The event is in Carlsbad across from the Flower Fields. Over 300 different roses will be available. Click on the link for a list of all roses and the 2-day schedule. We'd love to have you. Bring a friend! If you can't make it, you can place bids online and we can ship or hold for pick-up. Here is a link that might be useful: Save the Roses! Auction

Beth, I noticed an outbreak of similarly coloured petunias appearing all over the UK (gold and maroon) which caused me to literally avert my eyes on walking past. As a rule, I am a lover of bright colours (no beige in my house or wardrobe) but am strictly old school when it comes to roses - white or pink (or palest yellow at a pinch). Course, that does not apply to the dahlia beds, nor the many rows of cutting gladioli or luridly coloured annuals (apart from said petunias) in my allotment. Particularly enjoying a combo of orange, purple, deep red and acid green.......just not in the roses. And yeah, striped roses, not even pink and white, really do it for me but I was agog at the variety available in the US.

My camera is an old Nikon Coolpix S10 point and shoot that I got on Ebay after my old one died and Nikon had stopped making the model I wanted, or anything comparable. Think I got for $50, but you have to watch EBay for one to come available at that price. The thing that makes it good for rose photos (or anything close up) is the long optical zoom length. Digital zoom is nowhere near as good, which is why the newer Coolpix cameras are less good. The new cameras -- Coolpix included -- all favor flatness of the camera body over the quality of the pictures. This one, with the lens that rotates out, can do 10X OPTICAL (not digital) zoom, because there is space in the camera body for that much lense length with the lens rotated out. I hope this camera never dies on me, because I love it. Here is a link that might be useful: This camera, but this guy wants too much for it.

Well then look for us next year -- same time, same place. We had a few internet bidders, but mostly it was locals, and, as expected, we had more roses than bidders. So there were some great deals to be had. I was "bottom fishing," (i.e. searching for those rarities that didn't get much bidding attention from anyone else) and ended up spending only a total of $80 for ten roses, all for interesting varieties that are mostly new to me. But now I have them and will post photos as they bloom. I got roses that run the gamut: Ain't She Sweet -- Joe Winchel's hot pink hybrid tea from the same line that produced the rose "Dolly Parton." Beauty Within -- a new J & P yellow floribunda. introduction that won "best floribunda" at the International Rose Trial at Rose Hills just last month. Bukavu -- a Louis Lens hybrid musk that has been winning at rose shows recently. Honorine de Brabant -- a striped OGR bourbon for my stripey collection. Merveille des Rouges -- a red polyantha. New Orleans -- a brand new shrub introduction from Heirlooms this year that I'm excited about. Robert Clements -- an Heirlooms old classic that has many good reports, but I've never seen this orange shrub in person. Schubert -- a mauve shrub that grows like a polyantha Summer Fashion -- a pastel yellow and pink floribunda I used to grow and remember liking. Vif Eclat -- a red hybrid musk, which I bought because hybrid musks are usually pink and white, so this seemed very unusual. Again, I'll post pics when I have them of these, and we hope to see you next year. Btw, Connie was correct -- we don't ship for free, but rather at "our cost," which mean you pay for shipping, but only the actual cost of postage and supplies, nothing for our labor and no markups of any kind. Kathy