Page has been updated with some new projects for the week. I will be updating every thursday. Here is a link that might be useful: My online Journal

Thanks for the update buyorsell888! Putting out a zine is a real undertaking and very time demanding depending upon the period of release, be it monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, or yearly. Also the industry has never really been THAT strongly based since much of the interest may be either tentative or wavering. I think that the main reason why is that the expense of putting in a water garden and maintaining it is just too much for the level of income and time available for those who really would be interested. That is one reason I have always hoped to see some kind of inexpensive preform package that was relatively care-free but not to be. Too many parties wanting to exploit whatever market there is to sell product that may be good but may not be necessary. If someone had the time it would not be difficult to set up an online zine geared towards hobbyists interested in low cost ponding. I would suggest making use of Photobucket and creating pages entirely as jpegs. I am sure if anyone had the time to cordinate the site and edit that different submissions could be included. Just some thoughts.

MaryL - Your suggestion to contact the ARS to see if they would update the description of tea roses in the Handbook is a good one. I have done so, contacting the current and a past President, both of whom understand what tea roses really are. It will be interesting to see if there is any change in the future - I hope so. As you could tell, I was really annoyed - it was as if the ARS had published a definition of HTs as "flowering annual bushes about 2 feet tall" because the person who wrote the description lived in the Arctic! Karl - I have just filled out a Roses in Review form. Interestingly, although I grow over 100 different roses, only 3 of them were on the extensive list! One is a baby only 3 inches tall, but I did fill it out for the other two. I was disappointed that the category "OGRs and Shrubs" was 99% shrub roses, with only 1 or 2 OGRs. You are correct, however, we must get people to fill out these reviews, although many folks I know who are interested in old roses have given up trying to make any headway with the ARS after years & years of trying. When I get in a fuss about something and want to change it, they say "Don't bother - we tried and nothing happened." - I am regarded as sort of naive and too hopeful sometimes, I think. To quote Maryl - "your complaints of bias against the ARS publications have all been heard before". That makes my point - the fact that they have been heard before makes it worse that the problem is still on-going and still needs to be complained about. Personally, I like all kinds of roses, although I do prefer a romantic semi-wild looking garden, with huge climbers all over the house and many of the trees, huge hedges of roses between me and the street, and blooms peeking in all of the windows of my house, even the third story. My bedroom looks out over the canopy of a thicket of many trees, and there are roses decorating the canopy which have climbed up the trees. Of course, everyone's taste is different - that is what is so wonderful about roses - there are so many types and sizes and styles, that anyone can find roses to love. I do have some HTs that I have rescued from old gardens (including mine) - I do love the blooms and they are wonderfully fragrant too, being very old. Jackie

It sure is quiet here at the magazine swap. More storms last night and it was constant lightening for almost an hour. Looked like natures strobe light. If you are considering using the Dish Network, DON'T. Every time it rains, it goes out and stays out during the whole storm. Even if it is just rain. It does no good if you want to know how bad conditions are. I asked the tech if this would happen when he was installing it because it happened with our previous company. He said no, I shouldn't have any problem. It was a nice rainfall again so we should be set for a while. Have a good day. smitties