Bill, I too also plant way too many and then share. You might want to share with people with mental illness living in Assisted Living facilities. I work in such a facility and most of the people there are fine a great deal of the time. Often they are extremly bored and watching and tending for plants and flowers would be an excellent diversion from the monotony. Many mental illnesses, especially bi-polar are cycular in nature. Some people cycle faster or more often than others. Many do well on medication, just need monitoring to take it, and educated intervention during rough periods or when their dosing needs adjusting. Most of the residents where I work differentiate between "really crazy" or "nuts"(their terminology)and off hand comments that the user didn't intend as offensive. There is a symantic parallel between the current connotations of the word "gay". Remember when it used to mean "happy"? TV and movies don't accuratly portray the masses with mental illness. Very few are actually scary. They are generally just pretty ordinary people. In this country serious illness' get ignored, until someone of star status is afflicted, ie Michael J. Fox and Parkinson's disease, Christopher Reeves and head injury, Magic Johnson and AIDS etc etc... When this happens tons of money gets pumped in to research and the general population benefits from knowledge and understanding about the illness. People also realize it happens to others and there shouldn't be any shame in seeking treatment. I sincerely hope Brittney Spears uses her star status to educate people and funnel financial resources into research, treatment and cures. While waiting for the world to evolve we can all spread some cheer with our abundance!

I have broccoli growing here in central AR all winter long. I bought the plants and put them in the ground, probably before Christmas, maybe before Thanksgiving. Cold has not hurt broccoli or brussels sprouts and we've gotten to 17 F, maybe. They're growing slow, but the broccoli has the flower heads growing on it now, just not big enough to harvest. They are protected by milk jugs, cans or tomato cages with bird block not for the cold, but against the critters.

Snip the dead cane down to healthy white tissue if you can find some, or cut it completely down. The reddish-green you're seeing is new growth so I don't think your plant's dead, just maybe had a rough life thus far and now needs a good caretaker. They say everything happens for a reason, so this "free" rose was supposed to come to you, regardless of the actual circumstances :-) Minis are not grafted, but grow on their own roots so you'll have new stuff sprouting even where you can't see anything right now. New canes will be shooting up from the roots and out of spots you may think are dead. Minis are truly amazing in this respect--I got three mail-order twigs last year (6-8" long and about a leaf each) which were so disappointing to behold...but with my usual bullheadedness, I stuck them in the ground and they've grown into a beautiful healthy hedge (each plant now about 2x2') at the front of my raised rosebed. Have faith! Greg

I saw the news report online this morning. What sickened me was the picture of the photographers (paparazzi) with their cameras pushed up against the rear windows of the ambulance, taking photos of her on the gurney inside the vehicle. Geez, she's a wreck, but she's still human and still entitled to some privacy.