Catsrose and I did, indeed, have a wonderful Saturday afternoon -- touring the garden, visiting, and just getting to know one another. (We decided that she wasn't a day early, something cosmic must have happened and she was supposed to be here then instead of on Sunday.) I'm up for a trip to her place, whether anyone else is invited or not. Buford, my friend, we missed you. Are your germs all gone now? Robert, I forgot about Aviateur Bleriot. It's not a Barbier, though -- it's from Fauque & Fils. In the spirit of full disclosure, I must add that I have Silver Moon and American Pillar anchoring the very end of the fence where it turns the corner. My handy-guy had his son and his friend out in the rose field yesterday afternoon digging holes with the ground auger. (This speeds up planting like you wouldn't believe, mainly because I don't have to spend time breaking up the soil to refill the hole once I have the rose in it. Digging the hole itself is no big deal, because I have really nice soil.) I had spent the morning running the irrigation lines to the second half of the field. As soon as he finishes the holes this morning, I will start the final push to get the rest of the field planted -- 120 more roses, or so, that I won't have to keep watered in the driveway. This will add 3 rows of hybrid perpetuals, 2 rows of hybrid teas, and a row each shrubs, hybrid bracteatas, and floribundas, and 1 row left over for overflow smaller roses. I still have a few spots left in the first half of the field -- mainly among the once-bloomer rows. Belle Isis, Rosa Mundi, and La Belle Sultane (thanks, Jim) are going there. If you are visiting central Virgiia, and you'd like to come see the garden, let me know. As I said earlier, I love having company. Connie

Hey Nev, just loading some pics now of that brom with the roooooly long name(in my eyes)LOL When photographing it i noticed it had a fair amount of fly speck scale...dam dam. But when i do buy from that lady alot of her gardens have it and broms so they stay in a group at my place till they are sprayed..anyhow..... Here is a side view of it, its just a cut pup The top view is not showing alot of colour right now as its come from a place where it does not see alot of light and is overly fertilised, so im suspecting it is not the colour it is supposed to be at the moment Jennie Jennie Jennie, I found a few broms that i got from you, some recently and some a while back Yang *love it* something or rather flowered and is pupping Mexicana? OOOHHHHHHH he is the man on the grandstand, I love it so much. Its the biggest brom ive recieved via mail order ever, but has certainly tripled in size.May I ask how much light he can handle? does he look spindly or too green? Im being careful with him as i dont wanna burn him. he is the bright sunlight green section, but i was thinking he could handle the cream cloth too and be in more light? And this pendulant guy too has a pup ready to cut there is a grasshopper that loves to munch on it...grrrrrr I know i have heaps more from you, but seeing as though I just moved and shuffled all my broms around they are hard to find at a quick glance....in fct ive lost alot of broms in the shuffle, they are there somewhere but im not used to all their new homes yet...LOL....Its a surprise in every corner

Ciao all, I hope everyone had a great day out in the garden today. I know it's a back to work day for most people, but my goodness, what glorious weather to be outside. Thanks to all of you for such interesting trades and also for your knowledge and wisdom regarding perennials. I have SO much to learn about them still, thanks for your patience in answering my newbie questions. Tristan grabbed some things from the middle circle which I have no clue regarding the names of the plants or what sort of care they need, so as soon as I'm able, I'm hoping to post some pictures of them for ID. I'm so excited about all the lilacs! They're small, but I know they'll fill that space nicely and I can't wait to discover what colours they turn out to be. I put the dahlias in full sun and just barely covered the root/tuber/rhizome thingies. I hope that's what they need. Tomatoes/eggplants/peppers/tomatillos/basil all got a full day outside and tomorrow will be their first major dose of full sun. I'm hoping to get them in the ground before the weekend. Duane finished 2 additional tomato beds as a birthday present for me and got all the 8' stakes in this morning. The soaker hoses are all in place and now it's just a matter of waiting a few days for the plants to get fully hardened off. Big hugs to all of you, I wish the weather had been more pleasant but it was still a very fun event and thanks again to sydseeds for organizing the swap and for everyone's wonderful enthusiasm and generosity. Get planting everyone!! Julianna

LOL, Virginia! No, that's okay. If we go, we'll be there before 3. My cousin likes to garden, but she's not a diehard like us and I'm not sure if she would be up for two gardens in one day. So I don't want you and your friend to go to any trouble. I'll see how she feels about it tomorrow. Good luck to you and your friend tomorrow! Monique, at least the storms will clear up by morning, so it shouldn't actually be raining during the day. Funny, I was thinking of you this afternoon while I was deadheading MY daylilies. I was thinking of seeing if you needed any help to get ready tomorrow morning. But unfortunately, I am driving up with someone and I don't think she'd want to be there THAT early - although she probably wouldn't mind being put to work, lol. I'm sure everything will be perfect! See you tomorrow! :) Dee