Just to add a bit of confusion to the discussion about the "evergreens". :oP The only real "evergreen" Rose I have in my garden is 'Cooper's Burmese'(don't loose one leaf, and leaves are always green, without changing to red or maroon green), which is related to R. laevigata. R. laevigata herself is reported to be not hardy in England, so I suspect she don't withstand persistant temperatures lower than -6/8 °C in a location without summer heat (this also is important, I think, not only winter temperatures). Both Banksiae (Rosa banksiae in all her forms, R. fortuneana) and Bracteatae (R. bracteata, 'Mermaid', 'Maria Leonida') aren't evergreen, at all in my Zone 9b/10a garden (min. winter temperatures never below 0 °C, approx. 4-5 °C). Banksias are almost deciduous, Bracteatas "semi-evergreen" (they always loose the oldest half of their leaves). Wichurana and Sempervirens Hybrids are the most beautiful ramblers here. Multifloras cannot compete. These rambling beauties are almost evergreen. 'Félicité et Pérpétue', 'Spectabilis' are avergreen in my garden. Wichuranas obviousely are, too. But if some are at their best when it's hot, others dislike to flower under my strong sun. 'Albéric Barbier' is the widely cultivated rambling rose in Sardinia. It's so easy to root cuttings, so vigorous and strong (don't care to be completely neglect), that almost every white rose you can see here climbing on a wall or fence, is the lovely Albéric. And it's absolutely evergreen here. 'Albértine' is pretty, pretty, pretty. Just a little thick and stiff grower than Albéric. The flowers are gorgeous in their lovely shades of light pink and salmon, and the fragrance very good indeed. 'Paul Transon'/'Paul Noel' bloom late in may, and suffer under the hot sun. It's better in a semi-shaded are, where the flowers are bigger and long-lived. 'François Juranville' is amazingly beautiful in full flower, and almost thornless. The little, shiny leaves looks pretty good. 'Breeze Hill'is another must to have. Flowers are bigger than any other Wichurana, in an unusual shade of white/buff . The plant is buchy and prickly, good as a freestanding bush. There are many other beautiful Wichuranas, Ingrid. What about 'Alexandre Tremouillet', 'La Perle', 'May Queen', 'Mme Alice Garnier', 'Léontine Gervais'.... ;o)? Ciao! Maurizio

I'm coming in late to this thread, but here's a few photos. You can click on the photos to see more at my photobucket album. Master bath with natural-cleft quartzite floors More master bath - the missus' makeup area. I made the little jewelry cabinet on the counter. Den (Scherr's cabinets, finished and installed by me) Living room/music room (tile is tarvertine with copper accents in a pinwheel pattern) Swimming pool (my daughter walks on walker :) This is actually the view directly out my kitchen windows. The waterfall cascades into the pond, then feeds back into the pool. The backyard at night, an awesome place for small dinner parties.

I just found a black tulip magnolia here in Colorado and fell in love. i didnt purchase it right away but my husband brought it home as a surprise to me. Im not sure where to plant it or how to amend the soil. can you describe what you have done? Also how do you teepee it? Do you put poles and some kind of covering Over the poles? or Do you cover just the trunk? i have lots of burlap. Does it do better in full sun or mostly sun with part shade.

It sounds like insect scale. The scales secrete a sweet substance that attracts bees and wasps, so be careful. My magnolia has the same thing - see pics below. My tree is at least 20 years old and over 20 feet tall. I had a company come out today that specializes in the treatment of insect scale. They promised a quote next week. They recommended 4x treatments - 3 applications this year in the Fall (I think it's of a systemic insecticide) and 1 application in the Spring of dormant oil. I hope other folks who have had this similar issue can chime in on this. I'm curious to know what the success rate is. It's definitely not going to be cheap to eradicate this.