I don't care about her sense of humor. That's a matter of taste. What exactly is her claim? That corn meal protects plants from black spots during weather where there's no blackspot pressure? What is that, anyway....blackspot? Cercorspora? Do we even know? She said she never had it anyway because horse manure's potassium prevents it. That the average temperature in Chicago is -30? Someone else already posted the correction to that statement in another thread. That plants are constipated? Well, I you got me on that one. I don't regularly check for healthy rose stools in my garden. ZING!! That magnesium softens hard seed covers which is why her Radio Times went droopy in a vase? I can't even begin on that one..... Eyes Degeneration? Planting roses in the shade? You're right Mike. That's all it is......funny.

Kordes roses are very healthy ... I see Kordes Flower-Carpet series perform best in both dry and wet weather. Here's an excerpt from below link how how hardy & no-spray Kordes roses are for cold-zones: http://www.denverrosesociety.org/education/Kordes_Roses.pdf The ADR is both one of the highest awards a rose variety can attain, and one of the most severe trials for roses worldwide. It is a three year evaluation of new varieties in 11 locations throughout Germany. The plants are given no protection in this challenging Northern European climate. No plant protection sprays are used. Of the 102 varieties which have received this designation since 2000, 42 were bred by Kordes. Fairy Tale™ Roses are Kordes’ answer to David Austin. Among them are: Cinderella Fairy Tale™ 2003 Healthy foliage; light-pink, abundant, very full flowers; excellent for hedges/ Grimm Brothers Fairy Tale™ 2002 ADR; healthy foliage; brilliant, very double, orange/apricot flowers with a yellow reverse; blooms in clusters; slight fragrance; Lions Fairy Tale™ 2002 ADR; vigorous, glossy, extremely healthy foliage; upright and elegant plant; cream white flowers age to apricot/pink; slight fragrance; Pomponella Fairy tale™ 2006 ADR; vigorous, healthy foliage; proliferate bloomer; dark pink, round buds open to cupped blooms borne in clusters; species rose scent; Vigorosa Roses are a group of vigorous, continuous-blooming, healthy, landscape and ground cover roses in a range of vibrant colors. Fragrances are slight. The catalog lists Apricot, Fortuna (pink), Toscana (raspberry red), Salmon, Ruby, Innocencia (white), and Sweet (crimson pink). Frilly Toscana looks especially interesting. Climbing Max is a collection of the most beautiful and disease resistant climbers recently created by Kordes. They are: Kordes Aloha/Aloha Hawaii™ 2003 Very double blooms of apricot, orange, pink and red come in trusses of up to ten blooms with a delicate, fruity fragrance. Amadeus™ 2003 Classic, brilliant, blood red blooms come continually in trusses of 5 to 7 with a slight fragrance. Gold Medals from The Hague, Lyon and Geneva. Kordes Golden Gate™ 2006 ADR; Double, golden yellow blooms come in trusses of 5 to 10 with intense fresh citrus scent. Prix de Parfum winner, Paris. Jasmina™ 2005 ADR; has an abundance of violet-pink flowers with a rich, sweet fragrance. Laguna™ 2004 ADR; has deep pink, very double old-fashioned blooms with intense fruity fragrance. Kordes Moonlight™ 2004 Semi-double, copper-yellow blooms in clusters of 4 to 6 have rich fragrance. Rosanna™ 2002 Brilliant, double, salmon-pink climber with deeply cupped blooms that come in large trusses. Slight fragrance. Gold Medals from The Hague, Lyon and Geneva. Veranda™ Roses, also known as the Flower Circus series, are a group of compact floribundas for gardeners with limited space. The plants of this series range between 2 and 3 feet when mature, making them perfect for small spaces and patio containers. All have slight fragrance. Flower sizes appear to be those of large mini-floras. Balconia™ Roses are low-growing, trailing plants, ideal for hanging baskets and planters placed on walls. All of them have a uniform spreading habit, appealing blooms in interesting colors, abundant one-inch flowers borne in clusters with good repeat, and abundant semi-glossy to glossy foliage. Besides Raspberry, the plants come in white (Innocencia), salmon/pink (Electric), Hot Pink, Apricot and red (Toscana). Fruitilia™ Roses do double duty. In addition to lovely garden blooms in the summer, these varieties will produce sprays of rose hips for fall and winter cutting. The hips vary in size and color from plant to plant. All of the Fruitilias are productive and easy to maintain with a long vase life, and are available in a choice of colors including coffee, orange and red. Freelander™ Roses are cutting garden roses, bred for a long vase life. Fragrances are moderate to strong. Some of these are: Caramel Antique Freelander™ is a large-flowered, elegant, buff-yellow variety with a vase life of 12 days. Cinderella Freelander™ is a moderately fragrant. Abundant, glossy foliage, good fragrance, and a vase life of 8 to 10 days. Corrie Freelander™ is a relatively carefree plant with spectacular hot pink blooms carried on long stems. Vase life is 12 days. Fantasia Mondiale Freelander™ produces large, double, apricot/pink blooms on long stems with semi-glossy abundant foliage. Vase life is 10 days. Ice Girl Freelander™ is a vigorous, white rose that is extremely weather-resistant. Has intense fragrance, hybrid tea form and a vase life of 6 to 8 days. Magma Freelander™ is one of the leading cut roses in European markets. It is an eye-catching yellow/red bi-color with hybrid tea form and a vase life of two weeks. The Kordes Hybrid Teas listed below are both beautiful and healthy. Berolina 1986 This rose is hardy and robust enough to survive almost total neglect on our back fence. It has long-lasting, high-centered, lemon-yellow blooms with a slight red blush. Beverly 2007 This is a recent Kordes release, and is on the Macon wish list. The color is a luscious mix of several shades of pink, and the centers are high. Its intense, fruity fragrance won the Perfume Award at Baden-Baden in 2008. Grand Amore 2004 ADR. This Gold Medal winner has been in my garden for two years, and is already a favorite. It is a very vigorous, hardy plant that produces large, high-centered, bright red, non-fading flowers contrasted with dark green foliage on long stems that just beg to be cut. La Perla 2008 This rose is for you if you aren’t interested in showing all of your hybrid teas, but want a vigorous, hardy, gorgeously old-fashioned rose. Parole/Buxom Beauty 2001 Depending on where you order this rose, it will be called one name or another. It really is a buxom beauty, and a true show rose. The large, deep-pink blooms with a burgundy edge are consistently high-centered. The plant is very disease resistant and has shiny green leaves, long stems, exceptional hardiness and vigor. To complete this prize package, its rich, intense scent won Perfume Awards in Madrid and Nantes. From Steve Singer at Wisconsin Roses, budded on multiflora. Valencia 1989 This rose is a high-centered, very large-flowered, apricot show rose. It is also a true garden classic, being very showy in the front of a border, as it is not a tall plant. Mine is on its own roots and has been totally hardy and floriferous for 10 years. Winner of the Henry Edland Medal for fragrance. If you are growing roses along Colorado’s front range, chances are there is already a Kordes rose or two in your garden. Mine include floribundas Nicole, Iceberg (Schneewittchen), Sunsprite (Friesia) and Gold Marie; climbers Summerwine, Rosarium Uetersen, Ilse Krohn and Dortmund; Red Ribbons (Mainaufeuer) shrublet; grandiflora Vera Johns; and hybrid teas Bride’s Dream, Folklore, Helen Naude, Liebeszauber and Sandra. All are hardy and disease resistant. Credit for this article goes to Palatine Roses, which supplied the literature. Carol Macon, Consulting Rosarian" http://www.denverrosesociety.org/education/Kordes_Roses.pdf

Great info in this old post...I'm enjoying the post @User linked to too. This section was interesting to me about weeds/grasses near the plants for the first year or two: "Beware the quick fix. To make a clay soil into a really good soil takes time, and if a bit of effort is put in (but not necessarily a whopping huge effort) then that's great. Your friends are all the vegetable scraps that you can find, and all the leaves from deciduous trees that fall your way; lawn clippings that neighbours don't want; manure from pet rabbits or wild, untamed guinea pigs who have broken from their cages and are terrorising the neighbourhood. And when stuff grows (even weeds and grasses that you don't want), the worms will embrace their roots as you have found. So, weeds in the beginning stages are good." I've been reading about how soil life does well with a variety of roots/nutrients to work with. Makes sense. Also Straw, great info on layering. I've been wondering how to ammend dense clay form the top only (without tilling and digging up all the roses in it)....and trying to figure out if layering lots of organic matter with gravel or some kind of small/medium size gravel spread evenly in the layers, would eventually pull it down and break up the clay. Would probably take decades but I have noticed that the biggest rose I've grown this year, out of about 40, is the Westerland planted in a LOT of organic matter (woodchips, compost) and gravel/limestone leftover from pool construction. It's giant. I think it's happier because it's roots can breath better than my beds in less amended soil that I built just this Spring. It's hard for me to tell exactly, but from the tests I've done on my indoor plants (all tropicals and succulents)....lots of grit, with nutritious organic matter or fertilizer = more airflow at the roots and bigger, but most important, healthier plants. Less chance of rot or disease. I can't imagine this not being the same for roses and other plants in the ground.

Carol: I thought about your daughter (Holly) when I researched on iodine. I haven't heard from you, how are you doing? Some info. from the other thread, which I re-post here: http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4387687/worthy-roses-that-give-useful-products-and-recipes-for-health-and-sleep?n=12 According to Wikipedia: "Iodine is needed DAILY by the body for production of oxytocin. This hormone is the "love" hormone .. See Oxytocin Infusion Reduces Repetitive Behaviors in Adults with Autistic and Asperger's Disorders in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. However, iodine competes with the other halogens (such as fluorine, chlorine, bromine) for absorption and adding iodine to table salt would have severely impaired its absorption as it lost out to chlorine in the salt. The situation has been made worse in recent years because many people are subjected to high levels of fluoride because of their water supply or because of dental treatments; bromine was routinely used in bread making and also as a fire retardant . Interest in iodine was re-awoken in 1993, when Gent demonstrated that 5mg a day of iodine is highly effective in the treatment of fibrocystic disease of the breast. A study in Japan showed that the average daily intake of iodine was 13.8mg (because of their high intake of seafood) and the Japanese have the lowest incidence of breast cancer in developed nations. Absorption of iodine is enhanced by vitamin C 3 grams daily. The clinical observations Abraham has made are: 1. The excretion of mercury, lead, cadmium, aluminium, fluoride and bromine is hugely increased. 2. There is increased well being and energy levels with lessening brain fog. 3. Patients feel warmer, they seem to need less sleep, their bowel action becomes more regular and their skin complexion improves. Symptoms of iodine deficiency also include high cholesterol, hypochlorhydria (lack of stomach acid for digestion)." Wikipedia. *** I had just solved my family's problem (cholesterol & hypochlohydria) with Wikipedia info !!