Linda - we must've been bidding against each other! I came home with Caldwell's Pink, Tall Story and a couple other floribundas... two of them still in bands. There's no reason not to plant your roses straight-away. We've got nice cool temps, yet more rain predicted and your roses need to be laying out those roots before summer gets here.... which could be as early as late March or as late as mid-May, but it will get here. I want my rose roots established in their growing environment not hedging my bets trying to keep them from stressing out because I waited too long to plant them before the heat set in.

Hey Jennie, There are a lot of things known about rust, but there are still some things that we just don't know. For one, some cultivars are far more susceptable to rust than others and we don't know why. For another, where you live plays an inmprtant part in how you deal with rust. If you are in the north, you let the winter kill it. In the South, you deal with it all year. In the "in-between ares" you have to find out what works for you. Finally, not all LA sellers announce whether or not their stock comes from a garden infected with rust. SO even though nothing is said, there might be rust among those particular plants. Here are some things to think about... 1. Check with other growers, particularly in your area, as to whether that particular cultivar shows a tendency to have rust. There are many plants that have been bred for rust resistance and others that are somply not greatly affected. On the other hand, there are rust magnets out there! You might search in this forum as I remember some discussions last year about "good' and "Bad" plants according to rust resistance. Also, the page noted above should provide some help. 2. You live in South Carolina, Zone 7B. I live right at the borader of 7B and 8A so we are not far apart. Winters in our areas will very likely not kill the rust during the winter. Unfortunately, rust is an internal plant desease. That is, it grows within the leaf. The rust-colored particles only appear on the leaf surfaces well after the plant actually has rust, so seeing a "clean" plant does not guarantee anything. 3. The most sophisticated rust chemicals are quite expensive. There are some lesser expensive products, but often with less assurance of control. 4. If you have to spray, you need to rotate the types of fungicide you use. That is, rust is capacble of mutating to become less affected by a given chemical family. Some of the fungicides are contact killers which mean that they kill the rust on the saurface of the leaves while other products are called systemics. In principal, these products penertate the leaves and act on the fungus within the daylily leaves. Unfortunatley, from everything I have heard, the systemic products are not as mobile within the leaves as are systemic pessticides. 5. While reputable growers try to warn their potential customers of the potential of rust, some folks do not mention it at all - whether they have it or not. So just because nothing is said is not a guarantee that no rust exists. 6. Dipping plants in bleach, etc., will kill the visible rust on the surface of the leaves, but if there is active rust within the leves, the dip may be of little use. 7. A much more time consuming method of containing and possibly defeating rust is to strip back folliage down to the base of the external leaves and allowing new and hopefully health leaves to grow. 8. Just becasue a seller does not mention rust, it is not a guarantee that there is not rust in that garden. So, what do we Southerns do about rust? Sure, if you can find someone who guarantees their plants are rust-free, that would be the best start. Otherwise, you need to keep the plants that "possible have been in contact with plants with rust" sepatated from your rust free plants for 6-12 months to see if they develop a paroblem. If they do, you can either choose to treat them or discard them. Alternatively, you can cut back the leaves, treat with a spraying program and see how they come back. Or I suppose you just buy what you want and start your own spraying system immeduately while keeping an eye out for those tell-tail orange spots. Four years ago when I was a a "rookie" in daylilies, I bought plants that I liked without any knowledge of daylily rust. By mid season, three or four plants showed rust. I didn't know what it was and a lot of other plants got infected. I sprayed and got it knocked back to a manageable condition, but never eradicated the problem. The following year, I got stronger chemicals and got on a spraying program early. Things were better, but as the heat of summer rolled on and I got lazy, rust once again started showing up. Last year, I added a third chemcial to my rotation and thing turned out much better. Can I claim I have not rust? No! However, the infection was much less severe and was isolated to certain plants. I also chose to destroy my rust magnest, so I'm sure that helped too. As I mentioned earlier, you are in a zone where rust will not be killed by our winter weather. Besides practicing even the best gardening techniques and not buying from anyone who says that they have had rust in their garden, the wind can still blow rust spores into your garden from a landscape plant down the street. Keep a good watch on your plants, particularly in the spring and when temperatures begin to drop from their summer highs as that is when outbreaks are most common here. Yours may be several weeks ahead of mine since it will stay hotter longer here in Georgia that it does in much of South Carolina. Good Luck - - and don't get too discouraged. Agfain, search Garden Web for other comments about daylily rust. There is a lot if good informatin available. Larry

Folks....This is getting a bit of hand. One has to think if some people have nothing better to do than to make mountains out of molehills. Some of you who responded, have clearly not even read my post. If you don't read, please don't make a reply to it. In fact, I never stated that I consulted an attorney. I just said that an attorney has been consulted. And I wanted to point out that if you damage a person's livlihood as a result of unsubstantiated slander, you can be held accountable. Be careful what you say. This is not a threat of lawsuit, just some good advice. It is easy to state your 'experience' here with no facts to verify that what you say is true. Had you complained to us we would have the facts of what the item was and what was said in the description, etc. Any negative comments made here, without facts to back it up, is just worthless prattle. If you have a complaint, do something substantial and use our feedback protocol. I will explain this later. Let me say it once again: No one has the right to stifle the FACTS. That is never the intention in any of my posts. It is the damaging assumptions and implications that have been made that have INDEED damaged Marvin....implications and even statements MADE PUBLICALLY, that he was deliberatly trying to rip people off...WHICH IS CLEARLY NOT THE CASE. There was a lack of communication to his buyers, yes, and a couple of mistakes. This is very different than what some were saying. Most of this misunderstanding and mis-information can be avoided if people would simply follow the Lily Auction Feedback protocol: 1) Contact the seller first if you have a dispute. 2) If no response or inadequate response given by seller, then do contact us. 3)If you are not happy with the result of the above 2, then leave FACTUAL negative feedback. And know that if a seller is proven to be abusive or negligent in fulfilling orders, they will be suspended from the Lily Auction. This feedback system is already in place and works just fine if people would use it as it was meant to be used. Steve, thanks for your comments and sanity. I understand your "head scratching" though. Here is how I understand the legalities, in layman's language: Emotional, defamatory or judgmental feedback can be considered libelous. Comments like: 'Seller sent bad plants & 'ignored' my emails" is different from saying 'I was not happy with plants and got no reply from my many emails' which is factual. Comments like, 'this seller is a crook and is deliberately ignoring me' is clearly libelous. If you have any doubt about what is libelous, then you should ask attorney. If your comments are factual, you do not have to worry. Also, a seller may never respond negatively to a buyer unless the buyer does not pay or is verbally abusive. Moreover, retaliatory feedback is NOT allowed. So buyers should feel free to leave honest and factual feedback without fear of retaliation. Please folks, if you still feel that the Lily Auction is a good place to shop then please use our feedback system as it was meant to be used. Looks like a couple of you don't like it. That is your prerogative. But don't blame anyone but yourself for not using the feedback system if you did not report a bad experience. One person stated that 'Daylily people' are not 'nice' people. Boy, if anything is the exact opposite of the truth, this statement was. Generally, daylily people are wonderful. I have met some of the nicest people in the world through daylilies....through the Lily Auction, other venues, and conventions. There are definitely exceptions though, as with anything else. I can tell you with absolute confidence, that it it only 1/10th of 1% that are problems. Certainly fraud of any kind must be exposed and not tolerated. But this was not a case of fraud. Marvin must reconcile his mistakes, and he is doing just that, and he must also take responsibility for his lack of communication. My experience with him is that he is a humble man, overwhelmed with orders this spring, and on the verge of tears to me on the phone about this whole incident. I see no reason why we cannot both hold him responsible, which he clearly does himself, as well as treat him with kindness. I don't see this as a matter of either/or. Truth with compassion, has always been the high road for me. Sincerely, Mike Longo

I've been wanting Gaskins Monets garden and while searching on the lily auction, i see the pollen for sale. Does anyone have any experience buying pollen? Can you tell me how I would apply this and how would I store it? Would I have to use it right away, etc.... i'm just a beginner pollen dabber so need to know all the important stuff before I make a decision if I should buy the pollen. thanks