I wondeerded if you knew him gb... I mentioned that we had a friend in the area but didn't give you name. We didn't see the thyme path or the horses (no peacocks or roosters either :-) but we did meet Sasha (a rescued Golden Retriever). I would have liked to have met the horses but I didn't want to ask; since he was kind enough to take the time to welcome unexpected visitors, I didn't want to interrupt his day too much! We spent some time discussing Christmas ornaments with him - some of his antique ornaments were similar to what my grandparents had on their Christmas trees. I would have loved to see more of the property - definitely a place to take Idyll visitors! We will include Mapleton Organics in a future visit! Now that we have the address from the link you provided, we can program it into the GPS thingy... The GPS was a handy 'toy' to have. It did lead us astray a couple of times - but only because we had input the wrong town in the address (e.g. when we were trying to find that house, we thought it was in Fergus so the GPS kept trying to send us south instead of north! Once we changed the town to Center Wellington, it took us to the right place. It was a fun trip!

As is often the case, I'm in total accord with Anne. This is the best rose season I've had for as long as I can remember. As Sheri put it: "Forget the roses that fail here and find the ones that don't!!" The roses I grow, are loving the wetter, cooler summer we've had in the Northeast part of the continent. I've not watered once, not sprayed either and have no blackspot. Happy roses, seem to be healthy roses. I have been ruthless in shovel pruning non-performers for the past three years. Poor health, lack of vigour, failing to boom and they're gone. I replace them with roses that I've researched and believe might become good performers based on that research. Most of my roses are established. I have learned that roses in a cold climate take three to four years before they have the root system needed to perform at their peak after being pruned to near the ground each winter. I also have roses that are vigorous enough and healthy enough (in my conditions), so that they are growing and blooming exhuberantly in this cooler wetter summer. I now have a list of roses that impress me every single year, my failsafe roses, so to speak. For my climate and my conditions the fail safe roses are: Folksinger, Redoute, Lillian Austin, Prairie Sunrise, John Davis, Northern Encore, Lilian Gibson, Hawkeye Belle, Prairie Harvest and the Crocus Rose. All standouts, all peak performers year after year. This summer, possibly because of the apparently ideal growing conditions, and also perhaps because this is their third season, some others have also begun to stand out as well: Evelyn, Charles Darwin, Teasing Georgia and Abbe de Cluny are all, healthy, happy and booming exuberantly. They are also sprouting new growth and new canes and obviously planning to put on another major show soon. Some new varieties I have planted this year, based on much research and mulling are: Geoff Hamilton, Caramel Antique, Christopher Marlow and Antique Fairy Tale. Based on their first year results, health vigour and rebloom are all very impressive. We'll have to wait to see how they do after a Northeastern winter though. I already have five or six under achievers on the shovel prune list for next spring and have decided to trial some more of the Brownell roses, based on the results of the two I already grow, Break O' Day and Orange Ruffles. Wishing you all a rosey summer. Cheers, Rideau Rose Lad - aka - Rick

Yes... now, that looks like Lady Jane, Shawn. Some blooms will vary slightly from year to year, and there are many variables that will give the blooms within a variety slight differences... such as Ann's, which gives darker color when it receives more light. Most will be recognizable through their coloration and pattern, even if slight differences do occur. And then there are the noids... which exhibit pattern, shape, and/or color that doesn't quite resemble any named variety. Regardless, they're still beautiful blooms!

The swap in progress would have been hilarious...like some of us newbies looking really dumb, shuffling around, 3 or 4, or 8 plants behind the rest of you. And who was that sweet lady who graciously unbraided the kniphofia so that we could each have one? Who is this lady and who donated this exhibit A from a high profile Durham murder trial? How about a shot of the good hearted amongst us adopting the orphans at the end! Adele even took my ghetto bags of rudbeckia and jenny. Now, I challenge some of you to depict "the shot that Tammy's hubby didn't get, but should have." Real moments or grossly exaggerated and fictional ones invited...let us be the judge what category they fit into. Even if you didn't attend, you can post the "pix that could have been." peace, claire in sanford