Zyperiris, I grow about 30 Of the Austin roses over here near Seattle. Mine were going downhill over time until in frustration I build two raised beds elevated 16" and filled them with 3-way garden mix and compost. In the 2 years since they have greatly improved in health and vigor! The only one I Can think of that I got rid of was a pale pink one that grew very tall and always balled from the moisture...will think of the name soon I hope (Geofrey someone?). Oh yes, I put my beloved Abraham Darby in a back corner because he just DID NOT show off well on the arbor down the center of my garden. His foliage was ugly and the flowers never last long then hang like old gray tissue. But when he is gorgeous he is phenomenal, and adore his pink grapefruit scent! At my previous house he climbed up into a flowering crabapple and was a traffic stopper! Jude the Obscure has done fabulous in the raised bed. and his color is much more yellow then when growing in our native soil. William Morris is a MONSTER...He wants to be at least 8' by 8' even when cut back hard! And the flowers do not last at all as cut flowers nor to they have a fragrance...but he sure is pretty when in bloom! Queen of Sweden is coming along now in her 3rd year. Munstead Woods...I Am WILD about the flowers on this one! Its one of my newest. Love Tamora, Sharifa Asma for their fragrances. Lady of Shallot and Lady Emma HAmilton were both pretty this year for first bloom then dropped their leaves and are regrowing them now. THey are both still settling in.So is Claire Austin. Her stems are pretty droopy still, but the white flowers are beautiful. I think in another year or two she will be a favorite. Graham Thomas, Teasing Georgia, And Windrush are other beauties for me. I really love Windrush when she blooms. I got rid of Othello this year...loved the fragrance but they nearly always had Vegetative centers and diseased leaves. I have other older ones I have lost the names to (Probably all pink ones) and especially since moving them wonder what the heck I have! Oh yes, I can comment on James Galway. I put him on a back fence and kind of ignored him and then am struck by the beauty of the roses when they bloom. THey shade from pale on the outside petals to deep rose in the middle...a lovely effect. Ugly leaves though. I do not spray any of my roses unless Hubby hits them with copper spray when he does the peach tree in late winter...didn't happen this year. Some have diseased leaves but are not planted in prominant positions. I visit them, enjoy their flowers and then move on. Benjamon Britton is another one who's flowers light up the landscape, a lovely deep coral raspberry. CHarles Darwin look a bit like yellow kleenex drooping on the branches. NOt sure it will be a keeper for me...maybe one more year to prove its worth.

ticksmom, this is my first year having cannas survive in the ground outdoors, and I am finding the same thing as you - the sprouts are not where I expected. Since the tubers form big clumps, it would make sense that new plants would sprout from the outer edges of the clump, which is what I think I see happening outdoors. I know when I store the tubers, the outer ones seem to sprout best. As for the containerized cannas, the roots are more prone to freezing because the container is above ground and not insulated by the earth. The general guide is that a plant in a container is one to two zones less hardy than in the ground, which puts your cannas in the equivalent of a zone 6 or 5, which is iffy at best. bananananny, I'm in Westminster and I have many shoots up in the ground already - actually some have been up for a week or two. I have clay and I usually lose them to rot too, but it was a warm winter and a mild spring.

Linda B - I'm in Brooksville, FL, but this is the beginning of strawberry season all over Central FL. The place near us is charging 2 dollars a pound U-pick. We had to work harder to find them, people had already been in the field for 2 days picking and there had been some rain which ruined a lot of the ripened berries. Kate and Mary C - yes I understand because I am somewhat that way, too, I get frustrated and stressed quickly when it's not controlled, and that's why I was wondering if there is a way to do it stress-free. Calliope, when you make the log cabins - one of my favorites to make - do you use all the same width strips or different widths? I have a lot of different widths. I suppose I could do a foundation-pieced string quilt with those, I've made one before. The only thing I won't do is purposefully wonky blocks of any kind, that drives me nuts.

I put mine in a new spot this year. We've usually buried it just outside the front door in a corner of the flowerbed. It's quite open, and in plain view. If any neighbours happened to be looking out the window, they probably were wondering what we were doing. Yesterday, I buried it in the beds beside the recycling and green bins. The ground isn't frozen this year. This morning when I went to uncover them, the little stones were moved around (I had marked the spot) and I couldn't find the money! Good heavens, did someone see the worked up dirt and took a look?? I did find the loonies, and eventually the toonie, but I was quite upset, it took a while and some more digging. I'm going back to doing the front flowerbed next year. They're safely with the other years' coins. I'm carrying them in my purse, perhaps to help out a fellow shopper who might be short, etc.