Judy, you know full well that you are among fellow addicts when it comes to buying plants. And I so love the English roses...just be sure to give them plenty of room. They will need it. Vel, it is a record for me, that is for sure. It was one I got in the fall from Bill Maryott, but no way was able to resist taking pictures of those three together. Thanks Cindy, all of my early clematis are covered in buds. They are hapopy with the strange weather. Rebecca is a true red in my garden...same color as my monitor, and the blooms are large. It is close to my favorite...then I see another one and oh I love that one. You know how it is. Thany you Linda. As I've already said, I love Rebecca! kay

Thanks. Nice friends indeed! I would be up for a trade when cuttings are available... This plumeria surprised me because about 6 weeks ago it looked like it was going to die. I think I overfertilized it with superphosphate because a few days after spreading a few handfuls of fertilizer granules around the base of the plant, all the leaves started turning brown, curling up and then dropping. The about a week or two later new green leaves were pushing up like crazy. These new leaves are huge. I guess I was lucky... The cutting is also starting to branch into three tips.

Very nice. Congratulations. It looks like in a few more days you should have a nice group of blooms.

Sad news to report about the plant in the SJHRG. I went yesterday make observations and photos for a potential HMF entry and found it largely brown and withered (see photos below). It appears to have been in bloom not so long ago (there are fully formed but brown flowers still on it), then, apparently suddenly, almost like it was torched and went crispy. A few canes still appear green and there is one small live shoot at the base, but it doesn't look good. There is evidence of prior dieback in the two basal stumps. Nothing quite like this in my rose-growing experience, though I've certainly lost roses -- usually in a more gradual way, though.. Anyway, a grim reminder of how precarious the continued existence of a variety might prove to be. I do have a small plant of it which also just put out a few flowers, from a cutting taken in the middle of last December, when I donated 2 two-gallon "Zalud House Shingled Raspberry" plants to SJHRG (another great and unique rose, by the way, that should be in commerce and preserved forever!) and got to take a few slips of this (thank you, Jill) as a sort of swap, there being no potted plants of it for sale at the time. I will be taking the best care of my little plant that I can, needless to say, and hoping all the other plants of this elsewhere in the world live long and prosper (and get recorded on an HMF entry, so it's known where they might be found). it is a beautiful variety. Green leaves in photo are on the plant behind this one for the most part. Fully-formed flowers dried on the bush Some little green shoots at the base.