OK, remember, you ASKED for it. Don't blame me when you're out of control like me :). SOUTH AFRICA..I know it's a flori, but it blooms nonstop. Ruffled, gorgeous yellow blooms that cover the bush in long sprays all summer It was in the back garden next to Dainty Bess. Great for cutting; lasts in the vase. PINK PEACE...huge, vivid pink blooms. RED INTUITION...this was on your list, remember? Order from Steve Singer @ Wisconsin Roses. CAMILLE PISARRO...a yellow creamy stripey. Love the coloration. Maybe add 'OUT OF AFRICA' for your MIL's garden since she wanted an orange? And pair it with some Tiki Torch coneflowers...you'd be glowing! That's a lot of orange. Enough enabling....I'm out of here. We have a date in the spring for you to come back to dig up some hostas, remember? -terry

Vase life of flowers that were sprayed with gypsum in the garden 48 hours before cutting-- I bring flowers to work out of water for 20 minutes and put them in plain water without recutting. I am just looking for 4-5 days worth, except from extraordinary keepers like Traviata. Jadis, a 4-5 day rose, lasted 6 days, and the Savoy Hotels are going strong in their 10th day, crisp as can be. Here is another abstract that got positive results, this time with calcium through the roots in fertigation. But it has to be done apart from other nutrients, so it doesn't seem applicable to the garden. "The main results and conclusions are: increasing the Ca concentration in the solution from 0.5 up to 5.0 mmol·lÂ1 increased Ca concentration in the flower organs. Susceptibility to B. cinerea decreased with increasing Ca concentration in the solution and was negatively correlated with Ca concentration in the diagnostic leaf and petal. Potassium and magnesium reduced Ca uptake by the rose flower, and increased its susceptibility to Botrytis flower blight." Here is a link that might be useful: calcium and Botrytis

Actually, Gorey wrote and illustrated many bizarre books, and his home is a museum on Cape Cod, I believe. I got Clare one of his books for Christmas a couple of years ago. It was about these strange children, and I think it was written in verse. It was called The Gashlycrumb Tinies. I talked to Clare a bit about your poems and book. She said getting them self published by Amazon's publishing company is easy. Then I forgot to get her to write down the details. But I think if you go on Amazon's website and hunt around, you'll find info on self publishing. I've seen the info many times. Clare was interested in the illustration idea, and I want to talk to her more about it. She's deep in a job right now, illustrating software on teaching children to read, and the publisher/editor who hired Clare keeps making the work more elaborate and changing things. Clare's stress level is building dealing with this person. Say....this thread is a great place to have private conversations I've noticed. Heehee. Maybe I should post a rose photo. Diane

ann beck 8a ruralish WA How does your soil look like, being high in iron? The top layer of my soil is black and rock hard clay, but the lowest layer is lighter color clay (orangish), and red roses do well here. Red roses like Double Delight & Munstead Wood both have a higher need for iron. I check the web, and it stated: "The most distinctive characteristic of an iron-rich soil is a ruddy orange or red color, though not all red soils are rich in iron. When the iron deposits in the soil oxidize, they turn a distinctive rust color that tints the soil red. " In early summer when the stems of cut-blooms are softer, they wilt easily if I use acidic rain. My cut-blooms always last longer in my alkaline tap water at pH 9, rather than acidic rain water. My tap water leaves whitish calcium and hard magnesium deposits on pots. We have hard well water, and our soil is high in dolomitic rocks (calcium plus magnesium). In the fall when the stems are harder, cut blooms can tolerate acidic rain water better with less wilting. Below are some recent cut blooms this Sept. 2022. Dark red are Munstead Wood, it's a constant bloomer as 8th-year own root, light pink is Princess Charlene d. Monaco (4th-year own-root), and whites are 12th-year own-root Mary Magdalene, lowest ruffled pink are Augusta Luis: The Dark Lady (red), Tchaikosky (light yellow), and Sweet Mademoiselle (salmon) are heavy bloomers this Sept. Tchaikosky is 4.5" across and Sweet M is 4". They are fertilized with biochar at pH 8.6 which supplies calcium and potassium for large blooms.