Suji - You are welcome to stop by my open garden near Brookeville on May 29 -30. A few folks come from near and far to see the garden and how it is changing year to year. This year with the devistation of 3 Blizzards and crushed roses, I'm guessing that we will have much of the wild look of years some time ago which some visitors may welcome again. With warm weather after the snow, my rose classes appear to be a few days ahead of schedule. However, there should not be a significan shortage of bloom. We always welcome rose enthusiasts of all sorts. I am even cultivating more visits by teasing a couple of local garden clubs with OGR talks this spring to come and smell the roses - even the HT folks sneak a peak sometimes (I may have a few of them as well). Please stop by and enjoy whatever we have and share some of your OGR stories and ideas as well. We'd love to share the garden such as it may be this spring. PS - The roses have already begun to bloom. Father Hugo's rose, Old Blush and Sophie's Perpetual have already begun to bloom and some HP's buds are showing color. What's not to love about zone 6b? Best, Nick

Bill - It would be interesting to ask why the Europeans are obtaining so many new varieties while we seem to languish. I've been monitoring the bambooweb and Brad's trip to Europe to obtain bamboo that I believe the ABS should have already brought into the USA. The ABS has big bucks, lots of people willing to help, growers to provide help and knowledge, etc. Brad's wish list would be a good list to reference. Rgds

I didn't go to the first class, but I'm still curious about whether it was good or not since there are two more in the series. I guess I decided that $15 or $20 for one HOUR was just too much unless I was pretty sure it was good. And of course I always think, "Well, how many PLANTS could I buy for THAT much money?" Starbelly: I always buy plants of Asclepias curassavica because I am really bad with seeds and also because I'm pretty sure that if I planted the seeds outside on Memorial Day I would not be seeing blooms anytime soon. I probably bought the plants at the terrific Friends School plant sale, but possibly got them at Tangletown Gardens in Minneapolis or Highland Nursery in St. Paul, where I know I've bought them before. Mine are still blooming like crazy:

Hello Violet Lovers: As President and Webmaster of The American Violet Society http://americanvioletsociety.org, I have been supporting the continued existence of our society's website, largely at my own expense, over the past several years. Not a big deal, as the site gets a free ride on my personally contracted web server. The site has been stale over the last couple of years, prior to Tom's efforts in providing the material for New Cultivars. That can be seen at the link below. We are in the need of self starting and finishing people, to take responsible positions in the society. I am competent as an organizer and organizational lead, but I am totally incompetent in almost any area of responsibility. In particular, I am not a treasurer nor do I consider myself an extensive violet expert, beyond some level of expertise in rudimentary taxonomy. As a result, we are currently in a situation, where even when we receive donations, we have no way to accept them or process them. We don't even have a bank account! Even more important than money, WE NEED NEW MATERIAL for the web site. That brings me to another issue. I have noticed that not only is The American Violet Society largely dormant, but that it appears that "the other society" The Violet Society at: http://www.sweetviolets.com/SWEETVIOLETS/index.html is in an even more comatose state. In particular, it appears that their entire, very valuable Violet Journal, is no longer on the web. That is very sad. Over the years, I have approached members of The Violet Society, to try to get them to collaborate and pool resources, to extend the reach of both societies, but alas, I was continually rebuffed. Now, upon discovering the loss of their journal, I have tried every email address listed in their remaining site, but received error messages back from all of them. If anyone knows how to contact any of their remaining administration, please let me know. For those of you wishing to contact me, the addresses shown elsewhere in this forum are all out of date, due to excessive pornographic spam. You can reach me at: presidentXXXXXXX@amerianvioletsociety.org where the Xs should be replaced with the letters of my family's name. Alternately, continue to exchange with Tom, as most of you "know" him already. I am hoping to hold another Violet Field Event in the spring of 2009. If we find enough interest. That's all for now. I will try to stay more in touch Sweet Violets To All Gary W. Sherwin, President, Webmaster The American Violet Society http://americanvioletsociety.org Here is a link that might be useful: New Viola Cultivars