was in its third year when the voles killed it. I have
never seen such an even, beautifully rounded shape on any floribunda,
and I love the deep red new growth. More red than most. I used to cut
a spray and stick the whole thing in a vase and it looked arranged.



What is wrong with her?

Ingrid is looking a bit anorexic. There are only two good canes now.
One of them is pretty stalky so I'm going to have to cut it off.

But why?? Why cut off only one of her two good canes? There is a
special place in hell for the prune happy, you know.

On Fri, 28 Mar 2003 01:45:39 GMT, (Shiva) wrote:

On Wed, 26 Mar 2003 14:54:29 -0600, dave weil
wrote:



Grrr! How do you get a bud this early! I'm green.

Get Old Blush. chuckle

Nothing else is even close to setting buds...

I am not sophisticated enough to appreciate once-bloomers, don't you
know. G

What does that have to do with Old Blush? g

I wouldn't consider Old Blush to be a once bloomer, although it
certainly isn't a "continuous" bloomer.


Hell, I guess so. I've never had a standard. If you can't grow them
without burying them for the winter, bet I can't.

Well, I didn't leave it in the shed like I usually do. I don't
remember how it got outside but it did, and it stayed through the
snows...

Damn, Sidney! One of those walking standards. It might be better for
all of us that it did not live.

Maybe they could be trained to do the shopping...

You'll really like Eurpoeana as it should throw some nice clusters
this year for you.

Believe it or not, Europeana was among the second batch of roses I
bought--and was in its third year when the voles killed it. I have
never seen such an even, beautifully rounded shape on any floribunda,
and I love the deep red new growth. More red than most. I used to cut
a spray and stick the whole thing in a vase and it looked arranged.

Yep, really pretty. Sadly, I just dug up the one with rose gall. I'm
not sure if it was the gall, the winter, or the lack of light that did
it in (or a combination). I think that Old Blush just made it hard for
Europeana and Ingrid to flourish. I actually moved Ingrid yesterday as
well and now it sits next to Papa Meilland.

What is wrong with her?

Ingrid is looking a bit anorexic. There are only two good canes now.
One of them is pretty stalky so I'm going to have to cut it off.

But why?? Why cut off only one of her two good canes? There is a
special place in hell for the prune happy, you know.

Now you know that I'm not one of those peeps. My termonology was bad.
I didn't mean cut it off like it sounded. The thing is, As far as I
know, IB should be more of a squat 3 footer. Mine started life that
way but most of the five or six canes have bit the dust and all I have
is one long cane and one smaller bit that's starting to come back.
Basically it looks like this after transplanting:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ddweil...idBergman1.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ddweil...idBergman2.jpg

I'd say that that long cane looks pretty leggy, wouldn't you?

Last year it looked like this:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ddweil...05.14.2002.jpg

And this (it's on the right of Europeana):

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ddweil...idBergman3.jpg

I'm hoping that maybe I'll get some more basal growth and I'm hoping
that it will "fill in" a little...

dave weil wrote:

I am not sophisticated enough to appreciate once-bloomers, don't you
know. G

What does that have to do with Old Blush? g

Old Blush is, as you describe it, a once-bloomer.

I wouldn't consider Old Blush to be a once bloomer, although it
certainly isn't a "continuous" bloomer.

You said one big flush then an occasional flower all season long. That's
close enough to once for me. I don't mind high maintenance roses, but they
have to put out, you know?


Damn, Sidney! One of those walking standards. It might be better for
all of us that it did not live.

Maybe they could be trained to do the shopping...

Nah, just imagine what it would come home with. Man cannot live by manure
alone.

Europeana

Yep, really pretty. Sadly, I just dug up the one with rose gall. I'm
not sure if it was the gall, the winter, or the lack of light that did
it in (or a combination). I think that Old Blush just made it hard for
Europeana and Ingrid to flourish. I actually moved Ingrid yesterday as
well and now it sits next to Papa Meilland.

You know. Now that you mention another fabulous red rose, I am thinking I
have a big decision to make re what to replace Mr. Lincoln with. The bed
is all red and white. It goes: Scentimental, Full Sail, Mr. L., Don Juan,
and Sombrueil. I don't want another reach-for-the-sky hybrid tea, though
one a bit less upright than Mr. L. will do. Could be Papa M, maybe
Chrysler Imperial, or perhaps Ingrid. I have also thought about Oklahoma,
which is one we do not see mentioned too often. However, the site is in
full sun all day, so O's black-red petal edges will probably burn. Tellme,
do you grow Don Juan?


But why?? Why cut off only one of her two good canes? There is a
special place in hell for the prune happy, you know.

Now you know that I'm not one of those peeps. My termonology was bad.
I didn't mean cut it off like it sounded. The thing is, As far as I
know, IB should be more of a squat 3 footer. Mine started life that
way but most of the five or six canes have bit the dust and all I have
is one long cane and one smaller bit that's starting to come back.
Basically it looks like this after transplanting:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ddweil...idBergman1.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ddweil...idBergman2.jpg

I'd say that that long cane looks pretty leggy, wouldn't you?

Last year it looked like this:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ddweil...05.14.2002.jpg

And this (it's on the right of Europeana):

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ddweil...idBergman3.jpg

I'm hoping that maybe I'll get some more basal growth and I'm hoping
that it will "fill in" a little...

Mill's Magic Mix. Honestly, I have never seen anything like it for
producing basals. Put it down, see basals inside of two weeks.

On Fri, 28 Mar 2003 12:40:07 -0500 (EST), in rec.gardens.roses you
wrote:

dave weil wrote:

I am not sophisticated enough to appreciate once-bloomers, don't you
know. G

What does that have to do with Old Blush? g

Old Blush is, as you describe it, a once-bloomer.

I wouldn't consider Old Blush to be a once bloomer, although it
certainly isn't a "continuous" bloomer.

You said one big flush then an occasional flower all season long. That's
close enough to once for me. I don't mind high maintenance roses, but they
have to put out, you know?

As it turns out, it's considered a repeat bloomer. I forgot about the
smaller late summer flush, which isn't nearly what the spring flush
is, of course. Still, this might not be enough for you.

Damn, Sidney! One of those walking standards. It might be better for
all of us that it did not live.

Maybe they could be trained to do the shopping...

Nah, just imagine what it would come home with. Man cannot live by manure
alone.

Europeana

Yep, really pretty. Sadly, I just dug up the one with rose gall. I'm
not sure if it was the gall, the winter, or the lack of light that did
it in (or a combination). I think that Old Blush just made it hard for
Europeana and Ingrid to flourish. I actually moved Ingrid yesterday as
well and now it sits next to Papa Meilland.

You know. Now that you mention another fabulous red rose, I am thinking I
have a big decision to make re what to replace Mr. Lincoln with. The bed
is all red and white. It goes: Scentimental, Full Sail, Mr. L., Don Juan,
and Sombrueil. I don't want another reach-for-the-sky hybrid tea, though
one a bit less upright than Mr. L. will do.

Well, Papa is about as upright as you can get. and the stems are
really long - 2 1/2 feet.

Could be Papa M, maybe Chrysler Imperial, or perhaps Ingrid.

Ingrid is a pretty small rose from what I understand. I think it's
listed at 3 1/2 - 4 feet. Last year was the second year and it was
pretty squat.

I have also thought about Oklahoma, which is one we do not see mentioned too often. However, the site is in
full sun all day, so O's black-red petal edges will probably burn. Tellme,
do you grow Don Juan?

No I don't. Also, since you mention sun, Ingrid's blooms get small in
the heat of the summer, plus, they tend to blue after about a week.

But why?? Why cut off only one of her two good canes? There is a
special place in hell for the prune happy, you know.

Now you know that I'm not one of those peeps. My termonology was bad.
I didn't mean cut it off like it sounded. The thing is, As far as I
know, IB should be more of a squat 3 footer. Mine started life that
way but most of the five or six canes have bit the dust and all I have
is one long cane and one smaller bit that's starting to come back.
Basically it looks like this after transplanting:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ddweil...idBergman1.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ddweil...idBergman2.jpg

I'd say that that long cane looks pretty leggy, wouldn't you?

Last year it looked like this:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ddweil...05.14.2002.jpg

And this (it's on the right of Europeana):

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ddweil...idBergman3.jpg

I'm hoping that maybe I'll get some more basal growth and I'm hoping
that it will "fill in" a little...

Mill's Magic Mix. Honestly, I have never seen anything like it for
producing basals. Put it down, see basals inside of two weeks.

I'm hoping that the fish emulsion, blood meal, epson salts, Osmocote
and alfalfa will accomplish the same thing. But maybe I should get
some Mills Mix anyway. After all, he's just around the corner, so to
speak...of course, it'd probably be overkill at this point, so maybe
I'll wait until mid-season...

You know. Now that you mention another fabulous red rose, I am thinking I
have a big decision to make re what to replace Mr. Lincoln with. The bed
is all red and white. It goes: Scentimental, Full Sail, Mr. L., Don Juan,
and Sombrueil. I don't want another reach-for-the-sky hybrid tea, though
one a bit less upright than Mr. L. will do. Could be Papa M, maybe
Chrysler Imperial, or perhaps Ingrid. I have also thought about Oklahoma,
which is one we do not see mentioned too often. However, the site is in
full sun all day, so O's black-red petal edges will probably burn. Tellme,
do you grow Don Juan?

Have you thought about Kentucky Derby? I'm experimenting with a
couple of those this year, and they seem to be doing very well in full
sun thus far, plus they're bushing out nicely. Not fragrant like the
Chrysler Imperial family (Papa M, Oklahoma, Mr. L) but gorgeous buds
(one bush I bought from a nursery in Florida has several large buds
that are starting to open) with classic to deep red large blooms on a
theoretically non-diva plant.

Also - I'm the one toying with the cheap bagged Christian Diors trying
to match a super-fragrant Dior of unknown origin. I love my fragrant
one and can't rave enough about it, but I'd advise anyone else to
wait until I find it's match before buying any Diors. The main thing
I've learned in my search is that there are HUGE differences between
one Dior and the next. And if I weren't absolutely hell-bent on
finding more like the first, I wouldn't have bought half of them. One
of the cheap bagged brands seems promising, but I won't know until
summer if I've found the winner. If not, they're just more cheap
bagged roses.


Mill's Magic Mix. Honestly, I have never seen anything like it for
producing basals. Put it down, see basals inside of two weeks.


I gotta give this stuff a shot - several of my roses lost canes over
the winter, including a few that are down to one good cane each. I
drove to Hastings (biggest nursery in the Atlanta area) but they were
out of stock and had just ordered more.

So I bought a bag of RoseTone to hold me over for about two weeks
until I can go back and get some Mills. It looked like a reasonably
close match, at least to start out with. Smells nasty too - the
divas will love it.

torgo wrote:


Have you thought about Kentucky Derby? I'm experimenting with a
couple of those this year, and they seem to be doing very well in full
sun thus far, plus they're bushing out nicely.

Nope, because I haven't heard of it until now!



Not fragrant

Oops, stop right there! Gotta have fragrance in all but the most visibly
delectable roses. REALLY gotta have it in the big blousy red hts. We all
have our quirks. G




Also - I'm the one toying with the cheap bagged Christian Diors trying
to match a super-fragrant Dior of unknown origin. I love my fragrant
one and can't rave enough about it, but I'd advise anyone else to
wait until I find it's match before buying any Diors.

I have two words for you: buy potted. In bloom. Makes life simple.

On Sat, 29 Mar 2003 23:12:19 -0500 (EST), "Shiva"
wrote:

Not fragrant

Oops, stop right there! Gotta have fragrance in all but the most visibly
delectable roses. REALLY gotta have it in the big blousy red hts. We all
have our quirks. G

The first Kentucky Derby bud is now opening. It does seem to have
some fragrance after all, though not as powerful as Chrysler Imperial
or Mr. L. I'll wait for it to open fully before I give its
fragrance the final judgement. I also bought a second one from a
different source. It will be interesting to see the differences
between the two once the second one starts to bloom.

I'm with you on the fragrance issue. I want the mailman to be able to
find my house blindfolded.

Kentucky Derby is now part of the ever-growing collection of reds in
my yard - C. Dior, Oklahoma, Mr. L. , Chrysler Imperial, Papa M,
Crimson Glory, Europeana, and now Kentucky Derby, Veterans Honor and
Taboo, I'll probably add Red Planet and a few others to the list
before the year is out. (I'm just a beginner, so I wouldn't know a
rugosa from a rug, but by fall I'll be quite knowledgeable on the
finer differences between various long stemmed deep red hybrid
teas...)


wait until I find it's match before buying any Diors.

I have two words for you: buy potted. In bloom. Makes life simple.


Except that I haven't found a potted one in bloom with real fragrance.
For that matter, Roses Unlimited has been the only nursery within
driving distance (loosely defined as anything 2 states away or closer)
that I've found so far that carries potted Christian Diors at all. So
I've taken an otherwise wasted 2 foot wide strip between my driveway
and my neighbor's chain link fence and turned it into a test bed.

Eventually I'll find a match. In the meantime, I'm hiding a fence.
Besides, this insane search is what got me hooked on growing roses, so
all in all I'd say it's a Good Thing.

The Blue Girls and the red mystery rose have buds!!! I'm restraining
myself from checking them frequently for progress as I suspect the
little tempermental divas will deliberately slow down development just
to torment me. *smile*

Okay, I'm going to admit straight up that I can be really dense
sometimes. Over the weekend I realized that one of my mystery roses may
actually be a rooted cutting from the rose beside it. I started looking
at it closely because the leaf configuration and development is
identical on the two plants. And, in looking at the "mother" plant, I
think I even know where the cutting was taken from.

However, I think the reason I didn't pay any attention to this last year
is that a) it was the first spring in this house and I was doing massive
amounts of work on the landscaping and b) the roses on these two plants
are different colours. Same colour family but one is definitely darker
than the other. My question for all of you with more experience in
rooting cuttings - can the difference of one rose being a graft and the
other being own root cause a difference in colour?

Susan
s h simko at duke dot edu

Susan H. Simko wrote:

The Blue Girls and the red mystery rose have buds!!! I'm restraining
myself from checking them frequently for progress as I suspect the
little tempermental divas will deliberately slow down development just
to torment me. *smile*


Ha ha! They will, they will! When the red blooms, lay it on your scanner
if you can bear to cut the bloom. Let us help you id it, that's always
fun. I love red roses. Got two dozen longstems for my birthday--so
beautiful but so sterile smelling. I always feel great about growing rose
when I take a whiff of a florist rose.


[Left your other questions unanswered because I am among the uninitiated
with regard to propagating from cuttings or any other way.]

Did you see some snow yesterday? I understand Durham had some for about
the time it took to fall from the sky to the pavement.

Shiva wrote:
Susan H. Simko wrote:


The Blue Girls and the red mystery rose have buds!!! I'm restraining
myself from checking them frequently for progress as I suspect the
little tempermental divas will deliberately slow down development just
to torment me. *smile*

Ha ha! They will, they will! When the red blooms, lay it on your scanner
if you can bear to cut the bloom. Let us help you id it, that's always
fun. I love red roses. Got two dozen longstems for my birthday--so
beautiful but so sterile smelling. I always feel great about growing rose
when I take a whiff of a florist rose.

Me? Not cut roses? I want that fragrance and I want it in my house and
all around me! *grin* I've been taking photographs of everything this
year so I'll probably just take a photo of the cut rose and then scan
that. After all I don't want to crush a perfectly good rose in my
scanner as I don't have quite as many roses as some other people do!
*grin* Because of that, I try to make my cut roses last a little longer.
Then again, too, this year I will also have double the roses I had
last year.

Right now, I think the s.o. will be happy to see rose "season" start and
hyacinth season end as there have been a few comments that the roses
aren't as heavily scented as the cut hyacinths. I'm hoping Double
Delight puts an end to that.

Funny, I love red roses but only if they have scent. Florist roses
always irritate me due to the lack of scent and because most of the time
they never even open because the stems are damaged under the heads even
when they've been wired. My favourite cut flower from a store are
alstroemeria lilies. However, since I also have an entire bed devoted
to them that should be coming into flower this year, the s.o. may have
to come up with something else...

Did you see some snow yesterday? I understand Durham had some for about
the time it took to fall from the sky to the pavement.

I was actually in Raleigh yesterday when the precip was happening. What
I saw was rain = slush = hail = slush = hail = rain as I was in out
and out of HomeGoods, Petsmart and the grocery store.

Susan
s h simko at duke dot edu

Susan H. Simko wrote:


Me? Not cut roses? I want that fragrance and I want it in my house and
all around me! *grin*

More and more you sound like me, with your roses. What I love is that
there is no price to pay for cutting--you just get more roses!



I've been taking photographs of everything this
year so I'll probably just take a photo of the cut rose and then scan
that. After all I don't want to crush a perfectly good rose in my
scanner as I don't have quite as many roses as some other people do!

They don't crush, you prop the lid up. I'll post a few. If you are taking
photos, though, you don't need to scan them. I just don't have the time to
take pictures and develop the film, and I have no digital camera, so I
have scanned them because it is fast and sometimes pretty in its own way.


Funny, I love red roses but only if they have scent. Florist roses
always irritate me due to the lack of scent and because most of the time
they never even open because the stems are damaged under the heads even
when they've been wired.

This is true. I am coaxing mine along, and about half have opened.



My favourite cut flower from a store are
alstroemeria lilies. However, since I also have an entire bed devoted
to them that should be coming into flower this year, the s.o. may have
to come up with something else...

Is this the same as a Peruvian Lily??


I was actually in Raleigh yesterday when the precip was happening. What
I saw was rain = slush = hail = slush = hail = rain as I was in out
and out of HomeGoods, Petsmart and the grocery store.

Homegoods? What is that? Can there be some retail I've missed? G

Shiva wrote:

More and more you sound like me, with your roses. What I love is that
there is no price to pay for cutting--you just get more roses!

I love to be rewarded like that. I'm hoping that I have enough roses
this year to achieve critical mass - when I'm ready to "toss" the roses
in the house, I have more waiting to be cut.

They don't crush, you prop the lid up. I'll post a few. If you are taking
photos, though, you don't need to scan them. I just don't have the time to
take pictures and develop the film, and I have no digital camera, so I
have scanned them because it is fast and sometimes pretty in its own way

I'll have to play with that when I have some in bloom. Do you use
fabric or any kind of paper to provide a background/contrast to the rose
when scanned? I know I could probably also add it via photoshop but
sometimes it's easier just to have it ther ein the first place.

Oh my, I can just see the s.o. now. Two 35 mm cameras, a digital
camera and she's scanning flowers directly on the scanner bed. *grin*

My favourite cut flower from a store are
alstroemeria lilies. However, since I also have an entire bed devoted
to them that should be coming into flower this year, the s.o. may have
to come up with something else...

Is this the same as a Peruvian Lily??

Yep. I have an entire bed devoted to them outside my kitchen windows.
I bought them from two different sources. One source, sent them as
tubers. I put the tubers in last spring and have just seen growth from
them this spring. (Fortunately I was warned that this might happen.)
The other source sent potted plants which I put in last fall. Bed has
some white asiatic lilies (can't remember what they are which is why I
have plant tags with their names on it in the bed), star gazer lilies
and baby's breath for accent with a row of freesia in the front.

Homegoods? What is that? Can there be some retail I've missed? G

It's in the shopping center right where I540 and 70 meet. Also in the
shopping center is Dick's Sporting Goods, Petsmart, Michael's, Bob
Evan's Restaurant, BJs Wholesale and a bunch of other stores. I'm there
frequently because I live about 10 minutes away from there.

Homegoods is a part of the TJ Maxx chain (there's also a TJ Maxx next
door) and specializes in just home decor type stuff at great prices. I
love the store and I love my TJX master card which sends me a $10 gift
certificate (redeemable at TJ Maxx, Homegoods, and a few other stores)
for every $1000 spent.

Susan
s h simko at duke dot edu