Hi Celeste, What a beautiful rose you have. It must be really fun to create something as pretty as it is. To my un-trained eye the striping pattern looks very similar to Moores Striped Rugosa, which it got from Ferdinand Pichard 5 or 6 generations back. So I guess it could have come from either one, since you have both. After doing a little research on Moores Striped Rugosa I found that in each generation the striping came from just one parent, usually the pollen parent (except for MSR where it came from the seed parent). This means that striping is a dominant trait and should show up in the offspring at least 50% of the time. So if you do decide to use it to breed with you should get a good number striped offspring. I used MSR pollen for the first time this year on several different plants and have a good number of seeds. After seeing your pictures it got me excited to see my seeds germinate and bloom to see how many striped ones I get. Regards, Paul

1. Reel Mower --> not recommended, miss a couple weeks and you are hosed as they don't work well on tall grass or long stems. I like the electric - corded models - same $ as a fancy reel mower 2. Wheel Barrow --> yes, agree with renee :) If you plan to mix concrete often get a metal one... 3. Pruners --> Felco, cheapest price is at Frostproof. 4. Rake -- bamboo if you will rake around plants, but it's better to leave the leaves there anyway. For the lawn the big plastic one is best 6. Shovel - get a digging fork and spade which have the U or T handles. Stainless steel looks nice :) 5. Tiller --> biggest waste of money I ever made... Don't get one - layer mulch/amendments on surface and 'fork' in. 6. Composter --> also a waste of money, just make a pile 3x3 or use some old fence boards to make open bin(s) 7. Hoe --> get a scuffle or hula hoe, small and narrow for weeding around plants 8. Garden clogs/ gloves that will fit a small hand. I buy gloves regularly, the Nitril coated ones are great for touch, but wear quickly, aren't padded and make your hands stink :) Expensive leather ones are cool, but turn your hands yellow...clogs are whatever slip on shoes I have which are no longer clean enuf for work. 9. Anything else you use often.. Gopher traps...Sluggo...Garden Knife... Automated Watering System !!! Chad

yes they are beautiful =) also edible flowers, entire plant edible, all members of the hibiscus family and of the extended family of mallows are entirely edible. easy care- they grow abundantly once established. you dont have to fuss over them much, just give them water every so often and they grow very big =) rose of sharon, Hibiscus syriacus, is one kind of hardy hibiscus, the other main one being hibiscus moscheutos. to sow your seeds, plant them in winter outside, either directly in the ground or in pots. let the winter cold stratify them for you, or alternatively you can look into the cold stratification methods using the fridge.

We have a old wooden screen doors without the screens, also inserts to the old wooden changeable kind. Window insert without windows, screen insert with broken screen. Unfortunately none of them fit one of our old doors that needed a screen insert so we had one made. Don't know where the door went that they go to. I use one of the windowless inserts (many panes) in my truck to make a extra layer when buying plants for the garden club in the spring. It will make a great trellis or part of an arbor someday, I hope. A huge pile of good wood. Dh salvages it. We have used some such as the nice birch bead board that we used on the closed in end of our new screen porch. And dh made a frame for my mosaic picture from the extra porch skirt spindles. Too back I"m not a woodworker! I should learn if I'm ever going to get my arbor. Kathy