Back to the topic... Sir Hans...Thanks for that info. You are right(as always). I have seen a pic of hippeastrums(for cut flower) with scapes and almost no leaves. I think it is in Ludwig's website. "defoliated for hygienical reasons"...How is this so? During winter time, I do not have enough growing area inside that can give my amaryllises enough sunlight. I wish I did. I do not have a greenhouse or indoor grow lights. Again, I wish I did. As much as I want my amaryllises to continously grow all year long, I can not do so. Putting them to dormancy is a MUST for me. This is my plan for this winter. Since the unheated garage is dark, I will have to let the leaves dry out and then cut them. Give them maybe a week or so to dry out a bit and then unpot, dip in fungicide, repot in fresh soil. Water a little bit and mulch to keep moisture in the roots. I have fed them well and given them as much right caring as I know this spring/summer. I think I will be getting a very good performance from them next spring.

Is this thread being "wrapped up"? I agree that it has been very enlightening, but I have only just finished my third CD book, "Nicholas Nickleby", and I am about one third of the way into "The Old Curiosity Shop". What started with the proposal of this thread and the subsequent discussion looks to stretch indefinitely into my reading future. I want to thank everyone for sparking my interest - and I especially what to thank whoever it was who had the idea of general, individual readings of Dickens rather than concentrating on just one Dickens book. To supplement Ackroyd's Dickens bio, I also read Tomalin's. friedag, you are right that different biographers have different perspectives. Like carolyn_ky mentioned, it is obvious that Tomalin's big interest is "the affair" between CD and Ellen Ternan and thus Tomalin's biography is about half the length of Ackroyd's. Maybe that shows some of the differences between male and female biographers, because Ackroyd recounts the affair rather perfunctorily but includes much more detail of other aspects of CD's life. It could be, too, that Tomalin is more attuned to what interests female readers of biographies: relationships, factual and rumored. friedag, Charles Palliser's "The Quincunx" is said to be a Dickens pastiche. New Zealander Lloyd Jones wrote "Mister Pip" - the setting is Papua New Guinea and could be right up your alley! I have not read either of those, but I did read Gaynor Arnold's "Girl in a Blue Dress" and Richard Flanagan's "Wanting", both of which were inspired by CD's unhappy marriage to Catherine. All I can say about them is they are intriguing takes, but I found them quite maddening (angry-making, that is, not crazy-making).

Marlorena, I agree. As I mentioned in my first post, getting a budded CdM and planting it with the bud union above the mulch line would avoid all this. The UK simply doesn't get as cold as it does where gardeners are advised to plant the bud union below the mulch line, which would set Chuck free. Elsewhere, Gallicas are popular in areas with Winters too cold for many other roses, and that's where running problems can occur if the bud union gets enough soil contact for the rose to go own-root. I suppose one could cover them for Winter, then uncover after the last hard freezes in Spring, as a compromise. I kept mentioning its potential spread as a warning to make sure to leave the bud union uncovered since Darren is kinda new to old roses. Paul, I remember you mentioning the expanse of your CdM before, and it brought that picture to my brain. It's why any own-root Gallicas at the cemetery will be in island beds around high-limbed trees, surrounded by turf and/or paved paths. I'm looking to try budding as well for roses notoriously difficult to root, but I'm afraid that it may get too cold here to leave the bud unions above the soil line through Winters, so I won't rely upon that to make any Gallicas "safe" enough for mixed beds. 'Charles de Mills' may just have to be planted in a trench dug between wild shrubbery/trees and grass in the background. There are quite a few spots like that there. :-) ~Christopher

I expect William will be a better and better liked monarch. He's obviously much less daft and has better bloodlines, from his mother's side. On the global Covid front, I think it's time for an emergency US-UK heads of state summit, as soon as possible. Somewhere where close and frank discussions can be held. There's no time to lose. (PS, how long is Boris likely to be contagious to others?)