Irish rose, What a beautiful boy! I lost my 15.5 y/o black lab,lance 15 months ago. He was my best kid ever! I've been wanting a new puppy for a long time but hubby wasn't ready until now and then springs it on me that he wants two puppies not one! I say it's double trouble but what a fun summer we'll have! I got my first lab from a breeder about 17 years ago and paid 550.00 for him. These puppies were an accident! A family friend has a male and female and thought that they could keep the seperate, YA RIGHT! We went to look at them and he said he knew how we loved and cared for our dog so he would sell us the first for 400.00 and the second for 275.00. What a bargain, huh. They are just thrilled that we would take two. The reason that we can't take them is that new hampshire law states that puppies stay with mom until they are 8 weeks old. It feels like forever! I'll post more pics when I get them in my house. Lisa

My growing conditions, in Oslo, Norway, (down to 20 degrees celcius below zero in winter - months and months of rain sometimes) is probably way different from most of you, and hardly what Ingrid was in the market for, but since you asked for different sorts of experiences, here goes. My best roses are the following: Old roses: - Rose de Rescht (Autumn Damask): Healty, seldom without flowers, beautiful colours, wonderful fragrance. Small bush, perfect for the small garden.App. 1 meter tall. - Ispahan (Damask): Healty, wonderful fragrance, in bloom for almost 6 weeks, vigorous. Will grow as much as you let it - easily 2 meters tall. - Commandant Beaurepaire (Bourbon): Extremely vigorous, masses of flowers in its first flush, some flowers later, very good fragrance, healthy. About 1.5 meters tall. - Hippolyte (Gallica): One of the very darkest of roses. Has been voted most beautiful rose and best scented rose in my garden. 2 meters tall. Hurdalsrosen (Alba): The largest rose in my garden - 4 by 5 meters. This is not a bush, it is a tree! It makes people go "Oh my God" when it is in bloom - which sadly is only for about two to three weeks. No scent, but very pretty medium size flowers. Austin roses: - Constance Spry: Enormously vigorous- reached my roof in three years, and the two I now have, which are planted on each side of the chimney form a wall of roses. Nice musk scent, large flowers of breathtaking beauty.4 meters tall. Generally healthy. - Gertude Jekyll: One of the best scented modern roses, and one with lots of flowers and very healthy. - Golden Celebration: Best scented yellow rose, and rarely without flowers. Large beautiful flowers. Healthy. Ramblers: - Chevy Chase (Red rambler - 3 meters and growing). extremely vigorous, lots of flowers and very healthy. - Veilchenblau: (Lilac rambler - 5 meters): Ditto - Minnehaha: (Pink rambler- 4 meters and growing): Ditto. - Helenae hybrida: White rambler- 5 meters and growing) Ditto. Lovely fragrance.

Ah, there are the pics. Figured it out. You can see the dramatic difference in size a little better now. True to first year it sleeps, second year it creeps, third year it leaps. Thanks for the compliments. I agree they look healthy and happy, but in years past they were watered every morning. I think I've watered them maybe 5 times this summer because workmen trampled on and broke my watering system. They're made of stern stuff! I don't think I put the usual 10-10-10 on them in the spring either. I pruned them before I took the pictures. They're shooting up new buds that are now above my head. I never expected them to grow to such a height. I may prune much more aggressively in the future. I think my soil is naturally acidic so I didn't do anything to get the blue color. And naturally, I wish I had some pink hydrangeas. ha. # #

dmid It's probably NOT the right kind. Menards doesn't carry the Quikrete product. THey have some other product called Cement Vinyl Patch... can't remember the mfr. It's in a 25 lb bag. Almost all Quikrete has rocks/larger aggregate in it. The mix you need is basically just sand and cement. I would return what you've got, go to Home Depot and get Quikrete CONCRETE vinyl patch. It's in a yellow and blue package. 40 lb THat's what I've used and so far so good. But remember, for those of us here in the north, if you want to keep your leaves outside in the winter, they should probably be turned over, so water cannot collect in them. The freeze-thaw cycle we have is known to crack flat stones! Also, they should be a minimum of 2-2 1/2 inches thick! For what I'm making right now, which I'd call garden decor, I plan on bringing those inside for the winter.... they're far too thin for outdoors.