Since Dennis Wetzel was added to the staff at the Center for Historic Plants at Tufton, the Noisettes have been looking much better. They are both bigger and healthier, in spite of the Easter Freeze of 2007 and problems with Rose Rosette Disease. I grow noisettes at an elevation of 1100' and have kept them going happily without any winter protection at temps down to -5F (so far). But I don't overfertilize them because I know they are not HTs and they don't want to be forced to put on lots of new growth in fall. Lori, thanks for the news of Ben Lommond. It was because of an initial question on Gardenweb, that we helped them figure out their problem was RRD and that got Virginia Tech to become well informed on the disease. I'm sorry to hear that it's still a problem there. They were loosing a really wonderful plant of Souv. de la Malmaison to RRD the last time DH and I were there, and it was on other roses as well.

If you come through Spartanburg, check out Hatcher Garden & Woodland Preserve. It's not that big, so it doesn't take that long to tour, but has several picnic areas, so is a nice place to have lunch and only 2 miles off I-26 after taking I-26-East off I-85 (Follow I26-East about 5miles to the 3rd exit, Reidville Rd., S.C. 296), then you turn left, and it's 2.2 miles on the left. If you're taking 85 to Clemson, anyway, I see no reason to not make the little sidetrip and see where I spend some time volunteering. The only sad part is the streams aren't running right now as they're doing some water-garden renovation over the winter and I had a tour there Sunday and it looked nowhere near finished, but it's still nice, with winter jasmine, winter honeysuckle, Peggy Clarke flowering apricot and witch hazel all in bloom there right now (all four of those are in bloom in my yard, only about a 1.5 miles from Hatcher, right now, too, but only one of the four came from there, lol). I'll post the link to make it easier, if you're interested. Hope you enjoy your trip! Jeff Here is a link that might be useful: Hatcher Garden & Woodland Preserve

I would agree with the others for sure, Brookgreen, Middleton and Magnolia plantations are a must see. Also, if you decide on a daytrip to Charleston, try to spend a little time in the historic district along the Battery. The gardens with many of the historic homes is well worth your time as well as the beautiful architecture and antiques. You can find good information on the ones that are open for visitors and other local attractions at the Charleston Visitors Center. Enjoy the vacation, it's a perfect time of year to hit the SC coast for some spring relaxation!!

I don't know about forming a club, per se, but wouldn't mind getting together to meet sometime. I've been a member of the National Home Gardening Club for a long time and those of us in SC who use their bulletin board online try to meet at Park Seed in Greenwood in late June when they have the Festival of Flowers. We didn't meet last year because it was 100F that weekend. But we communicate online year round. There are 3 or 4 of us. Used to be 8 or 10. I'm not big into trading plants or saving seeds, but I don't mind sharing the end product if I have extra. Mostly veggies right now. Branching out into fruit trees. Will be a while before they start producing. I've got 8 acres, and a good bit of that is in fruit trees and/or veggie garden plots. I think around 100 fruit trees now and about 1/2 acre in veggie garden. I try to grow unusual veggies for a home gardener that you can't get at the grocery store or produce stand, but I do like the standards as well. I get 200 sweetpotato slips every year to plant and end up with closer to 300. I like yellow squash and zucchini. I've tried patty pan squash, but I don't care for them, so I'll not be doing them again. Green beans a couple times a year. Corn was spectacular last year, so I've expanded a plot so I can double what I had last summer. I have greens growing right now - collards, kale, rutabagas, turnips. I don't like them to get big like you find in late December. Mine are about as big as my hand spread out right now, so a little bigger and they'll be perfect. I'm trying to get back into canning. I used to can a lot in Salem, but I moved and lived in a cracker box for a while and didn't have room. Now I built a bigger house and use the cracker box as the summer kitchen and there's plenty of room to can out there and store things. The last year has been about jams and jellies and pickled things. Lots of peach and blueberry things last summer. Hopefully lots of veggies and cucumber pickles next summer. Chow chow in the fall. etc. Folks at work love fresh veggies and I bring things in to sell cheap. There is no profit overall, though individually, crop by crop, there are some obvious profits. 50 cents per pound for tomatoes and squash because they're easier to pick. $1 per pound for okra. $2 per pound for snow peas. $1 per grocery bag of greens. etc. There is another person at the office that also brings in veggies and we kind of work together to set prices so we don't disagree when we bring in different things on different days. Plus we trade things between ourselves as well as we have things that the other one wants. She has chickens, so lots of fresh eggs. I'm not crazy about them, but I won't turn them down. She has duck eggs occasionally. I really don't care for those, but they're not terrible. I've been collecting (I guess you could say) tractors since 1998 to help with my gardening/farming efforts. Ford Jubilee NAA was the first, and it doesn't run any more. Then came a Massey Ferguson Model 65 (1960, I was told it was 55 HP, but think it's really 45 HP) that works great to till and bush hog. Then came a 2005 Kubota B7500 (26 HP diesel) with a belly mower that I bought used. It's awesome. Last summer, I bought two used John Deere 870's (28HP) - one with turf tires and a belly mower, one with ag tires, both with hard canopies. I use the one with ag tires to do the cultivation of row crops and other utility tasks like scraping the driveway. I had been saving a while for a new mid size and found these on Craig's List and couldn't resist. Plus, I have a Craftsman 26HP GS6500(?) that I bought from someone with the sleeve hitch on the rear for plows and things. It's neat for pulling a 4x8 wagon around and mowing grass, but it doesn't run right now either. Tires are flat, won't crank. Just sad. :-) All in all, it's too much, but I like to have fun and also to have the right tool for the job, and I think I have them now. If I only understood more about engines and things, I'd be better off. That's why I have a real job at Clemson to support my hobby at home. :-) This post was edited by chrisb_sc_z7 on Tue, Dec 4, 12 at 8:57