I was just thinking I should add up what I've spent already: $167 just the other day for a trellis, 6 potted Summer Skies delphinium, 2 Carefree Beauty, 1 Vanso clematis, and peony hoops (for my hydrangea). Maybe about $15 on composted manure, $25 on bypass pruners, $30 on 5 small Yews for some evergreen interest. About $30 on bareroot Sarah Bernhardt peonies. So far about $267.00 I'm planning to purchase about 10 more roses yet this season which will most likely include Pretty Jessica, Konigin Van Danemark, Sharifa Asma, Frontenac, Quietness, Morden Blush, and Prairie Joy. I also may spend additional $ yet this season on blue companion plants. I seem to have a thing for pink roses with blue companions.

Like many here, my mom was my first mentor in many things. She was as pragmatic about everything as I was and continue being. She would learn what she could about something she wanted to grow, usually from her mother who grew everything, determine if she could easily create conditions they desired, then moved them if they didn't like what she could give them. She would push the envelope to determine what they would accept until she determined her boundaries, or theirs, then she would put them everywhere they would agree to and enjoy the dickens out of them. I did, and still do, follow her "Southern gardening advice" to share plants. It's completely logical. Everything is pruned by Nature, either by being eaten, burned or frozen, so sharing cuttings of something follows Nature's example and plants respond by growing bigger and better. The same goes for dividing plants and sharing the offspring. Most perennials require thinning. Sharing the thinned pieces not only provides room for yours to fill out again, but shares your pleasure with others who enjoy them and provides you a source for replacements should something happen to yours. Her best advice was to keep it simple to keep it fun. That I blindly follow and never regret. I joined the ARS, ignorantly thinking they could teach me how to grow good roses. I did the whole spray, over prune, over feed thing until I began to question the wisdom of constantly using chemicals whose labels warned me of probable eye damage, potential cancer, likely prostate disease and so on. Though not all blatantly stated on the labels, a bit of digging unearthed the known side effects of "long term, over exposure" to the active ingredients. Though careful, accidents can and do occur and I was (still am) too young to deal with the potential risks. Fortunately, I didn't do the chemical intervention routine that long, and I WAS always very careful with them. I hated what I considered "wasting" money on chemicals when it could be more enjoyably spent on new plants and books. I was and am fortunate that there are roses I like and enjoy which don't require the chemical intervention where I live and garden. I know many others aren't as fortunate in that way. I blindly followed the instructions given about how to propagate the roses as a volunteer at The Huntington, figuring they knew what they were doing as they'd been at it far longer than I. Being the heretic I am, my mind began to wander, oops, I mean WONDER, what might happen if I tweaked this or that, and shortly, I took the success rate using their methods of less than half, to nearly a hundred percent each time I struck cuttings. Same with growing roses. Fortunately, I am also a very lazy gardener. Not for those for whom I try to work my magic to create beautiful, sustainable vistas, but definitely in my own. A "past time", "hobby", should never be THAT much work, or it is, well, WORK. That's what I've always done this to get away FROM. So, after studying what roses wanted in Nature, without our intervention, I began permitting them to do their own things with as little intervention from me as possible, while I learned what THEY wanted where I grew them. Those which expressed gratitude for my benign neglect, received all the neglect they seemed to enjoy. Those who demanded more intensive attention and intervention, usually went to other peoples' gardens. A tried and true rule given by my mother and grandmother is, "They ALWAYS look better in someone else's yard". Ain't that the danged truth?! I can't tell you how many times I've admired a rose or other plant in a friend's garden, only to be told, "YOU gave it to me!" I did? Hmmmmm... And, life is SO much more fun without the "cocaine addicted, French mistresses" populating my garden. (no offense to anyone of French descent, honest!) Ralph Moore was probably one of the most influential "mentors" I could ever be blessed with. Every aspect of gardening and many about life in general, was affected and influenced by his folksy, home spun, usually highly scientifically based and always observationally supported comments. On one our first visits, I commented on his effective use of weeds for ground cover, all over the ground, paths, flourishing in the pots... His response? "If you don't plant something, God will!". Well, yes... I commented on how his plants received no real "care". He responded, "We test by stress. If I can't kill it, you shouldn't be able to". OK. Many of his roses they released, if grown in climates similar to what he created them in are quite bullet proof. That was part of his selection process. Anyone can create a beautiful flower. He admonished to create a good plant first, as hanging a pretty flower on it later was rather easy. Quite a twist on the traditional process. He advised to watch Nature, see what she does and how it works, then do the same. He taught to "think like the rose". Consider how what it receives stimulates it to do what it does and why, then do to and for it what it needs to encourage it to respond the way you want it to. How much easier could it become than that? He actually stated to let the rose be your guide, exactly what my Southern gardening ancestors did and taught, but never really said. When I inquired what he thought about using dangerous, expensive chemicals to manipulate chromosomes in breeding, he responded that you COULD, but why would you want to when, "the rose will find the way". When asked about what his thoughts on special rose foods and extravagant feeding regimen, he responded, as he did frequently, "Why? Roses can't read!". So, if the fertilizer fits the desires guaranteed analysis for the desired results, it honestly doesn't matter what the label says it's good for, it should please the roses and like your dog, they can't tell the difference if it's something that agrees with them. Fortunately, both my original mentors and Mr. Moore advocated observation. Watch it and see. The rose, and pretty much any other kind of plant, is going to show you want it wants. I advocate that in pruning. Unless you're trying to force the plant to your will, permitting it to show you where it wants to begin growing and flowering before cutting it, then letting it do it will result in more flowers, faster. If your desire is for landscape color, this will give it to you by the wagon load. You can always clean up any issues when you do your usual pruning. Special needs such as wind or snow require their own attention, but those are things I've been lucky not to have had to consider. I learn as much from other forum participants and those whose gardens I have visited and enjoyed as I may have "taught" others. There are so many right ways to garden and grow roses. No one can try them all. No one can try them everywhere and with all roses and all of us don't have the same gardening styles or requirements from our gardens. Seeing through your eyes teaches me so much. Each one who observes, considers and comes up with new discoveries and knowledge mentors ME. I love the interaction with others who share my rose "obsession", the personalities of each one, their individual garden visions and desires. It is the dynamic knowledge gleaned from the interaction that floats my boat, stimulates my brain and pushes me to push the envelope further. Mr. Moore admonished, "Don't stir the pot, bring something new to the table" about rose breeding and growing, meaning observe, study, learn from what is going on around you. What you read as gardening and rose growing "law" or "rules" is so very often blindly repeated legend plagiarized from other books. Look at what the plants do by themselves and what they do in response to what is provided them and what is done TO them and learn from it. Listen and read. Test it for logic and potential sound reasoning and consider why it may work where it is reported to work. If it resonates well with your style, desires and conditions, test it, try it and see if it works for you. If not, why didn't it? Tweak it, massage it and test your modifications to see if altering it allows it to make your situation better, then share it. Elevating one, elevates everyone. Your sharing your observations and knowledge stimulates mine, teaching me, which in turn stimulates and teaches someone else. Fortunately, both ancestral mentors and Mr. Moore also stressed that knowledge unshared, is worthless. If you know something which will benefit someone else, keeping it to yourself is a sin, shameful. Not that it should ever be forced, but it definitely should be freely given if asked. Being a good steward of the knowledge is its own reward. Fame, praise, reputation, attention are OK, but knowing someone else is better off, their problems or distresses are improved simply because you offered what others shared with you and what you discovered or observed, IS what matters. That is one I have and continue to "blindly follow". Kim

Well, Pam, if you want the Cadillac of hand pruners, get a Florian. I bought my first pair at a garden show. They are expensive but will last years. They have a lifetime guarantee that allows you to send them back with a small amount of money and get a new pair. I just did that after years and years. All their cutting implements cut through stuff like butter. Mine are the ratchet style because I don't have a lot of strength in my hands. Many people like the typical by-pass pruners, but most of my cutters are ratchet. Here is a web site for you to look at: http://www.floriantools.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=RP-701&Category_Code=florian_tools

Trying to think of anything that might bother me to the point of "fear" but on the whole, the only thing that comes to mind is that at some time after a heart bypass operation, I developed a bit of an aversion to being in small closed spaces (think REALLY small). I believe this came from immediately post surgery (2015) when I had a breathing tube stuffed down my throat and was choking yet couldn't convince the powers in charge to remove it so I could swallow. Finally, a male nurse took pity upon my situation and traded the tube for a breathing canula whereupon the choking problem ceased. Reading the issues as stated by so many, I guess I've just now realized how fortunate I've been to not have phobias or other issues that prohibited me from doing whatever I wanted which includes standing on the edge of buildings/cliffs/elevators/glass floors or whatever, heights, crawling under/over/and around some rather inhospitable and closed spaces, bugs/bees/small creepy crawly things bother me not in the least although like most people, I rarely "play" with stinging and biting insects. I was always the one who got sent into dark basements, under pier and beam houses, and up to the highest limbs in some half rotten old tree. At present, advancing age along with less agility along with a short list of past injuries generally preclude me from doing many of the more dicey things that I used to do but then... if I need to do them, I will but a bit slower and probably a lot more safely than I used to. To those who have those conditions I've been fortunate to avoid, I do honestly wish you well and assume that due to the perceived age of some if not all posters around these forums, you have still been able to have full and satisfying lives. On the other hand, I've known more than several people over the years that are absolutely terrified of clowns. Of the couple folks I've actually asked about it, they were so upset by the very mention that they didn't know why they were so scared and refused to even discuss.