A bunch of Lens hybrid musks from europe. Sibelius was a most surprising little purple, Pleine de Grace, Matchball and Jaqueline Humery are healthy and delightful (had a white thing going on) My new rose hedge (well, post and wire between 2 allotment plots) has Nastarana (still very small and delicate), Goldfinch (think I may have to move this as it is going to be far too widely bushy), Leontine Gervaise and Ayreshire Splendens - very promising with trainable canes and an ability to grow almost horizontal - the most successful in the hedge, I think) Climbing Iceberg, and a rescued rugosa complete the hedge. I also have Aimee Vibert - slow, no flowers yet but healthy, paired with a softly cream hybrid helenae which is also quite small still (am expecting a lot more growth to meet Aimee over a long, high timber structure (currently doing duty as pea and bean pole supports). A couple of Austins, Crocus rose (being mugged by a large clump of cornflowers and thalictrum) and Summer Song - a great colour but terrible growth habit and not very healthy. The other duff rose is a Poulsen rennaissance rose, Lilliana/Claire Rennaissance - awful BS. Jasmina (Kordes), Perpetually Yours and Penny Lane(Harkness) and Nahema (Delgard, I think)are a healthy bunch, propping up various veggie posts and the like about the allotment - all work well, are healthy and good choices. Another early yellow, R.cantabridgiensis, a little spinossissima and R.pomifera duplex/Wolley Dods rose are perfect roses for my sandy soil and and open, windy plot - they are unblemished and beautiful with enough blossom to promise much more in coming years. Most disappointing is Hot Chocolate, which has languished next to Summer Song doing nothing - annoyingly, Liliana is also part of this vignette along with zinnias which are also rubbish (this weather!). The imagined glowing scenario of paprika and peach is gappy and splotchy - I avert my eyes. The most surprising is Crepuscule, a make up the numbers choice, bounding into flawless healthy beauty in a tricky but fertile spot (side of the compost bays). I expect the compost mountain will be prettily disguised next year. Most vigorous and fastest is, unsurprisingly Darlows Enigma - I think this rose is going to take to a UK climate with vim and vigour - a truly delicious rose, perfect for the rampageous allotment. Oh yeah, a couple of oddities, another hulthemia Alissar, Princess of Phoenicia (what a name!) and Pomponella - love them both. Finally, my failure rose - Pauls Scarlet Climber - done in by a vicious bindweed and an uncaring owner.

Cannadoit - Dottie wasn't accusing you of anything. The GardenWeb rules forbid mentioning any business by name, for any reason, under any circumstances. But things have relaxed a bit nowadays and no one seems to be monitoring things. Just don't be surprised if this thread gets pulled. They consider mentioning a company name as a form of advertising, regardless of the intent. As for seeds or plants - I used to shop everywhere online and couldn't wait to see that box waiting for me on the porch when I got home from work. But now that I've lived here for 9 years I know my way around better and can find just about anything I want locally. Even the hard to find obscure organic/heirloom vegetable seeds from Baker Creek are now available off the rack at my favorite downtown Raleigh Garden Center (Logan's). For mainstream summer annuals I shop at all the garden centers on the south side since that's where I live, with Bbs down in Sanford and Campbell Road on Tryon being favorites. For truly unique odd ball stuff I hit Plant Delights which is conveniently nearby. I have one favorite place I still shop at back in my home state of Oklahoma (Bustani Plant Farm) but I usually pick stuff up when I am home visiting relatives. I shop differently now than I did in the past. My garden is pretty full so now I seek out the plant online and look for sources. When I see something that I think will work for me (often from a thread here on Garden Web) I google the heck out of it and track down a source. I have splurged and bought seeds from all over the world that way. But I no longer have favorite seed or plant catalogs.

The NJ State Forestry Nursery has native conifers at a cheap price. You get a 100 bare root seedlings for $30. They have white pine, short leaf pine, pitch pine, Virginia pine, loblolly pine, pitch X loblolly pine (hybrid) Norway spruce (non-native), and Atlantic white cedar (more expensive - larger size). They don't deliver by mail. Instead you have them pick it up at one of their drop off locations around the state. I bought from them last year for my first time. I got pitch X loblolly pine and they were in excellent condition. I will definitely buy seedlings from them in the future. If they don't have what you are looking for then you can look around at some other state nurseries. Many sell to out of state residents and you can have them mailed. One nursery I've always had good luck with is Cold Stream Farms. http://www.coldstreamfarm.net/c-10-conifers.aspx They have lots of conifers that are native to NJ If you live in Sussex Co. - eastern larch, black spruce, red pine They also have hemlock, white pine, red cedar. I'm in Hunterdon County and I bought eastern larch and black spruce from Cold Stream Farms 3 years ago. All are doing well. Some of the larch are already over 8 feet.

I've never ordered from them, but I've ordered checks from several other online suppliers. All of them seem to offer special discounts for first-time buyers, which is why I've jumped around. All of them have a huge selection of checks, including lots of animals. My current checks are "Paisley" from the Styles Check Company, and I'm very happy with them. Susan