lovelymornings: Mine arrived as a bare-root and I affectionately called it "The Sticks" because all I had were these little bare twigs. It quickly pushed out canes and bloomed a little in late summer of its first year! Despite having been damaged in its 2nd year by roofers, it has outgrown its support (eek) - bloomed like a madwoman all a-sprawl at first flush - and is busy shooting up new growth and has a few new blooms even though I did not deadhead at all! So don't despair - they really want to grow. I am no expert by any means, but I do concur with campanula and greenhaven. What zone are you in? If you have cold winters, my thought is that you may want to get her in the ground soon so that she has time to put down and establish her root system - but if it is very hot it may be best to do this in the cool of the evening, being extra-careful not to splash when watering in. Again, keeping in mind that this is not expert advice and only from my own experience. I water mine with a very slow trickle from the hose, just laid on the ground underneath, moving the position of the hose every few minutes, and watching carefully so as not to overwater.

I grew up in S. Jersey, went to college in Trenton and have tons of friends in N. Jersey. I live in MD, now. I do not think the climates are much different so I�m giving my 2 cents. N. Jersey is a little colder esp in the hilly west side. HT�s are difficult here for 2 reasons: disease and winter hardiness. BS and the wide swings in temps are the culprits. I do not winter protect (tried it, but was never successful) and spray every 4-6 weeks for BS. The only bug spray I use is Dawn dishwashing for the Japanese beetles. Here are my successes given my practices: Louis XiV Winter Sunset Ducher James Galway Alba Semiplena Sally Holmes Knock out Heritage Traviata Buff Beauty Field of Woods Madame de Sombreuil Fragrant Cloud cadenza Abraham Darby John Paul II winchester catherdral Crocus rose Europeana Ingrid Bergman Mary Rose The Squire Dame De Coeur I have about a dozen that are still under evaluation and gobs of failures.

Awwww, Klick, I am soooo glad you liked your box of pampering goodies! That file sponge is the kind that is for calluses on the feet. I picked one up for me and started using it and it works wonders! I have nearly gotten rid of all my rough patches from barefootin' this summer! LOL! Should have gotten one ages ago. My feet don't ache so much now! I may have worn it out already! I knew those cookies wouldn't last long! LOL! Whew! Glad I figured out how to pamper! Happy Bathing! I know how bad you want to take a good soaker! Had surgery on my wrist a few years ago and couldn't do the full shower thing for a while! That first one was a good long one after all the sponge washing! Phfltbtt! Back at you bunny! I seriously worried that I would blow it! I never do any of this stuff for me and haven't the faintest clue as how to go about it except for taking a break and talking to you guys! April, I am so sorry that she has Mono. I had it when I was 15. No, not from boys! Sharing drinks in highschool is what did it to me. All girl's highschool. My throat was totally miserable. I couldn't eat or drink anything. The doctor recommended Chloraseptic spray and it numbed my throat really well. I was finally able to have smoothies and slimfast after that. Becki, I meant to take my camera with me today! I keep forgetting to do that. I still have some desserts left so maybe I will put a little plate together tomorrow and snap a shot of it. The raspberry marble cheesecake was so yummy! The ginger cookies were a huge hit! The fruit platter looked really nice. The other stuff was pretty basic: brownies, chocolate chip cookies and plain cheesecake. We did 2 non-alcoholic punches, coffee and tea. The table looked really nice and the group was very happy with everything. All in all a good day. Got another booking yesterday for December 21st. This will be a company holiday luncheon. So things are going well. I am glad to hear that Lilly is feeling better! I think you are right about it being a virus. Fevers don't usually accompany bad food and the vomiting usually happens within 45 minutes or so of ingesting bad food. Trust me, I gave Ted bad turkey for lunch when he was 7. Within an hour of lunch he was hurling his brains out. Poor buddy!

How is everyone doing tonight? I had the nicest surprise from Becki today! I got to try some of her Mocha Truffles and OH BABY are they good! The inside was this phenomenal creamy chocolate with the perfect hint of coffee, the outside was the white chocolate with the light dusting of coffee. Oh was it awesome! The flavors all complimented each other perfectly! Becki, You amaze me! I remember you saying that you thought the crystals made it a little bitter but I think it was very good! Perfect! I am rationing them! LOL! I will only let myself have one if I am on my very best behaviour and get a lot of work done! I know what you are going through with the whole getting things to look perfect. I went through the same thing when I was baking pastries for a caterer a few years ago. It is going to come together with practice. The more you get the feel for the chocolate the better you will get at it! I promise. You certainly have nothing to fear in the taste department! Your truffles were amazing! When I was making creme brulee for the first time I was terrified of how the caramelized sugar would look after it was flamed! I tried it under the broiler, nope! That sucked! Took too long, reheated the custard, made soup out of it. Blech! Had to start from scratch all over again. Pulled out the blow torch and it worked great, I didn't like some of the scorch marks but since then I have seen some of the cooking shows with the professional chefs and their's looked the same as mine! LOL! Same deal with my cheesecakes. I do mine in the big sheets instead of the round springforms so I can have lots for a crowd with bite size portions. The cream cheese layer on top was always a problem getting it to smooth perfectly, finally I went to a restaurant supply store and bought a large offset spatulala and it was big enough to get that smooth finish all the way across the 15 x 17 pan. The other day I read an interview with the pastry chef on food network that does the cake show (can't remember his name right now) he said that the one hard and fast rule is to not bake when in a bad mood or frustrated because your desserts will show it! I thought truer words were never spoken! That has been so true for me! April, didn't you say that you had trained to be a pastry chef? Any helpful tricks of the trade that you remember for Becki? I have had similar issues with the chocolate coatings in the past and remember trying different things to get it to work better but not always consistent with the same results. I don't have a ton of experience in this area. I would love to make some Hemp lip balm with you! LOL! I am growing my hair out so I can look more like a hippie at the commune! Communal Kitchen and dining room with separate living quarters is perfect for me! Oh, and a giant great room off the dining room and kitchen for lots of comfort, crafts and gabbing! I would love to learn how to make some of those essential oils. Bath and Body Works makes this awesome Vanilla Oil that I would love to be able to make myself. I have the vanilla, just need to know what to do to make the essential oils! LOL!