Kenny, wow, you sure go to great lengths to get your plants! Do you have the plants inspected in Visalia or at your parent's place? What other roses are you getting? You must be getting some of those persica hybrids? It would be such interesting material to work with in hybridizing. Of the nurseries you mention: I think 1000 Islands is new, because I saw them advertise for the first time in the last issue of our rose society's magazine. Tuincentrum Lottum is in the centre of the largest rose production area in the Netherlands. Many plants are produced there, not only for sale in the Netherlands but also in other EU countries. According to their price list (which is from 2006) they are very cheap and you can get new roses (like Austins) from them quite quickly after they are introduced. I have not ordered from them yet, because I only found out about their website this winter. I think I will order from them soon, just to check out. This year I have ordered from De Bierkreek (dutch), Lens Roses (belgian) and Schultheis (german). De Bierkreek has some cooperation with Ashdown roses, and gets North American varieties that other European nurseries do not yet offer. They also have a lot of Fryer roses. Rosiegirl, To import roses into the Netherlands we do not require an import license. We are required to have a phytosanitary certificate from the country of export accompany the plants and to have them inspected on arrival at one of the official border points-of-entry in the Netherlands. To import plants into the Netherlands the easiest thing to do is arrange the import through a company that is registered with the Plant Protection Service and has a licensed inspection post. That company has to inform an official Inspection Body of the import and arrange an import inspection. During inspection the plant health inspector checks the required phytosanitary certificate from the country of export, the identity of the plants and whether the plants are free from regulated harmful organisms. When everything is OK, the plants can proceed through customs import procedures and are then allowed free movement inside the European Union. We do not have quarantaine procedures after that, like you do in the US. Rob

I grow it in a 5 gallon pot since June '06 when I got it from the Uncommon Rose. It doesn't get more than 3 feet tall, but mine is a relatively healthy plant. No disease problems here, which is unusual in my foggy coastal climate. Bloom cycles however are way longer than average -- something like 10 or 12 weeks between flushes, and the buds take a full month to open from when they first show color. That's because they have so much substance that if you were blindfolded, you could not tell the difference between the edge of a petal and the edge of a credit card. The pics may look fluffy, but there's nothing fluffy about this rose. It feels like hard plastic when fully open. And they do last quite a while when open, both on the plant and in a vase. Probably a month. To get blooms, the plant must be in full sun. But, to get the best pink color, after the buds just start to show color, I move the whole pot into the shade. Otherwise the outer petals die before the inner petals are open, and the color fades to very light cream. It's not really a balling phenomenom, but the blooms just take so darn long to open that you have to protect them to get the best effect. So, yes, it's a novelty rose. But I LIKE novelties and I like this one. When you put a good one in a vase, nobody (including most rosarians) believes it is really a rose. The foliage gives it away, but the bloom is Unique. Now I'd like to find someone selling its compadre, Most Unusual Day, which is similar in substance but has less petals and more color. HMF says Burlington Roses has it, but it's not on her list now. Kathy

I had to read this twice. Looks like from the second post that the OP did not encourage the family to attend the wedding - the 'adult' part of her simply decided not to push the issue and agreed not to attend, herself. Dirtunder, are you upset by the events, or are you upset by the silence? Sometimes the elephant in the room left undiscussed is far more painful then the event itself. At any rate, we all benefit by setting emotions aside and by learning how to talk to our families about what upsets us. BTW, is anyone talking about the fact that brother is an alcoholic and had (has) sexual boundary issues? This seems like a forest through the trees topic to me.

Plectrudis (viridiflora), I am surprised that you were told it wouldn't do well in the heat. Ralph who bred this rose lived about 45 miles south of me. While I am a tad bit hotter than he was in the summer, our temps are still like the surface of the sun on a summer day. That goes on for weeks on end and it may cool off at night to the 80's or so for about three seconds (give or take). Right now, mid February it is 80 degrees here! A bit unusual but seems to be the trend for the past couple of years. I had to wait about 6--9 months to get my rose on its own root from Burling. I then had it in a pot for over another year before I finally put it in the ground. It wasn't much more than three twigs at that point. I am glad that Burling told me it takes a very long time to develop on its own root. It has been in the ground for a year now. It is about a foot to a foot and a half tall. Slow is the operative word but I am still glad to be blessed with three of them. Here's hoping they will double in size this year. Third year, they should start to leap (keeping fingers crossed). Also, since the flowers last so long on the "bush", it is rarely without flowers even in our heat. Flowers in the heat last about a week and when it is cooler, about two weeks. A long time for a rose bush. I am glad to know there are others who want and like this unusual rose.