A co-worker of mine has a daughter who is waiting for a kidney, a Canadian film maker just did a documentary about their family and about how in India, people sell thier kidneys, it is a poor village where they sell thier kidneys as an income, I wish I could give a kidney or help people with even donating my blood, but was told I can't cuz of hep A. Bulldinkie: do you have pics of your pond/etc? Love to see them! Here is a link that might be useful: A Kidney for My Daughter

Double Delight - you will love it. The only negative is that it gets double centers if you overfertilize. Good repeat, about 4 feet here. Mine is an older plant, when younger, it was taller Just Joey - I love it but it is not reliably hardy here. I plant it again and again hoping to find the right sheltered spot! Love it but can't seem to keep it going. Fussy! Never grown one over 8 inches tall. Peace - a classic, good rose for me. About four feet for me. Repeat is ok, not as much as others in my garden. Medallion - I like it and it has been a good rose for me in my garden. Not my fave, though. 4 feet and a somewhat stingy bloomer here. Europeana - a nice rose, lots of bloom throughout the season. A shorter, low growing rose. Always in bloom. I haven't grown Pascali. Just not a big fan of white roses. I've bought the package roses at Menard's for years. To give them a good start, soak them for at least 24 hours. They will do better if you put them in pots to start, then transfer them to the garden when they have shown some good growth.

My Presto canner is about that age but definitely not like "brand new" LOL. Here's an abbreviated checklist from rec.food.preserving's FAQ to run through for your canner: 1. Check the rim to make sure there're no nicks and that the locking tabs aren't damaged. 2. Check the rubber gasket and the rubber safety pressure release. (The plug in the lid.) Discard if cracked/hardened. For your own comfort you may choose to replace both before beginning the canning season. They're quite inexpensive. Or you may want to order them and keep for a back-up. If they're hard to find in your area it's good to have them on hand. 3. If there's a pressure gauge it needs to be recalibrated. If you don't have/can't find an Extension agency in your area that tests gauges, you can mail it to Presto. Here's a link to a previous thread with contact information: Presto Gauge Testing Address. And here's the rec.food.preserving FAQ I mentioned: Pressure Canner Maintenance. There's been lots of previous discussion on this Forum about canning on flat-top stoves but the search engine is idiosyncratic: Canning and Flat Top Ranges. Flat Tops and Pressure Canning? The National Center for Home Food Preservation offers a self-paced online (free!) course in canning. It's a great way for beginners and also those wanting a refresher to polish their skills. NCHFP Preserving Food at Home: A Self-Study. I hope this helps. If you get going now you'll be all ready by tomato season to can those tomatoes and maybe a batch or two (or three or four) of Annie's Salsa. Carol P.S. Canning may be a lost art in some parts of the country but it's a long ways from dying out. Kind of like Mark Twain who said reports of his death had been exaggerated.

No it is not much more expensive than ordering from a Canadian source and Mr. Shirley has over 100 different species available as cuttings. Mailing cuttings is not expensive but mailing potted plants is, it all depends on what you are looking for. You can also trade with members here or on the Hoyas.ca site if you have plants that are large enough to take cuttings from. Many of us rely on group orders from overseas to get the less common Hoyas and I am sure once you exhaust the Canadian sources you will want to look elsewhere. Believe me hanging around this site will have you neck deep in Hoyas in no time. Mike Here is a link that might be useful: Paul Shirley Succulents