'Nuther Californian here. Northern Cal. San Jose to be precise! I was far more "Active" on GW last year, while we were constructing my 6x8 HFGH. Been too busy with "other stuff" to post much lately (My apologies!!!). I'm on my 2nd winter with my GH and... So far, So good! My GH is primarily for overwintering "marginals." I've got a Tropical Resort Yard in a Not-So-Tropical climate. Last winter, I had great success w/my marginals in the GH - and I'm expecting the same this winter! This year, I also experimented a bit w/Hydroponics. DH bought me a HydroFarm MegaGarden System for Christmas last year, and I had WONDERFUL success w/tomatoes grown in the GH - even thru summer (although whiteflies got to be a real PITA by the end of the growing season!) (To say nothing of the veritable Rube Goldberg arrangement of pantyhose and assorted ties used to "trellis" the vines all over the GH! I wished I'd snapped some pictures of THAT!!!) (Although, truthfully, the Toms grown "in the ground" had better flavor - IMHO. But the Hydro-Toms were amazingly productive!) ...Now NEXT WINTER: My Big Challenge is gonna be "How the heck am I gonna fit these Plumies in here?!!" In fact, that's kinda/almost a fear for *this* year b/c if they grow AT ALL while they're in the GH - I have no clue how I'm gonna get 'em OUT! (If need be, I'll partially de-construct the GH to extricate them!!!). Yeah, Poor Me! My Plumerias are turning into trees! Oh, and like agardenstateofmind, I had to forego the chair in the GH :::sigh::: Actually, I don't think I'm EVER gonna be able to fit it back in there!!! Take heed, Newbies: When they say you'll outgrown your GH in no-time, they're not kidding!!! :-) -Nancy (aka IMQTPI)

Hi Lynn: Burlington roses in Southern CA has Annie L. McDowell and many Old Garden Roses like Excellenz von Schubert ... which I like just as much as Annie. She has 380+ big roses for $11 per band, and 160+ mini-roses for $7.50 per band. The shipping to my Chicagoland was cheap: $20 for 14 roses last year, but the postage went up this year. She has a big selection of Old Garden Roses that smell great, like Comte de Chambord. She has 2 Austins: Benjamin Britten and Ab. Darby. She has many lavender (Veichenblau) and thornless roses (Pink gruss, Gruss, Marie Pavie & Daly). Burling is honest and gives prompt service. She will email you the list of roses she has if you request at: BurlingtonRoses@aol.com It's best to order in advance, the popular ones are sold out fast. I really miss thornless mini-rose Norwich Sweetheart (smells wonderful !!), Sweet Arlene (thornless), Comte de Chambord, Rose du Roi, La Reine, and Louis Odier were all sold out by Christmas. There's already a long waiting list for Annie from last year, so the sooner you order, the better your chance. If you ask her the types you want, she will recommend for you. I asked her for the most-blooming polyantha in her nursery, she gave me the list. Any questions you ask, she will answer promptly ... Burling is a very knowledgeable rosarian. This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Fri, Jun 28, 13 at 22:33

I've seen it work both ways, Kitty. Very often, you really can't determine why a cutting just fails to thrive. You can theorize and experiment with many variables and many will respond to something, but not all. It could be the weaker one hadn't the stored resource levels the more vigorous one did. Perhaps it dried out somewhere along the way and hasn't caught up yet? There are many possibilities and what you "should" do depends upon whether paying for a new plant exceeds the amount having two identical plants is worth to you. Very often, trying to propagate from an older, more geriatric plant can be extremely difficult. As the wood ages, the capillaries do constrict, reducing sap flow and causing the geriatric plant to become less productive and less vital and vigorous. You see it more with plants which haven't reproduced themselves, kept themselves more vital through basal production. "One cane wonders" frequently become just this type of plant. Trying to root cuttings from these often results in more failures than successes. Propagating at The Huntington as a volunteer, I frequently encountered the issue. Clair Martin, the Curator of Roses at the time, said you frequently had to "reintroduce juvenility" into the variety to make it easier to propagate. Once you can get a cutting to take and gain momentum, propagating from the new plant has been tremendously easier than from the old, woody one. What made the most sense to me about this is the old plant was likely malnourished from reduced sap flow, so cuttings taken from it lacked all the necessary resources to propagate as easily. Once the plant was new, with more open capillaries and better sap flow, cuttings from it most often rooted much faster and easier, probably because they had more of what they required for propagation. We'd frequently propagate from newly produced plants instead of the old bushes because they rooted faster and easier. Kim

Hello again friends. I continue to be amazed by your kindness and concern. Paulines and Elizabeth10029 - if you are back in here reading, yes by all means please feel free to save these posts. ALL OF YOU have my permission (and gratitude) to keep or share what I have written. I am humbled by the thought that my words have meant so much. There are so many more stories here that need to be told. The political firestorms have been whipped up to a frenzy over the past few weeks. I am sure many of you have heard on the national news the statements our mayor, Ray Nagin, made this week during his MLK celebratory speech about making the city of New Orleans "chocolate". Well, of course, the whole city is now in an uproar. I really think he is suffering from "Katrina fatigue". This mayor was very, very well liked by the most of the city - all different races. Now, he has become a symbol of division. And this comes at a time, when we must really pull together and present a rational, unified front. I am embarrassed and concerned about the damage he has done - the whole world is watching us. And I think the image he put forth is so misleading. While to the outside world it appears that there is a huge racial divide - in reality, New Orleans incorporates her diversity far better than many other cities. One of my dearest friends of 30+ years is african american - and she has spent the past few months living in my home. Our families vacation together every year. My other best friends are indonesian, hispanic, and greek - I am the "token wasp!" I have wonderful friends from as far away as Syria and VietNam. And I am not uncommon. Most New Orleanians work with, laugh and play with, cry and mourn with the many diverse people here. The problem arises when poverty and crime are added to the equation. I have no answers, only more questions. As do the other good people (of all races) who live here. We shake our heads in dismay and write letters to the editor! We are in dire need of effective leadership - and it is sadly lacking. The initial rebuilding plans for the city were just released and are being evaluated now. There is just no way possible to make everyone happy. We have to choose safety over everything else. Some people are simply not going to be allowed to rebuild their neighborhoods. It is so sad, tragic. But it would be insane to allow these people to live in harms way - even if they really WANT to! Desperate times make for desperate decisions, and some people just cannot believe or trust that the engineers and experts are telling the truth about where to rebuild or not. The next few months are going to be critical ones - will the city of New Orleans succeed in creating a plan for rebuilding better and stronger and wiser than before? Or will history repeat itself? Can we get congress to give us Netherlands-quality category 5 hurricane levees? Are we valued? President Bush visited last week and commented that "this is looking like the New ORleans I remember". Well, that was voted as the most ridiculous statement of last week. He saw the French Quarter (which did not flood at all) and the Garden District (which did not flood at all). It's just unbelievable. Only 30% of New Orleans has lights. That's right. It is pitch black at night. And cold. No heat, no lights, no phones. My friend's neighborhood - about half a mile from me - still has no working phone lines. Not one single person I know, who lived in the areas of New Orleans that flooded, has been able to move back into their house. People in Jefferson Parish (suburb of New Orleans, where I live) are able to rebuild now and some have been able to move back. It is absolutely still a disaster zone. And it will remain so until the city institutes a viable rebuilding plan - which appears to be months away yet. I am leaving tomorrow to visit DD back in Michigan for a week. It will be wonderful to get away from the daily bombardment of Katrina news. Of course, she calls almost daily (and usually right after the 6pm news) and at the top of her list is "Mom, why don't you sell your house and move up here?" Honestly, I do think about it. But, I have decided to give it one year here and if we cannot see a light at the end of the tunnel by then...well, I will have to make some very hard decisions. Meanwhile, I will play with precious grandson, enjoy the clean beautiful snow of Michigan, and my beautiful DD, and leave the troubles of New Orleans behind for a while.