Masha, beautiful photos as always! Last year I noticed more mildew on my potted roses than on my roses in the ground (which also still had plenty of it, too). This year all roses in pots or in the ground are relatively clean of mildew. Go figure... Isabella Sprunt looks like a very nice pale yellow rose. I really do like her. The color combination of Condesa de Sastago with the Mexican sage and the Tibuchina in the background is so outstanding! I really admire your sense of color! The autumn pics of the trees are very pretty make me miss the Bay Area quite a bit. Maybe I have to visit soon, again :-)! Thanks for posting! Christina

Kathy; No, The Red Lilies are "Red Alert" Vickie:I agree with you,that I have wonderful daughters. 3 of them. Nancy: No I do not use a flash outside at all.Ms Blackie had her eyes squinted half shut, because the sun was very bright,and she had just walked out of bright sun into the shade.She dont act like the same cat that came here about 7 yrs ago.She was so wild and skinny,I could not get closer then 15 feet from her.She is still on the skinny side,even tho she eats good,she never puts much weight on. and yes, she really is content.She seems happiest when she can be near me and just looks me right in the eye and purrs very loud. Thank you Rita, I do love these Red lilies. I will have to bring this Pink rose outside and give it some sunshine,as it wont live long inside,and as it grows I will pot it in a bigger pot. I planted Hydrangeas in the ground years ago here and none of them lived,so wasnt going to take a chance with these two and put them in big pots.Well,the one is planted in a large plastic tub as you can see,and I just drilled a bunch of holes in the bottom for drainage.Besides these tubs was selling for $ 4,00 each at the time,and the big pots was $ 20.00.I plant tomatoe plants in these big tubs too each year and those tubs are now 10 yrs old,sitting in the sun all day, so they do last a long time, too. Them scapes are beautiful to me right now.Its hard to wait to see a bloom. Jean

wren-garden, wish I could answer your question, but this is the very first bloom I've had. Overcast today, with some showers. Predicting rain every day til next week, so I don't know when I will know how it will do under normal conditions. It is about noon now, I just came in & it looks like it did this morning. I've been waiting on this bloom, & was so sure it would storm this morning so I couldn't see it. Kay, Beautiful Edgings is always beautiful, isn't it? One of those older ones everyone should have. I sure wish you could get some of this rain, our backyard was a pond yesterday, got almost 1 3/4" rain in a very short time, makes about 5 1/2" in 4 days. My iris are not looking good.

Beautyberry plants are kind of leggy/gangly shrubs if left to grow on their own. However, they respon real well to pruning and pruning them back once or twice a year will result in fuller shrubs. It is said you can even cut them back to the roots in early spring and they will come back looking much lusher. They can be rooted from cuttings, but I think they were one of the plants that are rather time sensitive on when you should take cuttings. Too early or late and they tend to fail. Seeds, however, are super easy to sprout. I got my beautyberry plants from clipping a 6 inch length that had two nodes of berries on it. I threw them all in a pot and covered with soil. Come spring time I had 30+ beautyberry sprouts coming up. This post was edited by Leekle2ManE on Mon, Sep 23, 13 at 19:21