I am not trying to be argumentative, Mark. I have been a novice trader and so have you, and have been lead to believe a plant was 'easy', when it wasn't - I was out a plant AND money. I was just being honest with my experiences in trying to root these cuttings, so a newby wouldn't be upset if he/she traded for the cutting and it did rot. I was merely mentioning that this cutting is not as easy as it sounds to root. You are turning this into a negative when it is meant to be a positive. WHY would this information NOT be relevant? Are you telling me you wouldn't want to know if the possibility existed that it could rot instead of root?

Oh I couldn't help it to show off the beauty of some of my OGRs. Had I read Anitas original post more carefully - I would not have posted half of them since they are not that unusual or rare. (And inconsiderate of those with slower connections ...) even though we like Sherry never grow tired of good pictures :-) Yes Ingrid all these roses grow in my garden - and grow very well. I also agree - the purple centifolia is really unsual - I love the colour. Mariannese: It was the blush pink centifolia, that I wrote had a compact growth habit... the purple centifolia is like you write more lax and uruly. I keep mine pruned to about 4 feet tall and stake it when it blooms - so the weight of all the flowers don't make the bush flop over. Mine are of course from Ellen and Hugos rose nursery too - I am lucky to live near 2 big rose nurseries - Ellen and Hugos and Knud Petersen - within 10 miles - both have big gardens and collections of old roses - and the Royal Marselisborg Castle is just 3 blocks away and have 600 different old Garden Roses - so I have the opportunity to study many different OGRs up close all the time I wish and pick those I consider the best, most beautiful,most fragrant and have decent disease resistant and growth habit. No - not unfair to show roses only availble in Europe - I have sent plenty of budwood to European nurseries, who exchange roses with US rose nurseries - so sooner or later these roses will be availble in USA too. I also grow 'Serratipetala" - mine is however rather scraggly - even if it aint raining men in my garden! It defoliate almost completely here from blackspot - I think this rose like many other chinas perform better in warmer climates - but the flowers here can become very beautiful too. (I have posted both full bush shot and flower on HMF). Had it been warmer and sunnier mine would also darken - funny how some chinas - instead of fading become darker as they age. I also grow some roses I do not have clue what they are - and that I after 8-12 years still try to identify with no luck - even though I have a photographic memory - I have not seen them anywhere. Most are centifolia roses and HPs. Many 1000s HPs were grown in Europe and most have been lost. But some have been passed on for generations. Their names unknown. If they blackspot terribly or have little vigor I don't want to grow them and they retire to the hillsides around here - and I give some of them a handful of fertilizer in the spring. And then there are the seedlings found in old neglected gardens - look for these underneath or around old rose bushes (they are not suckers) all a little different and I can't help but rustle these and pot them up and plant them all over to see what they eventually become. I am particularly interested in seedlings from repeat blooming bourbon and Portland roses. I also think I need to make a map of all the roses I have planted around here - I have thought of making a map and plot their positions with GPS ... I just have my notes and visit them a few times every year to see how they are doing - they gotta be tough to thrive under these conditions.

In the past I have arranged a few unusual seed Round Robins, but because of the rising postage costs this has become not as attractive as it once was. It was also not ever worth it for newbies with only one or two sorts of unusual seeds. So, this year I think I'm going to organize an unusual seed exchange. I will not officially get it off the ground until September, but I am giving some advance notice so that interested people can set aside some of their unusual seeds. Costs should be about $2-4 for postage (depending on how many seeds you send), about 50 cents for a padded envelope and whatever seeds you want to send. There is no official definition for what is and what isn't unusual - you will have to use your judgment. Unusual seeds are seeds that are off the beaten track - ones you don't find in the Vesey's catalogue (for the most part). Seeds for houseplants or other tropical plants are unusual. Seeds for native plants are unusual. They can be seeds for plants that are commonly seen, but not commonly seen sold as seed - Peonies, Hostas and Daylilies, for example (they can provide some surprise beauties amongst their offspring). If you can buy it at a Canadian Tire Garden Centre, it's probably not unusual (unless you have a really good Canadian Tire!). White Cosmos or white Echinacea are not unusual. Wave petunias and Teddy Bear sunflowers are not unusual. I will be contributing some Eucomis, Actaea (Cimmicifuga) racemosa and Astilboides tabularis seeds (provided they continue to ripen without disaster :-)), some Hosta and Calla seeds, and who knows what else my garden will produce! This will be a blind exchange - you will not know what you are getting back because I won't know what seeds everyone contributes until I get them all in. You can make suggestions as to things you would like or dislike and I will honor them where possible. I will allow participants to send in several packets of the same seed - if you send in five packets of Primula japonica seeds, you should get back five packets of five different things. If you have never done this sort of thing before, the way a seed exchange works is that you send me a bunch of your seeds in a padded envelope, along with about $2 in postage, and I swap your seeds with those sent in by other people and send them back to you in your envelope, using the postage that you sent. If you're interested, ask questions here. This is not the sign up thread - I will post that in about a months time (the deadline for participating will be the end of November - I want everyone interested to be able to collect all the seeds they're expecting). BP

Woo Hoo! Christmas came 6 days early!! My seeds came today and I was a like a little kid on Christmas morning Thanks so much for all your great organizing Bonnie. Much appreciated. And thanks so all that participated. Great collection of seeds. What fun!!!! Now starts the researching and planning...now where can I plant this one.... Donna from Castlgar, BC :)