Interesting resurrected archival thread. I'm coming to the conclusion that, at least in my neck of the woods, one way to easily avoid SVB damage is to wait them out. We have two generations in the spring, and the last one is allegedly gone by July. So can one plant then and get a harvest? Around here the answer is *absolutely*. That's worked great for me last year when SVBs devastated my spring squash. I harvested lots in early December, and I plan to do that again this year. But whether it works for you will depend on your last SVB date (consult your extension service), the time required to get ripe fruit, and the expected date of first frost. Might not pan out in a cold climate. In this regard, acorn squash may be the way to go.

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions... Patricia, don't worry... I always get the "super specifics" from Karl when I get stuck... I just try to email once every 2 weeks so I don't get too obnoxious LOL! I'm not using the organic supplies until the appropriate time...I just like to try to catch the sales to save money... In April I'm totally broke but will have a bit more money in May, that is why I've had to delay and have to go to my County Rose Society until next year when I can join the official ARS Society...Also my Dog Agility with my Border Collie already costs me over a thousand dollars per year...I am hoping that my County Rose Society and this forum will help me at least get started... Peace and Mr. Lincoln were recommended by the Overland Park Rose Society (my "county" rose society) and I loved how they look and fragrance to me is very important as well... Also I have childhood memories of a very beautiful rose bush that had gigantic blooms on it that looked identical to Peace (sunset yellow with pink blush) when I was a kid growing up in Queens, NYC in the tiny duplex that we lived at... I am hoping since Dan_Keil and Illinois has similar climate to Kansas (just a bit more colder and windier) that I'll be o.k with Mr. Lincoln and Peace? In the meantime like you all suggested I will make sure I talk to the local rosarians for any other possibilities for hybrid teas that I may have missed on... Katsrose and Liane, thanks very much about the thoughts on trying to plant a little earlier so that my roses can establish stronger roots for the winter... I will also be sure to use the insulation mulch barriers as well when the cold weather hits (saw pictures online on how to insulate them) Karl, I will email as soon as I can...

Hello everyone - Sorry to be so late in getting this list out - am really looking forward to meeting you and "swapping". I'm thanking in advance all who have noted things on my wish list and also update the list of what I'm bringing to acommodate some other's wishes as well. Please let me know if there's anything in particular I should bring more of. AND.... can someone tell me what size plants or containers you usually bring. I'm plannng to pot things up tomorrow afternoon in 6" but I have plenty of larger nursery type containers if that's what's expected. Also... Annie are you sure I can't bring something in the way of refreshments? Thank yous to: our hostess annie for: cone flower, jerusalem artichoke, and teasel??? I'm bringing: canadian ginger, garlic chives, poppy seeds and daylilies Gata for: Lady fern Tiabuddy1: for Rose Mallow I'm bringing: red monarda & dianthus Diane4000: for Gallardia (Blanket flower)I'm bringing: creeping thyme Debra_Boston for: Joe Pie Weed and ferns I'm bringing Balloon flower and rugosa rose WendyB for: golden showers climber??? I'm bringing creeping thyme and creeping jenny Am also bringing:lots of seeds to share and: perennial sweetpea, blue and white globe thistle,pink, purple, red and white monardia, tall blue balloon flower, wild geranium in pink & purple,autumn rose sedum, onion & garlic chives, rhubarb,red, pink & white rugosa roses, and native orange daylilies as well as un-named hybrid daylilies from Center Sandwich, NH. I also have a brugmansia (in full bloom see photo at my page) to put up for adoption. Please answer quick if you're interested! Especially if I haven't mentioned something you wanted from my original list. See you all on Saturday! Robin

PushCoGrow, I hope it is like last fall too. Last fall was wonderful. Since we're hoping for a repeat, it probably won't happen. Our weather is so inconsistent. Ezzirah, I'd never call you crazy. Experimentation is fun and is a great way to learn. You never know whether something will work or not until you try it. I do lots of experimentation. I always wondered, for example, if I could get tomatoes and peppers in the winter from plants in containers if I dragged them into the garage on cold nights. So I tried it and I did harvest peppers and tomatoes even in December and January. Before I did it, I would have thought it was not possible because of the cold nighttime temperatures, but in that year the outdoor air temperatures dropped into the upper teens before the plants finallly suffered freeze damage in the well-insulated but unheated garage. Who would have thought they'd last that long in there? Even after the damage to the plants occurred, they resumed growing, blooming and setting fruit. Once it was that cold, though, and the number of hours of sunlight daily were so short, peppers and tomatoes grew very slowly and took forever to ripen. Now, whether anyone would think a cold-weather tomato or pepper has the flavor to make it worth the bother is a different issue. However, I learned it is possible to produce them. I've got all kinds of stuff in the ground for winter, and am getting ready to set up the greenhouse for cold-weather growing. I've got tons of seedlings in flats ready for the greenhouse experiments. I'm just waiting for cooler weather to arrive to stay. Often we're still having daytime highs in the 90s here in our county until Halloween, so I haven't been in a hurry to put anything in the greenhouse until that sort of heat truly has ended for this year. This week the greenhouse, even with 50% shadecloth has been in the upper 90s and the 100s. I'm going to grow lettuce in a variety of ways to see which gives the best cool-season performance: in the ground in the garden unprotected, in the ground in the garden under floating row covers, in containers outside under floating row cover, in containers outside unprotected, in containers on the sunporch, and in containers in the greenhouse. I suspect the cats will nibble the lettuce in containers on the sunporch, so it may be more for them than for us. In rainy and cold weather, the cats practically live on the sunporch, venturing outdoors for brief periods only and spending an inordinate amount of time sleeping on the sunporch. In the big garden, birds usually eat unprotected lettuce in the ground in spring---I want to see if they'll do it in fall and winter. I have tried to trick them by planting the fall lettuce in rows in between rows of taller southern peas and bush beans. So far it is working as the taller plants are hiding the lettuce from the birds. Or, maybe the birds are so happily consuming grasshoppers that they aren't in the mood to eat lettuce yet. About the only thing I've learned about purple sprouting broccoli so far is that the grasshoppers prefer it to anything else I have planted. They haven't touched the Packman or Romanesco Broccoli, but have completely destroyed 1/3 of the Purple Sprouting Broccoli, so now I have it under row covers. I do have tons of grasshoppers still. If there was only a hopper or two around, I don't know that they'd hurt it that much, but we still have hundreds of hoppers per acre. Susan, I am not ready for cold weather, so I hope it doesn't happen. If it happens, I suppose we'll deal with it. I'll be able to keep the cool-season stuff going for months yet with the protection of a little row cover fabric, but the tomatoes and peppers still are covered with fruit in various sizes and stages of development and I'd love to see them have a chance to ripen in warmer temperatures. Nothing surprises me here. Our first year here we had a hard freeze around September 29th, but I put up temporary plastic tunnels over the tomato bed and got those plants through the first two cold nights with minimal damage and they then produced for another few weeks. I prefer the years when the first cold temps don't arrive until December to the ones where the cold temps hit in late September or early October, but we'll take whatever we get. I loved last winter too, even though the lack of cold had me fearing a hot, dry summer....which is what we got. We barely had any cold weather down here and I put tomato plants in unmovable outdoor containers in February because I was confident enough to think I could cover them up if needed to protect them from freezing on the rare cold night, which is exactly what happened. Usually I put them in smaller, movable containers. I also put tomato plants in the ground the first week in March, which isn't possible most winters. Since we'd love a mild winter, we probably won't get one. Have you noticed how seldom we actually get the kind of weather we're hoping to have? Dawn