Dear Barbara, thank you very much ! As you know, unfortunately some hybrids (especially among vintages) change their colors or types of leaves as time goes by. For example, "Fire Bird" loses its frills, and glossy, wavy dark green leaves of "Delft Imperial" transform into flat and light green.... my "Skagit Masterpiece" has already lost white and become all violet (alas !). As far as I know, the changed ones never revert to original type anymore, even through the propagation from leaves. When I can find some nursery which still has the original one, I'll let you know ! Anyway, it's good to imagine how each hybridizer created each violet with love and inspiration, and the authentic description must be indispensable for it. Thank you again, Barbara ! tomino

Hello, Christopher, and welcome. It's good to finally hear from you. I was also a lurker for quite some time before I had to courage to utter anything. I have two of the roses you've ordered, Sophie's Perpetual and Mme. Dore. The former is a bit fragile for the heat here in Southern California but Mme. Dore is a beauty, with very good rebloom. I think you've picked very suitable roses for your area and wish you much joy with them. Diane, I added ORG Renae to my order of Marjorie Palmer and Leveson-Gower and am glad to say that all three have been confirmed. I'm hoping to add another rose to my order from the second part of the fall offer that should be available later this month, since shipping for four roses is the same as fewer. Oh well, I did say some time ago that I was done ordering roses....... Ingrid

Now you will note the similarity in the names of the last two entries, Joe Labrea, and Kate's husband Joe. I was trying to call Joe L. because I wanted to send him some of the chocolate he shared with me after taking Carolina and I all over New York City. There was a number in my notebook that simply said Joe's Cell. I called it and gradually figured out that I was talking to Joe Musso and we had a few laughs and then I told him the chocolate was for Labrea and he said "so no Chocolate?" and I said no rather sternly and then felt bad because he'd been so charming and Leonidis was having their anniversary sale and Heck I was on a roll so I sent him a box. Never heard from him and suddenly "outta the blue" a GC from Vintage arrives in my mailbox. And that is the storey of how I atoned for my boorish behavior, Joe got chocolate and Kate is the Lady Bountiful casting roses on our delighted heads. I conced to being a danger but I go arm in arm with our Kate. Joe I would put that fudge in the fridge, when it arrives,to let it firm up as I don't know what the PO has put it through.It was mailed Monday. love, la

mytime, Sorry to not follow up. Gardenweb was not forwarding responses to this post (and for a while all my posts) so I was not aware that anyone had responded to it. I had some bad luck propagating earlier this year and then got sidetracked. Fuchsia boliviana Alba cuttings started to root but some sort of fungus caused problems and killed them. The Correa cuttings I first tried did not root. I will start some new ones now, with bottom heat (which I did not use before). Pretty commonly even without bottom heat factored in a lot of plants propagate poorly in winter. So we'll see. I started a bunch of Deppea cuttings a week ago. That plant had some bug problems earlier in the year and I was reluctant to take a lot of cuttings until it fully recovered. I may or may not start new cuttings of the F. boliviana Alba soon; I'm not sure where that ranks on the list of things that I need/want to propagate. However, that plant has done really well and should produce a steady crop of berries in the near future. Here's a photo of the plant from about 10 days ago: And here's a closeup of the berries on one inflorescence: I find it amusing how the berries get long, and then get fat. So mytime, maybe I should contact you when things start to root. As far as the berries, I might try one batch of seeds, but in general I don't have a use for them. I guess I could eat them... If anyone wants a berry for postage (then they can clean out the seeds) I can send one for postage. They can get a bit soft when ripe, and the berry may end up smushed. I'm guessing that's not a problem. Andrea, thanks for the propagation advice. I do enjoy trying to see how many cuttings I can get from limited material. I didn't realize the stems can be split like that. If the seeds are easy, maybe I'll try some. I generally don't like growing things from tiny seeds, especially if they are easy to root. However I've never tried Fuchsias. I see the Fuchsia forum has no exchange site, so I'll mention it here. I'm looking for the variegated F. procumbens, which I believe goes by the name 'Mary Miller'. In trade, I have a lot of things, but only a few Fuchsias and none of them propagated at the moment. The other Fuchsias I have are the regular procumbens, denticulata, 'First Success' (F. paniculata x F. splendens'), F. x baccillaris and of course F. boliviana Alba. I may have access to F. splendens as well; my old plant went to a friends house in the area. Perhaps I'll try start a F. procumbens thread when my new F. procumbens opens another flower and repeat the question about the variegated cultivar. I thought I'd mention that an interesting source I've found locally for small inexpensive plants is Lone Pine Gardens, which is a wholesaler for succulents and bonsai plants. Their little Fuchsias are just a few dollars, and are often found in the bonsai section of nurseries (in N. California at least). I got 'First Success', procumbens, and x bacillaris from them. The plant on the right, of course, is Fuchsia 'First Success', which seems to be a really nice hybrid.