Michelle, I bought three daylilies from Isabelle a few years ago. They were good daylilies, but not great daylilies. FEMININE MYSTIQUE was one of them. I have since given it away. It was pretty, but I needed room for daylilies with longer bloom season that fit with my hybridizing goals. The one I kept was AMBER FINALE, which is a polychrome late bloomer. Now that it's settled in, it has lots of buds and blooms for a long time. FEMININE MYSTIQUE AMBER FINALE Debra

I signed up for updates on her website and got an email from her today telling me that she will notify me when new ones are done....along with this link..... Here is a link that might be useful: Babies

Cold Duck! I had forgotten all about that! I thought it was so fancy because my parents weren't wine drinkers. I do remember them drinking whisky sours with the foam on top and a maraschino cherry! Stacy, great photo! Your Mom had style. Just like my photos of my mother - always with the cig but it looked cool! We always went to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, which was a candlelight service - even when we were little and we were dressed up. I always think I want to do that now with my kids but never make it for the midnight. We always had Kielbasa and Sauerkraut in the crockpot Christmas Eve and "noshes" my Mom called it like cheese and crackers. We lived in the country but there was a Tavern down the road which always had hay rides and hot chocolate and dunkin dounuts on Christmas Eve day. Desserts - hmmm Mom wasn't a big baker but her specialty was Lemon Meringue Pie. Sometimes Banana Crème or Chocolate Crème Pie and Mrs. Smith did the rest (coconut custard - ewe). She did make us kids Pudding in a cloud in wine glasses. I loved that! Christmas Day varied. Mom was Bohemian and French and Dad is all Irish so they just boiled something and then added butter - LOL. Kidding! Sometimes she did a fresh Roast Pork with Brown Sauerkraut and Dumplings (my favorite) or more often a Roast Beef Dinner. It was tradition for mom to burn the dinner rolls which I have continued. Another tradition was for my sister and I to get everything the same but different colors which we promptly switched. Always pajamas, underwear and socks. Now, my SIL and I switch off on hosting Christmas Eve for DH's family and Christmas we go to my sisters. I am actually having more of an open house this year so I am not sure of the menu. Actually I have an idea but need one more thing - will probably post about it. My sister usually caters Christmas Dinner - LOL - all Italian dishes. My son is so in to the holidays and loves to decorate. We are making new traditions. I love that even though he is only little he says things like "mom, we are going to do this or put this here because that is how we do it every year". I love doing little surprise things for him this time of year - even if it is just letting him have Reddi Whip squirted in his mouth for breakfast. We also always had bowls of nuts in the shell and chocolate covered cherries and mints and Irish Coffees and Baileys. With the packaging of toys these days requiring power tools to pry open the heavy duty plastic and then all those twisties ties - I think I will start another new tradition for myself this year - a mimosa first thing in the morning. Thinking about the bowl of nuts reminded me of a very unusual nut cracker we had. I can't believe I just found it on ebay! I have to have a talk with my dad when I see him this Christmas - LOL. Here is a link that might be useful: nutcracker

I love Troilus, and have been searching for a replacement since 1996.... I am also presently still looking for Bibi Maizoon and Robbie Burns. I'm keeping a close eye on my Emily because I think the garden gnomes might have spirited it away. @smithdale every part of the country has a different combination of blackspot strains and whatnot. In California Chaucer blackspots terribly, doesn't mildew much, and rust can be an issue depending on microclimate. I have grown Chaucer in both SoCal and NorCal, and I get the impression that it prefers NorCal's more temperate climate.