Great thread Nev! I loved the Tillandsia picture you posted for Gonz, absolutely beautiful! I wish I lived in an area with brom societies and shows! Orchids are here which is a blessing, but no brom show, yet! he he I'd be willing to help if anyone wants to start one here! BA

Thanks all! Why, Harry, what make you think that I like blends? ;-) I think we are at about the same place in bloom time, Harry. Philly is so far ahead, every rose I saw was in full flush. In my yard, the only HT blooming last weekend was L&P, but Tiffany and Pink Peace are close now (especially with the 80+ degrees yesterday). Debating on whether to go to the Philly RS show on Sunday. I might have a few minis, but no HTs worth showing. Maybe the West Jersey show on the 7th.

Thank you Carrie, you are so kind. What I really like about this gallery forum is that as the times and seasons and weather changes and the roses come and go from one garden, they appear in another. I was somewhat melancholy when I started this thread because it felt like my roses had so much unfinished business. Then pictures started showing up here from other regions and vicariously the blooming business is finishing. Now the weather is giving me a bit of a reprieve and although the buds may not all open, plenty of them already have. When you wish upon a rose, I suppose only heaven knows what you can expect :-)

Too, too cute! During the week following the blizzard our county was having trouble clearing sidewalks, etc., and thus we used many snowdays. My principal made it to school as did several teachers who planned to work in their classrooms. My boss e-mailed me to say she knew our school was prime bluebird habitat, that we provided great housing and food occasionally. What she didn't know, she wrote, was that I was allowing the blues access to the school building itself. Apparently one of the teachers encountered a male bluebird in a hallway and several people had to help him find his way back outside. I told my boss that things would be fine as long as he didn't figure out how to open the fridge to get his own mealworms and suet!!!! It did make me worry a bit about how he got in . . . I certainly don't want him to get trapped without food and water, but others suspect he came in through a door that was propped open during a delivery. Too funny. The whole staff now jokes about how I allow the blues the run of the building and that they hold parties on the weekends! Honestly, I wouldn't doubt the party idea. Kathy