I took the plunge and got a new computer...1 TB of memory. Hopefully it will hold all my music and pictures. But due to being computer illiterate, I'm still trying to find my way around the differences from the old computer. The comp geeks transferred everything from the old computer to the new one, but I guess it's up to me to find out how to access it. And, of course, there are long-forgotten passwords that prevented me from accessing email, finally resolved today. I went to a wonderful folk concert at a local guitar shop. John McCutcheon played banjo, guitar, keyboard, dulcimer, and sang with the most marvelous voice. What a treat! Tomorrow, tickets go on sale for folk singer John Prine who will be at the Cascade Theatre in a few months. Yippee! Mary

I just wanted to thank everyone so much for your very helpful suggestions! I was out yesterday, so I didn't have the chance to write back yet. HoovB, thank you, thank you, thank you for the tips on cool versus warm pinks... The area where the "cool-colored" miniature rose and Zephirine will go will be so pretty with the strong purples and cool pinks! I lined up some of the purples from the meadow sage and veronica I got and man! what a huge difference...I am so excited to plant that I can hardly stand it... and yes, HoovB I am absolutely crazy about both my Lincolns... You are so right in that they are both cool and "hot"! they go with anything under the sun practically...That Lincoln red and the orange of my gladiolus is so striking and just like you described it looks magnificent against yellows and golds as well. Even when I prop up the deep purples just for the heck of it, against the Lincolns, it still looks very attractive... I did check the hardiness level of all my climbers and new wish list roses and yes, they all can take zone 5... the only exception as Rita described is Royal Sunset and Sutter's Gold (zone 6 and above)...Not surprisingly they are same lineage... My zone is actually 5/6... There is actually a split in opinion about what zone Kansas is. My nursery calls it 5, garden centers call it 6. Online 70% call it zone 6. I call it zone 5 because even though we have very mild winters (any snow we get immediately melts away within 2 days or less), we will have sudden drastic, unpredictable freezes (that again last a day) in March which wreak havoc for roses. Many roses are fooled into breaking dormancy and that's where the trouble is... Rita and AthenCecilia I have to find out how long it takes for a climbing rose to climb back up when it dies to the ground... I will be investing in a lot of winter protection as well...someone from zone 5 was very happy with his Royal Sunset but did mention every year it'd die back to the ground...America is sold in Kansas, so I am assuming it does well here. I really am counting on my Garden-ville sea tea too, Henri...it has been a real miracle worker for me against winter and root trauma... Athenainwi, thanks too for your wonderful suggestion...I will need to use your method for several herbs (which are not blooming yet) and for all the new young root roses that I will be getting from Roses Unlimited...What a clever smart idea... Roseberri, Greenhaven, and Henri, wish me luck and Powerhouse to Green-ville Sea Tea...(and of course the good 'ole horse manure that I'll be dumping into my new climbing rose lot this winter, lol!) I am not looking forward to that messy endeavor, hee-hee!

I hope the improving weather lasts a while. I'm ready to enjoy having a few days with highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s. It wouldn't offend me if we had highs in the 70s either. Sammy, I hope your roses are okay. Our temperatures here have not been the lowest ones we have had since moving here, but some of the wind chills have been the lowest I remember since moving here. Still, some of the usual winter/early spring wildflowers have bloomed in January and February even in the midst of all the cold, so maybe the cold weather hasn't affected the plants as much as we think. If we are going to warm up, I hope we stay warm. The worst thing in the world for my fruit trees is for warm temperatures to arrive in February. They've already had enough chilling hours to meet their chilling requirement, so just a few days of warm temperatures are likely to push them into bloom. Usually if they go nuts and bloom in February we lose the fruit to late freezing weather or frost in March and April. So, from the viewpoint of someone who wants to have a decent peach and plum harvest this year, I hope the weather isn't warm enough long enough to encourage the trees to bloom too early---unless it is going to stay warm. Y'all, remember this.....we were having widespread grass fires, brush fires and wild fires across a large portion of the state before the really cold temperatures and winter precipitation arrived. Now that the precipitation is gone, with warmer and windier weather returning, fire danger will increase over the next few weeks so be prepared and be watchful. Let's think some positive thoughts for all the folks in Georgia and other southeastern states whose weather forecast is calling for ice storms of epic proportions. It sounds like they could have a good old-fashioned Oklahoma-style ice storm that brings down lots of trees and power lines. Let's hope that they get lucky and the trees stay upright and the power stays on. If it has to get icy there, I hope the ice falls more as snow pellets, graupel or sleet and not as freezing rain that coats everything it hits. We've all "been there, done that" with the freezing rain here in our state in the 2000s and I wouldn't wish that on anybody. Finally, if you want to use "highs of 32 degrees or lower" as a measure of how bad this winter has been, I'll link the OK Mesonet map that shows that below. Keep in mind that this map is based off of official temperatures recorded at Mesonet stations and the weather at your house may have differed significantly from the weather at your county's mesonet station or stations. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Map: # of Days With High Temps 32 Or Below

Vegjoe - we will miss you. And hope you can attend next year. Photos will be posted. Anyway you can send a neighbor or friend? I am still waiting to sample 4-5 of mine, some are larger varieties planted late so they are really late. piegirl