Even I think this argument is a bit spurious. Let's break it down point by point. Lead and other nasties in the environment from coal plants is ridiculous. There's no argument there and I'm not even going to bother finding the links. I'm also in an 80% coal-fired area, yet listen to people complaining about the tiny amounts of cadmium compounds from what comes off my painting palette. If one runs on solar, there might be a slight advantage to going electric. Wind, definitive. I'm not a vast fan of solar due to the amounts of rare earths gobbled to produce it. Battery recycling is, unfortunately, at not such great percentages. Half of lithium batteries get recycled. That's a lot of discarded--and very rare--lithium. It's produced by spallation in the atmosphere, mostly (cosmic rays and oxygen/nitrogen, with a bit from the Big Bang nucleosynthesis; stellar nuclear reactions actually destroy lithium). We're not exactly swimming in the stuff. So toss that argument right in the garbage along with those batteries. You recycle yours? Great! Half those got thrown away for lack of any interest in retrieving the materials. (Most seem to think that lithium-ion batteries are used; they're not, they're too unstable for exterior use. Those use very little lithium. Most exterior batteries are lithium-iron, which require far more. Some might be lithium-manganese, ditto. The same is true for most newer chemistries, of which there are a few, most not in the common market yet). 99.3% of lead batteries are recycled. That...sounds good, but they retrieve the lead plates and lead sulfate material in the gunk, and throw out the rest. And nobody uses lead in electrics any longer, they're too heavy and the electrical potential is too low. They're great in car batteries, though. Ground vs. Air distribution...immaterial datapoint, actually, that would only impact the direct user and a few other people at most. Once atmospheric mixing occurs--give that two puffs of wind and a single pass over a warm lawn--it's done for. Point in fact, you've just argued against power plants. Their pollution (heavy in carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, water vapor, a very strong greenhouse gas, and so on) is distributed in the atmosphere high enough that grasses, trees, and other landscape has no chance to bind it before it can mix and head for the stratosphere. Spillage...visit a coal plant sometime. The entire place is sterile and covered in coal bits tracked around, dropped off trucks. We won't discuss coal mines or, for that matter, Centralia, Pennsylvania. And some of us are quite careful with our gas, thank you. I've accidentally spilled more due to my gas station having an extremely wonky gas dispenser. Cosmetic... Well, yes. Personally, I don't. In either case, one is using electricity or gas, both resources, to make the place look nicer. Maybe don't do that if it offends you, but leave others to do as they please while pointing it out in...well, frankly, a slightly less touchy manner. Blowing grass clippings...um, who does this any longer? Everybody I know and see here has mulching mowers. On rare occasions, I might see somebody blow them off the driveway if they're incredibly heavy and a potential problem. It's interesting to note that they're a water pollutant if left on the driveway, washed into the sewer drain, and go into there, hence the rivers (around here, our sewers dump directly into the river, then into the Atlantic). Phosphorus and nitrogen lead to algal blossoms. Not at all a healthy thing for the oceans as they cause anoxic zones. We're advised to remove them when possible. So if we want to be Earth friendly, they need to be removed.

Nvsravank if you are a newbie I would really suggest visiting the Rose Organics forum. But I really truly believe that MichaelG is like the total expert! when it comes to both organic and synthetic fungicides and insecticides. He has knowledge of both. Perhaps you can email him if you get stuck on specifics? Also the internet is a very powerful tool in terms of looking up toxicity reports. About organic fungicides (potassium bicarbonates), they are much! safer than synthetics in terms of application timing. You have to wear overalls gloves goggles and other protective gear when applying synthetic fungicides. Mancozeb is safe to bees, but you have to wear protective gear when applying. Bayer Rose and Ornamental Spray is toxic to bees upon application according to the instructions: Bayer fungicide and the bees The organic Neem oil does not! work as a fungicide. It is an insecticide. It will kill bees if you accidentally spray a bee. It is very! safe for humans but when the bee brings too much contaminated pollen to the hive, it can make them sluggish and very disoriented. This is not a good thing. If you decide to use Neem oil, I would urge you to only spray in the late evening when the sun has gone down; bees are very hard workers and will be there at crack of dawn. Neem oil requires a drying time of 4 hours to be "safe" for the bees. I think there are better alternatives to Neem but unlike most people, I am content to live with a bunch of holes in my rose leaves so long as I still get huge lovely blooms! I just let the spideys do all the hard work for me and spray my blooms with hot wax pepper spray to protect against thrips. Next year I'm going to use Milky Spore as a preventative against Japanese Beetles thanks to this forum's input. I don't have JBs yet, but I do know that JeffAurora in New Jersey has a battle with a few JBs. He has drop-dead GORGEOUS roses. This is JEFF'S Julia Child which you are choosing. The huge downer news is that organic fungicides can't battle BS in rainy climates and where you don't get as much sunlight. I hear that New Jersey is Blackspot territory. I use Greencure fungicide and spray like a maniac with the Greencure even before the first spring leaf unfolds, but Greencure can only keep the roses exposed to blazing sunlight clear from the blackspot. My shade-growing roses are a disaster zone. Blackspot loves! the shade. Be sure your roses get full open sunlight, it will make your battle against BS less maddening! Karl Bapst and Jim1961 also use sea tea as a foliage spray/ buffer against blackspot. Jim's roses have not gotten any yet, Lucky Jim, unlike his blackspot ridden neighbors! He uses DrammaticK. His roses get both East and West sun (full exposure) and the DrammaticK (which uses unprocessed pure fish oils) so I am thinking that those 2 factors are really helping him out. Besides the organics/fungicide consideration, there are a few things you will need to do-- a soil analysis on the content of your soil. Then you need to amend your soil with goodies like compost, nursery manure, etc. Healthy soil means healthy roses that can survive insect and fungus attacks. And as Karl, my likewise favorite expert, says-- hybrid teas are HEAVY FEEDERS!!!! Mvrasank, you will be very! happy with Double Delight and Fragrant Cloud in terms of hardiness, easy-to-care, and great fragrance. Plus they are prolific! bloomers. I have FC and love its health! You have made excellent choices for those 2. I love my Tiffany too. It is supposed to be "disease-resistant". So far it's living up to the "healthy" classification. I love her perfume but my favorite of all fragrances is Mr. Lincoln--in my opinion he beats all the Austins at my local nursery and all the hybrid teas I've smelled and the floribundas, but sadly, he gets a bum rap from tons of people here because he is too tall and lanky. Tall you can't control, but you can! have fat bushy Lincolns--I feed mine with Gardenville Sea Tea to make them fat!

Rubyfig: I have had soapstone for about a year (GM original). My experience has been that in the beginning, mineral oil evaporated more quickly. I started using the beeswax that you read about on these boards. (I got it at Sur La Table.) Buffing the beeswax onto the counters definitely made them stay darker longer. Eventually after a few months, we stopped having to oil them as frequently and they still stay dark. Now, we only oil them when we have people coming over. Sometimes I'll just use mineral oil because you don't have to use as much muscle to buff it the way you do with the beeswax. We still get water spots but I don't really worry about that. We can rub them out with a sponge. Hope this helps. DC

When you have babies off your leaves - only pot up a couple of best ones. NoIds will find new homes if they are in bloom. And if you pot 50 of them.... you are in trouble. Named plants - you can find good homes for them, trade them for something else, use them for Round Robin... Even the named plants - you want to have one for bloom and one young one for replacement for yourself. But still - only pot up the best, do not try to baby every crooked weak plantlet. The crooked baby takes forever to shape up - and it will be lingering when the strong babies are already blooming. In nature - runts do not make it...