Ok, don't lob a snowball at my head but for some reason this year I am not in the whiney pre-spring stage. This winter has seemed to go by fast and while I am of course looking forward to spring, I am not in the least unhappy with winter. We're going through some of our coldest temperatures right now as usual, with overnights well below zero - but I'm ok. What I am most happy about is that suddenly the days seem appreciably longer. I love being able to watch the sunset through the bare trees *from home!* instead of seeing a bit of it as I drive my 40 minute commute home and then have it be darkening as I pull in the drive. Still, a pot of mini roses to fuss with wouldn't be a bad thing at all. I've done that before and ended up with as many as 5 nice little plants that went outdoors in spring to become a pretty border to my front flower bed. Hmmm...I'll have to go shopping after work today. :-)

Thrips can sneak in anytime and they may not have come in on your new Millenia. I have used Schultz Houseplant Insect Spray with good results. The main ingredient is Pyrethrin from the Chrysanthemum flower. This may also be the basis for dog & cat flea spray which older magazines often site as being helpful. You might consider using the RID treatment: 2TB of Rid Lice Shampoo, 1 or 2 tsp Murphy Oil Soap dissolved in 32 oz spray bottle of warm water. The plant & soil should be drenched, allowed to sit about 20 minutes and then rinsed. One grower said it was 100% effective with a one time use. Thankfully, I haven't had to test this last method, but I think it would be my choice if I encounter thrips again as it is purported to do no damage to the plants. Hopefully, you will be able to get these critters under control!

Virginia - in answer to your questions, I've enabled all my neighbors on each side of me and behind to try roses, and convinced them that roses aren't that hard to grow. For the most part, I did this with the more reliable shrub roses, since one neighbor in particular had been convinced that roses had to be obsessively sprayed and fussed over all summer. The ease of shrub roses have convinced them that roses can be easy care plants. For Francis Dubreuil, most folks recommend this one for part shade locations regardless of zone to maintain the deep colors and the purple tones. Mine is in part shade and it doesn't seem to affect the winter hardiness. As for Ingrid Bergman, I love the dark red of this one but I'm on 2 or 3 tries to overwinter this one, and I think it's going to be one of those "cold wimps" that are truly zone 7 rather than only reported as such. Cynthia

jakkom, here a Delmonico is an old fashioned term, seldom used, and meant to denote a rib-eye steak. New York is invariably a strip steak. I've edited this to add this, I was just looking up a specialty market in Traverse City and found the "Delmonico Roast", also known as boneless prime rib! http://www.burrittsmarket.com/news/holidaymeatdepartmentmenu.html Also, according to Wikipedia: " Delmonico's steak may now, in the 21st century, refer to other cuts, prepared differently in different parts of the USA. This wider variety of beef cuts may be broiled, fried, or grilled. Some of the steak cuts now commonly referred to as Delmonico steak include: Boneless rib-eye: A Delmonico cut rib-eye consists of two heart cuts of ribeye tied together with butcher's twine. It resembles a filet mignon in appearance, but because of the more marbled nature of a ribeye, is moister. The modern rarity of the Delmonico cut of rib-eye may be because it renders the remaining pieces of ribeye unsaleable as anything but stewmeat, and the profit to be made from a pair of choice ribeyes is almost always more than that of a single Delmonico. The Delmonico Steak served by the current iteration of Delmonico's in New York is a boneless ribeye. Annie