Please read this carefully. In Spring when a rose bush is pruned: If pruned severely it will take longer to bloom as they need to reach a certain size before blooming on the 1st flush. The first blooms will be large, but, you will have fewer blooms. This applies to all rose bushes. Now, when the flower is spent and needs deadheaded after the first flush, when you cut to the 5 leaf, it will take longer to re-bloom as it needs a longer time to grow back to its size to re-bloom because you are cutting more of the stem off. EXAMPLE FROM PLATINUM: cutting to the 5 leaf, it took alittle over 6 weeks to re-bloom snapping off the rose, it re-bloomed in 3 - 4 weeks. I had smaller blooms, but, many more blooms throughoout the season. So, I can see where you are stuck between a rock and a hard place with Mr. Lincoln. The pruning method NEEDED for Mr. Lincoln to keep him a nice looking bush shape, you MAY have to sacrifice flower blooms and how long it takes to bloom. Plus, I read Mr. Lincoln takes forever to bloom after severe pruning and that includes the 5 leaf method also. So, to get more blooms, you may have to live with a less then perfect busk look with smaller flowers...LOL Hopefully not though...lol --------------------------------------------------------- I would keep pruning exactly like you have been and see what happens to Lincolns when they reach there 3rd-4th years, then if nothing happens with getting the blooms you want, you may have to make some pruning changes.

Ramblinrozez I can guarantee my Gardenville is the all-in-one, which is why I use it, Jim. I know it has fish emulsion, compost tea (probably alfalfa), seaweed, all the goodies. I don't have to get all those combinations. It makes everything complete for a rose dummy like myself who doesn't have time to make all these homemade mixes. However my interest in DrammaticK as a foliar is because! it uses raw fish oils instead of being cooked out as an emulsion and I'm thinking the oil and sodium is hostile to blackspot. RamblinRozez, Karl the rosarian and other specialized rose gardeners do swear by fish emulsion and alfalfa as what roses truly love best!!! They grow exhibition flowers and do rely on those nutrients as well. I use Rosetone, but it does only a itsy-bitsy fraction of what my Powerhouse Gardenville does. Every time I do my feedings I see immediate results! (huge burst of new growth). Also Ramblinrozez, it depends on what kind of roses you have. Hybrid Teas demand!!!! specialized feedings. Your neighbor probably has that knockout. Please Harold and Jim forgive me for saying this but what really bothers me about knockouts is that bees don't care for them and they have absolutely no fragrance. Knockouts are everywhere! and sort of hamper the variety of roses we encounter. They are found in every single apartment complex, in front of every fast food restaurant, across every neighborhood placard), in the malls. They're like the the Walmart of roses instead of visiting a boutique store. It's like eating a Big Mac instead of fine dining at a special-occasion restaurant. So again to each his own. LOL! Both have their own purposes. Harold I will gush and gush over your absolutely lovely roses except for the knockout, hee-hee. So Jim you can reach out and smack me on the head, hee-hee!

Thank you, I could not for the world figure out how to get these pictures in the post, at a reasonable size to view. Appreicate your help.

I'm in CT. I used a medium gray plaster on a gunite shell, so the pool has a dark "pond water" type of look versus a bright blue water look. My pool (also 20x40) warms up quite nicely on sunshine alone. No solar cover, etc. Summer it stays in the high 80s, in a long hot spell it can turn to bath water in the low 90s. I do have a propane heater that can heat the pool and spa. I heat the spa, but haven't heated the pool since the kids went off to college. A 400k Raypak. I open the pool in April and close it in November. For heating the pool you'll want a 400k heater. Favorite simple things? I love the gray plaster and the dark subdued color of the water. I put turn tiles at each end of the pool for swimming laps. Dislike? The 3' wide ribbon of Kool Deck around the pool. I would have preferred to not have it and instead have stone coping, but for budget purposes I did the pool with the Kool Deck right away, as the kool deck was part of the pool package. Then the next year I installed the roughly 1800 sqft of stone patio, built and installed the 450' of cedar fence, and built the 16' by 40' pergola. Step by step. pool