Peter- Wow. Sounds like you're getting into my head. Had some questions a while back about whether people only tended/tilled their rows, or tended/tilled their entire garden. I was thinking that it could be more cost/labor effective if you only tended rows year after year and let the aisles kind of be... with some sort of cover crop. Sounds like it can be done. I'm very interested in that. Is the white clover you mention, "dutch white clover"? When it creeps, will I be able to bring it under control when I till as normal for my fall/winter garden, and my spring/summer garden, or will I need to do additional spading/ edging of some sort then, and throughout the growing season? Can I plant it now, along with my winter garden? The book sounds interesting. I'm going to pick up a copy. Thanks for the clarification on the fact that, yes, I can grow hairy vetch and cereal rye now and still have organic matter to till in, in the early spring. Great news for me. I'm being thick headed here, but I'm still not understanding how the cereal rye affects seeds/seedlings. You say "cereal rye will suppress small seeded vegetables, but will not kill healthy transplants". Do you mean that ANY healthy transplant will not be harmed, and that only small seeds sown in place may have issues? Or do you mean by "small seeded vegetables", even transplants that are grown from small seeds can be affected? No till eh? I might be interested and your experiment suggestion is certainly something I'd be interested in trying. Do you think that even with the poor soil conditions that I have currently, it would be worth experimenting with that right now? Or, as I'm thinking maybe better to bring up my organic matter by tilling in pine bark fines, bring up my potassium levels with sulfate of potash (currently very low), add alfalfa meal to supply nitrogen needs, plant the garden, mulch with either shredded leaves or straw or hay.... Then next season try the no till part of the equation? Frankly, I'm just a little unsure about how the whole no till thing is going to work for me. Don't know a whole lot about it, but kind of thinking it might be better to do "next phase" because my soil is so poor. Please feel free to argue this to me, offer suggestions for no till on poor soil conditions viability. Do you (or anyone reading this) have a good source for cover crop seed? I was going to purchase from Johnny's selected seeds, but they are out of some of the varieties I was interested in.

Good Morning, Everyone! I'm sorry I didn't post earlier, it's been a long busy week! I posted my query over on the rose forum,like Ideefixee suggested and I did get more info there. But I tried here too, just incase :) No one knows your climate like your fellow neighbors :) Thank you, everyone, you've really been helpful to me in helping me with deciding if I should plant the David Austin roses. In my search on the internet I did find a family that grows and sells roses an hour from me. He and his staff are very knowledgeable for the best kind of roses for me and my climate, so I think this fall I'll take a trip on over :) I guess the family sells over 9,000 roses with 600 varieties! So I'll Definately find Something for my area!!! I'm a person who has to see it in person before I buy, so this'll be great. I've been guilty of buyers remorse at times because of big exspectation in my roses, then being let down :) Gardenguru, Thank you for the email addresses. I appriciate them very much! I certainly will email them. Anything to find some really nice roses! Thank you again, everyone! :) ~Amanda

If you have the one known as Chinese Ground Orchid, Bletilla striata, then it would be hardy for you, temperature wise. On the other hand, the Philippine Ground Orchid, Spathoglottis plicata, is strictly a tropical plant and it's doubtful if it would survive at temperatures below freezing. I grow Bletilla striata at several locations in my gar'den. with various amounts of sunlight and shade. Requires well drained soil or faces the danger of bulb rot. Voles love them and as a consequence, they need protection from the critters! If left undisturbed, they can form fairly large colonies in just a few years. I have heard that Spathoglottis plicata can be a very demanding plant. requiring high humidity and constant attention to supplying moisture. IMO, I think it is shameful and a sign of care-less management, that HD and other plant retailers, would purchase from a supplier that don't provide the Botanical binomial name, Hardiness and cultural information on their tags or pots.

nikthegreek, I am sorry. I try to translate what you have written with Google translator but I can not understand the question. Sorry to not speak English. I'm not sure what you're asking. Tell me that even if there have not sprouted roots of the rose variety the bush will grow its base with more shoots? Well, I do not know how to respond to this. My rose bushes quickly emit roots of the rose variety. The stems that come from the soil are not suckers, they do not leave the rootstock. They leave the rosewood variety. My pretension (because I like aesthetically and because neither my climate nor my soil I believe that make necessary to grow roses with rootstocks) is that, the base is wider. I aesthetically like a rose like that. If I had problems with my nematodes in my soil, or my frost was very deep, so as to specify some varieties of rose that grow in rootstocks ... Then I would consider this system. But is not the case. I can not find any reason to grow my roses in rootstocks (I repeat, with my climate and with my soil). On the contrary I am enthusiastic about the rose bushes with many stems from below and on the contrary I find horrible and artificial shrubs that all its structure leaves a single point on the ground. Also, I think they are more unstable when the wind blows. I do not know if I understood your question well. If not, I beg you to formulate it again. I will try to translate with Google .