Chamblee's description of "Lover's Delite" is: "Found" Tea rose. Whatever it may be, "Lover's Delite" is not a Tea rose. I say that with 100 percent certainty. I bought the rose from Chamblees and have grown it for four years (unless I tossed it last year). I also grow 45 different varieties of Tea roses, more or less at any one time. A number are found roses. "Lover's Delite" has nothing in common with the Tea class. The color is not tea color, the bloom form is not a Tea form, the canes are not Tea canes, the foliage is not Tea foliage, the prickles are not Tea prickles, the growth habit is not Tea growth habit, and the scent is not Tea scent. Therefore, "Lover's Delite" is not a Tea. As for "information on the internet" sullying the reputations of growers... I did not originate the questions about the identity of "Lover's Delite." I did convey the above information to Chamblees by email years ago, well before it appeared "on the internet" other than on this forum. They never responded or acknowledged my email in any way. I am sure they are very busy and can't respond to every email they get. They do respect the study names given by the finder of a rose, and I applaud that. In the interest of accuracy, tho, I also believe it is unwise to call "Lover's Delite" a Tea rose when it so clearly is not. Once a rose has been identified, I also consider it imperative to mention the accepted name. The information from David Austin's USA operations is incomplete. You can confirm for yourselves that Fisherman's Friend can be bought at no fewer than 10 nurseries that supply the USA. Fisherman's Friend was listed with six different Northern American suppliers as long ago as the 1990 Combined Rose List: Heirloom Roses in Oregon, Hortico, Limberlost Roses, Pickerings, Rose Acres, and Yesterday's Rose. I do not suggest that Chamblees is trying to mislead anyone. I'm sure their hearts are pure. I am suggesting that anyone who buys this rose as a Tea rose should check the facts for themselves. That way they won't be surprised when they receive a violet purple pink, old-rose scented, muddled but old fashioned bloom on a plant with viciously thorny canes with both prickles and acicles and modern foliage that rusts. Chamblees won't be the first person to be fooled by Austin roses. Our heritage roses groups of knowledgeable, honest rosarians collected a lovely, quartered, highly scented, thorny, repeat blooming rose with Portland-like foliage from two different Gold Country locations, including on one old grave. We have almost certainly identified that rose as Gertrude Jekyll.

Hi Sis, good to hear from you. May I make a suggestion? I find it hard to keep track of who was who on Gardenweb, and I'm sure others do too. What I did was add previous screen names to my member page so that people can look it up and find out who I am. The long bios people used to have were deleted by the move to iVillage and most of us never bothered to replace them. But it is easy to add former screen names if you would like people to be able to remember who you were. Rosefolly

Nicki, nothing stays the same. Nothing at all. Everything is constantly undergoing change. First of all, you have got to clear your mind. Stop drinking or using anything for a crutch. Sit quietly and think about the person you want to be. Think about the steps you need to make to be that person. Start small. You have little girls and their minds are like a sponge. Find something you can teach them. Their appreciation and joy in new things will help you. Set aside time every day for them and some for yourself, but don't spend a lot of time worrying about whether other people like you or not, or hanging with people who will bring you down. Don't "party"...whatever that means. If you have to make new friends...then be on the look out for some that are the kind of people you want to be around. Take part in your daughters' activities at school, when work permits. If anyone brings you down...or is a bad influence on you...cut them loose. I had to do that, myself, in order to be at peace. There are always people who have nothing to do but sit around and drink and stir up trouble. I know you are a very pretty girl. I've seen your pictures. There is nothing attractive about a woman who drinks too much. You don't want your children to grow up and remember you as an alcoholic. It's a waste of precious time and money. Nicki, you can change, but you have to start taking care of yourself, and that means putting you and the girls first. It takes a little strength to do that, but it gets easier all the time.

Perhaps not for you, Tree. Here it has been a difficult six weeks. We have set record low temperatures as well as having overall temperatures 10-20 degrees below average for most of that time. We got something like 7' of snow in that a month and a half. Normally, I have an hour commute, and since I work part time, I stay home when the driving is bad since my commute can get to 2 hours or more. There were a couple of weeks that only went to work 1 day because every other day it was snowing. However, today for the first time since some time in December or perhaps late November, we woke to temperatures above freezing! While it was only 33 degrees, and densely foggy, it makes me hopeful. We have started mud season here. The front walk is finally draining, and driving the dirt roads feels a bit like dancing with the car sashaying in the soft mud. The farm truck delivering manure to the field got stuck yesterday, half in the road and half in the field. After an hour of trying various combinations it took a front end loader pushing from behind and a large truck pulling from the front to free it from the mud. The snow is no longer as high as the window sills in front of the house, so I have hopes that spring is finally on its way.