great chart for critical temperatures link. My apricots are in full bloom. Peaches are just going silver tipped. Apples are varying from silver tipped to tight cluster depending on the variety and their locations. Grape buds are just showing some green. I start eyeballing the fruit trees about this time every year. LOL. We had a very good winter....normal......slooooooow warm up this spring. Stuff holding dormancy well. Yesterday shot up to 83! Back down to mid thirties at night by end of the week. It's S.E. Ohio and we're famous for the flip-flops. I lost almost all my fruit two years ago from a severe freeze. The trees didn't even flower. Had a good fruit year last year. I depend a lot on home grown fruit for canning, and if I had to choose between the weather ruining my orchard or garden, I suspect I'd sacrifice the garden before my fruit.

first pdf link seems to work .. hope that is what you are looking for ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Cass, I didn't take it as criticism - I was not very clear in saying that even professional photography sometimes can add another whole layer of obfuscation. It is actually important and useful to us that you view the 'established' collections with a critical eye. It is also worth remembering that gardens such as Mottisfont and l'Hay are committed to holding the collections of their founders - Graham Thomas and Jules Graveraux - with the knowledge they had in their time of the roses. Subsequent research and later discoveries around the world which were not available to them give us a problem - do we replace their rose with the newer contender? That's a question for curators, but they would have to be very sure. These gardens, as opposed to botanical collections, are also maintaining a philosophy of gardening - the arts of displaying the rose. I know in GST's case that this was primary, and his intention was to preserve the best roses of each class for garden use, rather than collect every rose. Perhaps, like HMF, the gardens should be seen for what they are - 'warts and all', and we should accept that there are questions behind a great number of the Old Roses. I find that is part of the charm and intrigue. One thing that is most instructive is to read back through Rose Annuals to the beginning of the last century and find exactly the same questions and opinions being expressed generation after generation! Best wishes Jon

Fungicides are the least toxic of the horticultural chemicals. Yes Daconil can burn foliage but only under certain conditions (when plants are dried out and temps outsides are hot). I've never had it burn any of my roses because I'm certain to water them beforehand, only apply it early in the season, and limit spraying to the early morning or evening hours. In fact, its a whole lot less harmful to the foliage than lime-sulfur, which is an "organic" fungicide. The only toxic side effect I've read in the literature about Mancozeb is that there is a slightly higher incidence of eye trouble in agricultural workers who routinely work around it. These people don't have the advantage of goggles, a respirator, and protective clothing. They are also exposed to much higher levels and much more often. I've never noticed a marked decrease in insects from the use of fungicides. A bit of perspective. This weekend I visited my 70 year old mother. Before leaving for what is a three hour drive I picked a new blossom of PRETTY JESSICA, a gorgously fragrant new English Rose that I acquired last year. As I was driving I'd occasionally pick up and smell the rose. The powerful Damask fragrance kept me alert and happy during the drive. Such a treat! The flower was still fresh and beautiful when I arrived. My mother immediately wanted me to buy her the rose when I let her smell the flower. I had to gently let her down. "Pretty" as PRETTY JESSICA is, she needs spraying and mom's health won't allow her to put in the necessary work to keep the English Rose looking good in her Tidewater VA garden. My mother was profoundly disappointed. Her rose garden is organic, and lovely as the Chinas and Teas are, they just don't have that certainly "quality" that we've come to expect from the English Roses (and Bourbons, Hybrid Perpetuals, Portlands; all of which are disease mongers). I'm hoping mom will be more pleased as her new garden develops. Duchesse de Brabant and Belinda's Dream in particular should please her. "It is beauty that nourishes the soul." Image of PRETTY JESSICA by Celestial Rose.