I think I may have to get some grape vines too! Your's look wonderful Don. ☺Successes Yes, deciding to join into the Farmer's market with Brenda, turned out to be great idea. I've met lots of new people and made some coin as well.....surely a win/win situation. Most of the plants made it through last winter, so that's always a plus. I think I only had one iris die, so that was pretty good. Most of the roses bloomed well. Whether the alfalfa tea that I gave them was the cause or not, I'm not sure, but I liked the end results either way.;0) The lilies bloomed really well this summer too. 'Red Dutch' and 'Fancy Crown' didn't do well this year. Fancy Crown just didn't come up at all, so I may have to replace it yet. Forever Blue iris bloomed in the beginning of September. The Pineapple Lily that I thought was rotten this spring and then just tossed into the veggie garden to be tilled under, I found growing in the peppers. So now, it's potted up and will grow happily in the living room for the winter. Got my first seeds from a Tet daylily 'Quest of Dreams'. And I also got a few seeds from Red Ribbons and a noid pink daylily too. I'm not sure why Tets are harder to set pods on, but hopefully I'll be able to get a few more next year. Failures Dahlia barely got blooming before frost. And the cannas never did bloom at all. The veggie garden didn't do overly well at all. I think that the poplars and spruce that we planted on the east side, are taking too much of the water and shading it for too long in the morning. So next spring, it will be time to re-evaluate where things will be going. There were quite a few daylilies that had spring sickness, and for some it extended into the summer as well. There are maybe 3 or 4 that I'm not sure if they will make it through the winter or not. Keeping my fingers crossed on those. So therefore, the amount of daylily blooms was a bit disappointing. Cabbage worms did a number on my ornamental cabbages....grrrr. All in all, it was a successful year for me in the garden. I added quite a few new perennials this year, so I'm quite excited to see how well they all do next year.☺

Oh that's heartbreaking...I'm so sorry for your loss. This was truly an unusual winter. Besides my frozen pipes (in the well house), I too lost some plants. And get this -they were inside a pop-up 6ft. square green house that was all zipped up AND had a heat lamp on! Mainly I lost my agave and a couple of tropical plants I'd brought in from the porch last fall. The rest (mainly young trees and some groundcovers) should be okay although their leaves were browned. Yep, an unusually tough winter. But it is interesting to observe what does well in those extremes and what doesn't. That's good information, so thanks for sharing. By the way, a hardware clerk turned me onto a helpful little gadget. It's an electric plug that you can plug your heat lamp or heater into (or anything you like) and it has a temperature sensor that turns whatever is plugged into it ON when the temps drop to 30 degrees and then shuts it off when it gets above that temp again. Works well for my heat lamp in the well house and in the little greenhouse. Or at least it would have in a less extreme season. I've now insulated the heck out of well house and pipes.

Tried a new recipe for hot dinner rolls; they were not good - recipe will go in the trash. Following are three recipes that were the stars: Canal House's Cranberry-Port Gelée Adapted very slightly from Canal House Cooks Every Day (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2012) Genius Recipes 1 cup port (or red wine or Madeira) 1 cup sugar 1 tablespoon juniper berries 10 black peppercorns 1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries (about 4 cups -- frozen can be substituted) Put the port, sugar, juniper berries, and peppercorns into a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the cranberries and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the cranberries burst and are very soft, about 10 minutes more. Strain the sauce into a bowl through a fine-mesh sieve, pushing the solids through the screen with a rubber spatula. Stir the thin and thick portions of the strained gelée together. Transfer to a pretty serving bowl. (A funnel or liquid measuring cup with a spout can be useful for transferring without splashing the sides.) Cover and refrigerate. It will firm up within a few hours, or can be made several days ahead. Creamed Onion Gratin 2 medium yellow onions, cored and quartered lengthwise 1/4 cup olive oil Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 2 tbsp. unsalted butter 2 tbsp. flour 1 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup dry white wine (I used a Riesling) Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan 3 oz. Gorgonzola, crumbled 1/4 tsp. paprika Heat oven to 350°. Toss onions with oil in a 9″ × 11″ baking dish and season with salt and pepper. Bake, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly browned, about 1 hour; set aside. Heat oven to broil. Heat butter in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat; add flour, and cook, stirring, until smooth, about 1 minute. Add cream and wine, and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Season sauce with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Pour sauce evenly over onions. Sprinkle with parmesan, dot with Gorgonzola, and sprinkle with paprika; broil until cheese is melted and golden brown on top, about 2 minutes. Serves 6 - 8 Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Capers and Lemony Browned Butter adapted from All About Roasting: A New Approach to a Classic Art by Molly Stevens 1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 teaspoon mustard seeds, yellow or brown 2 tablespoons capers, drained 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, plus more if needed Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 425 degrees (400 degrees convection). If desired, line a heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Depending on their size, cut the Brussels sprouts in halves or quarters; you want them to be small enough to be bite-sized. Place in a large bowl and toss with the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Arrange the sprouts in a single layer on the baking sheet. Don’t worry if some of the leaves fall off. Include these when roasting; they will crisp up, adding a nice crunch to the dish. Slide the Brussels sprouts into the oven and roast, turning once or twice with a metal spatula to promote even cooking, until the sprouts are tender throughout and smaller bits or leaves that have fallen off are browned and crunchy, 20 to 25 minutes. Test for doneness by piercing a sprout with the tip of a paring knife, but to be sure, nab one off the baking sheet, let it cool slightly, and taste; it should be tender and sweet. As the sprouts roast, melt the butter in a small skillet or heavy saucepan (it should be no more than 6 inches across or the butter will burn). Cook over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the mustard seeds, increase the heat to medium-high, and cook, watching the pan carefully and swirling frequently, until the butter begins to foam and turns golden brown, about 2 minutes. Add the capers and lemon juice "the butter will sizzle" and immediately remove from the heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste and keep warm until the Brussels sprouts are ready. Transfer the Brussels sprouts to a serving dish and add the browned butter. Toss to coat. Taste for salt, pepper, and lemon and serve immediately. Makes four servings

Some stem cuttings will leaf out right away. That does not mean they have rooted. What they've done is used stored energy already in the cane to produce growth with. That can sometimes be a problem because they are spending time growing and not spending time rooting. They may still root, of course, but it may take longer. Some canes will not produce any new top growth for a very long time. That does not mean they are not rooting. They are probably so busy rooting that they don't have the energy to produce top growth yet. Once they feel they have produced enough roots to support top growth they will take off! Every rose has it's own growth habit and that includes how they root. Some roses are notoriously hard to root and others all you have to do is lay them on the top of the soil and they'll root right away. It's just a matter of patience on our part to let them do their own thing. You can snip off the black tips if you want. It shouldn't hurt anything. To dry them out, get them out of those plastic bags. Let the water evaporate from the soil for a while. I don't do cuttings inside ever and I never cover mine. I do mine in the spring and they go outside, in full sun, with the rest of the roses. I do keep very good watch on them to make sure they do not ever dry out completely but you can over water them too so you have to have a good balance. If your soil seems soggy let them dry for a bit. I don't do the burrito/callus method so I'm not that familiar with it. If you do a search on here for Roseseek's burrito method I think you'll find all the information you need. He's the best! The hardest part about doing any kind of cuttings is PATIENCE!! I know you're excited and anxious but every time you disturb them you set them back a little. Just leave them alone and wait and in the end they'll give you the roses you want!