I take all of your cautions about Morning Glories to heart, and I won't plant them so that they actually use the roses as trellises, but I do think that those of you who rail against them are thinking of the perennial version and not the annual versions that are available. I am well aware of the shed or house-eating qualities of the perennial Morning Glory; I planted one because I wanted it to hide an ugly shed, and it does a pretty good job of that. But the annuals are....just that....annuals which die back (at least here in Zone 9), and occasionally (only occasionally) reseed and even then only minimally. To get MG's to do well here I have to start them indoors because they like more heat than we get. Still, I do think you are all right that they would be too big and too heavy and block too much air if planted as a true companion to roses, and so....I'm just not gonna do it. Gee, it's so much fun to have been able to log on at all that I'm just going on and on.... Susan

Thanks Anita. What a great job Judy does as editor. Michael and I love the DVD. Here's to another lovely year in the garden.

So, I looked up Himalayan blackberries, and that is definitely the blackberry I grew up with, which is naturalized all around here (coastal Northern Calif). Grows in vacant lots, untended back yards, roadsides, next to RR tracks, etc. Makes very good berries in the Fall, and you can see lots of folks harvesting them all over then. I was a little surprised to read your description, John. Perhaps it spreads so fast in TN (50 feet across from one twig!) because you get summer rain, while we get NONE, nadda, zero rain for 6-7 months in the summer? I am not aware that it spreads quite that fast here. Most of the "blackberry patches" I am aware of around here mostly stay where they have been for years. Of course, the VG rose beds are irrigated, so that would make it worse. There was a house on our street which was vacant for 7 years. There was a blackberry thicket in its back yard (which I helped the new owner get rid of), but even in our warmer climate, it was only about 10 feet by 3 feet, after 7 years of neglect of that garden. Of course I realize it can and does eat roses, and has undoubtedly eaten a large area of the old Vintage Garden property and roses. I just wanted to tell you my experience with it, so folks do not think it is IMPOSSIBLE to get rid of, and that therefor the situation is hopeless. . (It probably IS impossible to "contain" - you have to declare total war on it - I agree you cannot keep it as a pet). My new neighbor and I got rid of her backyard patch in about 2 days of work, working maybe 2-3 hours each day. The patch turned out to have eaten 2 very old plants of 'Cl Caroline Testout', which is why we tackled it in the first place. (My neighbor thought the roses growing out of it were part of the patch - I had to explain that although blackberries are related to roses, their canes do not actually produce rose flowers.). We dug up the roots as well as we could. That was 15 years ago, and the blackberries have not come back. Of course, in her garden and in mine, tiny 2-3 inch high (we call them "thorned blackberries" to differentiate them from the thornless ones which also grow around here) blackberry sprouts do come up in the lawns, beds, etc. Each time we see any, we pull them up, and we keep an eye out for them, just as we do for poison oak sprouts (which you cannot just pull up, of course, without gloves). Sorry for the long digression, but I wanted to make sure that folks understand that the situation in Vintage Gardens old rose collection is URGENT, and must be dealt with, but it is not fatal, and it is not impossible to deal with. Will just take a lot of manual labor, to make sure the roses are rescued. The roses which were eaten by the blackberries in my neighbor's garden were not killed, and re-bounded quite quickly after we freed them from their unwanted friends. Jackie

i am in Texas but have fumed about this almost making myself sick. What I would say to those who destroyed such beauty would probably get me jailed. I dont know who did this......but would love to know where to write each one personally, if anyone can provide me with the information. Wont of course do any good, but just knowing I made my voice heard would make me feel better. I dont know about Tom Liggett or what he did or what part he played in this. I just cannot imagine what the "city staff" is doing with their time that they feel destroying a city landmark with such dedicated hatred is doing anything positive for Sacramento. Arent there problems to solve that are of greater importance than this? If any of these scumbags are elected officials, I hope there is a campaign to get them soundly beaten at the next election. Am so sorry I was not able to see this landmark in all its blooming glory; have loved looking at the photos over the year, at least that remains.