daffodillady, I can give you #1, but 2 & 3 were asked for via email (she had trouble trying to post). If you want it, it's yours! That will close this offer. Thanks everyone, I'll be sending an email. Karen/kalena67

Last year I planted really old tomato seeds that had been both mine and my Mum's. Some of hers were from as far back as the late 70s, several from the 80s. I saved most of the 'newer' seed from the 90s and 00s to use this year. :-) Can't say the germination rates were great, I planted them like 10 at a time in various spots. But I did get enough tomato plants to fill the desired area and transplant some elsewhere. What have you got to lose? The wet packages are probably a no go, but the unopened ones I would certainly try. Marcia

I grow many of the older Austins. In fact, I find myself to have an affinity with, if not a prefernce for some of the earlier English roses. My rose garden is just starting to bloom in the past two days. Many of the earliest blooming roses are the older English roses. The reds seem to be all opening, including; The Squire, Prospero, Wenlock, William Shakespear (Original) and William Shakespear 2000. Here are some images of some of the older English roses I grow and love: [IMG]http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa146/rideauroselad/Roses07/DSCF0031.jpg[/IMG] English Garden is vigorous healthy and has good rebloom in my garden. [IMG]http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa146/rideauroselad/Roses07/DSCF0030-2.jpg[/IMG] A close up of a bloom of English Garden. [IMG]http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa146/rideauroselad/Roses07/P6160049.jpg[/IMG] Pegasus is gorgeous, fragrant, healthy and prolific in my garden. My two plants are covered in buds and opening now. Less of an old rose character and more musk like though with large blooms. [IMG]http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa146/rideauroselad/Roses07/SUMMER015.jpg[/IMG] The Squire, a bit fussy, I grow him in a pot. But when he blooms, he's worth the trouble, 5 inch dark crimson blooms that take your breath away. [IMG]http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa146/rideauroselad/Roses07/P6160050.jpg[/IMG] The Pilgrim, powerful Tea Rose fragrance, intricate old fashioned flowers, the most gorgeous yellow flowers and healthy to boot. There are more, but one mustn't go on too long. Cheers, Rideau Rose Lad

Pam, To request a Willhite catalog, just go to the homepage. At the right is an image of their catalog cover. It has a little girl holding a slice of watermelon. Above that is a banner that says something like Request A Free Copy of Our Catalog. If you click on that banner, it takes you to the catalog request page. What kind of melons do you want to grow? Big ones or little icebox sized ones? Let me know, and I'll suggest some varieties. As with pretty much everything else in gardening, there are some melons that the commercial growers don't grow because the rind is thin, making them poor candidates for shipping. Sometimes market growers will grow them if they are not having to transport them too far to their local Farmer's Markets. Home gardeners can grow those. I used to grow big melons, but with a small family, I tend to grow just the little small melons nowadays. My personal opinion is that a fresh-from-the-garden melon always tastes sweeter to me than store-bought melons. It isn't necessarily that the melons at the store are bad, it is just that the melons from home are better. I also like to have melons available in a variety of colors, so when growing our own, I'll usually grow melons that have yellow, orange, pink and/or red flesh. I like having the variety of different colors. I have a certain degree of concern about your high hurricane risk there. The worst thing in the world for watermelons (next to the coyotes who like to steal them!) is excessively heavy rainfall. It can make them crack and split and rot before they are ripe enough to eat. So, if it is more or less inevitable that you're going to get hit by torrential rainfall at some point during melon-growing season, you need to evaluate that risk and decide if you want to take the chance and devote space to melons. Even when torrential rainfall doesn't make melons crack and split, it can just kill their flavor by watering it down. Since my torrential rainfall is pretty much limited to any month prior to July (usually it falls in April and May, and only rarely in June), I normally don't have heavy rainfall at the time of year that it would harm the melons. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Willhite Seed Home Page