We don't get snow very often, but occassionally get freezing rain & sleet during the winter. And it can get pretty windy here. Because of the above, I can sometimes have winter problems with damage to my tea roses when they are young. The young, flexible canes can be bent way down or even broken. My tea roses barely go dormant at all, and our long growing season means that lots of new growth has usually been produced by the teas until very late in the year, just before potential ice can occur. But after about 5 years, when the tea roses have built a solid structure, they begin to hold up well to the occassional winter storms that we have. For example, my Mrs. Dudley Cross used to be very scared of winter freezing rain & ice. Now, she's a seasoned, portly lady and doesn't blink an eye. Same for Mr. G. Nabonnand. Randy

The white flowers are a definite sign that you did not get what you ordered. Dwarf Grey Sugar can get to 4ft tall, but I have never seen them as tall as the peas you have there. On the other hand, Oregon Sugar does reach 5ft easily, so it could be a simple mix-up. What colour are the seeds? My OSP seeds are plain beige single coloured but my DGS are green/purple/brown and speckled.

"What popped into mind when I saw your hosta experiment was a thought about whether, once those eyes have all grown a bit, this whole plant could be set in the earth and whether a hedge of hostas would grow. I know... it's not at all what you're doing. It's just another question that came to mind." jel48 As it works out I had though about this exact question and was planning work to investigate it. That is a propagation method for several types of plants and is used in Oregon on fruit trees. The same method works with a lot of woody bushes by laying a branch down and covering with dirt or sometimes just laying a brick on the branch with easy ones. And, I don't care about changing subjects except sometimes the threads move away from valuable subjects IMHO. I always hope others will add to what I find or get me off an erroneous path. It may also relate to what I found with "fairy rings"? See attached for possible explanation. Here is a link that might be useful: tropism

Well, gee, Steve, I'm certainly not gonna be a thread drift cop if the other thread goes off in its own direction. :D *chirp* *chirp* (a couple gratuitous chirps thrown in for good measure) I was just so impressed how early the Bloody Butcher set fruit -- before the Fourth of July -- late June even! Nice tasting tomato that gives until frost. So its taste gets eclipsed by the later season beefsteaks, that's ok, its still a darn fine mater. Thess is just a little production monster with good flavored fruit. Got my seeds from a sweet Greek who nearly cried at the pics after the hailstorm until he saw it bouncing back with tough vigor. While the first few Black Prince tomatoes did not impress me, as the season progressed, I came to really like this tomato. It has a nice complex flavor but not overwhelmingly sweet or tart. I'm anxious to taste the Yellow Submarine. My mentor got the seeds from Ireland a few years ago and a lot of people are growing it this year. They say this is a yellow pear with real flavor to it, not just cute and mealy. :) NuMex varieties? I like Big Jim, but I really found my favorite with Joe E. Parker. Last year I grew Aji Colorado and really liked it too. Now when I get moved to a longer growing season, I can add a pepper for a little touch of here -- Aji Limon. :D