THANK YOU so very much EVERYONE, for brightening my birthday! I enjoyed all of the photos and well-wishes from all my rosey friends. I am always grateful that my birthday falls right during peak rose season here in my zone 4 garden! The old roses were especially lovely this year, but short-lived....we have had thunderstorms and torrential rain for several days which pretty much wiped out the delicate blooms. There are fallen petals everywhere! But as I go outside on the deck every morning with my coffee, the lovely, wafting fragrance of over 300 rosebushes in full bloom starts each day off right. My days are very long and full, taking care of my elderly mom who has Alzheimer's and a broken hip, taking care of all my gardens, pets, and husband & last child left at home. I ALWAYS check this forum every day, even if I haven't the time to post, and was delighted to be remembered. Thanks, Carla, for starting this post. I have been happily snapping hundreds of luscious rose photos of my gardens, and will share them here soon. I love you all! Kate....what a great memory you have! Yes, I did receive Night Owl for my b-day last year. That's the great thing....everyone knows to buy me a rosebush for my birthday, so I've added several more to my gardens. My son gets me one for Mother's Day and one for my birthday every year. Night Owl had some dieback over the winter and was cut back to about 2 feet, but is sending out lots of canes and blooming its head off. It is especially dark purple this year and absolutely stunning. Photos will be forthcoming. Celeste

Dear Sherry, This is a VERY belated happy birthday, but this is the first time I've been on the computer for a week, having come to Florida since the last time I showed up on the forum. I don't have a computer where I'm staying and my access is irregular. Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! I think that sixty can be fine, and certainly hope it will be the beginning of a great new decade for you. My husband was sixty when he and I got married, and he says that the fifteen years that have passed since then have been the happiest of his life (no, I don't think it's diplomacy). So, my best wishes to you, and remember to stay twenty-seven in your heart forever, or at least for many years more. Best wishes, Melissa P.S. One of the great things about public celebrations of birthdays on the forum is that all forum members get to enjoy the photos of roses. A party, and we're all invited.

Wow...an extended birthday! Thanks to you all! Carol, I reserve the warmest spot in my heart for roses that are aristocratic AND goodhumored, and to my mind Cl. Etoile de Hollande falls in that category: such an easy rose to please, and such amazing color and scent. Glad to know you're a fan too. Betty, perhaps it's just the word pictures I paint, but I don't post photos, because our line is just too slow. Either my descriptions are creating beautiful pictures in your head, or you're admiring someone else's garden. I gladly accept that part of the compliment that's mine, and, thanks for the good wishes! One the matter of turning fifty, I'm fortunate to be in good health and to have generally healthy habits, and I'm either doing what I want or am in a position to be able to do what I want when I decide to; in other words, I am my own chief limitation, and so have room to act. I am fortunate. I like being fifty; my chief worry at this point is that I haven't accomplished that much with my first half century, and I want to become more productive. My garden is important; learning about plants and gardening is important. The next step is sharing that knowledge, and also figuring out how to earn a living doing so. Before my daughter was born I learned, rather late, how to earn a living, but I've never in my life had a paying job doing something I loved: and I would like to do so before I die. Of course I'm getting gray in my hair, my skin is coarsening, I'm getting a bit of middle-aged spread: nothing that will make me happier when I look in the mirror, but then I don't look much in the mirror: that's for the young. Now is my time of life to look outward rather than at myself. Middle age is for doing rather than being. I can do just fine. I have a lot to do. I'm looking forward to it. Valerie, thanks for the good wishes. The big plant order actually isn't roses this time, although I intend to order them too later this year. I plan on FINALLY installing the main section of our garden, and so am ordering (planning on ordering, depending on availability at the nurseries)the following: box, both common and varieties; lilac, species and varieties of S. vulgaris; rosemary and other aromatics and gray-foliaged plants; laburnums, viburnums, whitebeams perhaps, Italian pines, a golden bay laurel for a shady corner of the garden; two or three pittisporum; and a great many other odds and ends. Many of the these will go into hedges, either formal (box) or informal, and pretty much all of them are drought tolerant based on my experience here. Almost all are liners, as I have much more patience than money. I still to do some basic planning with stakes and flagging tape, and I don't think I'll have the nerve to make an order until it rains, which it's supposed to do starting today: the forecast is for an inch! Ha ha! Carol, Valerie, Lori, Patricia, Betty: Thank you all for writing and offering your good wishes. ...

Thank you all, my dear, dear friends. Yesterday we had one of those days here at our house -- no water for 36 hours, Freya sneaking a pizza off the kitchen counter, and the smell of fresh polyurethane pervading the cold, damp house.... On the other hand, I had the loving affection of Tom and my DS Jacob, calls and cards from family, and greetings from all of you. And tonight we're going out to dinner to try celebrate again. Carla, Luanne, Jon, Anita, Lori, Ingrid, Sue, Carolina, Pamela, and Carol -- each one of your messages brought smiles and memories to my mind. I just realized that with the exception of Ingrid, I know each one of you in the Real World (as opposed to online) -- Ingrid, we'll just have to correct that soon. The only birthday wish I have left (besides more rain) is to hope that I get to see you all again as frequently and as soon as may be. Rosefolly