I had dial up for years.. what I would do is get a accelerator, load up the page text quickly that way, read the comments, after I clicked on the picture to download it at high resolution.. and even though I had dial up, I still left my pics fairly medium to large.. I would just start the upload to photobucket and walk away to do other things.. you kinda get used to doing that kind of stuff with dial up... We finally got high speed here, there is a fine line I think though.. Too small is just too small.. Its hard to really see the pic that way. I feel for anyone doing dial up.. again I had it for 9 years in rural maine.. Silverkelt

Nat, I do indeed grow Pope John Paul II and a few other hybrid teas. All hybrid teas in our climate will die back to only a few inches (or to the mulch line if you mound the base with soil or mulch). I used to grow more hybrid teas but have gotten tired of the winter dieback so I only kept a few, and PJP is one that I just had to keep because of the fragrance and sheer beauty of those pristine white blooms. Even though it gets pruned back to only a few inches tall in the spring, it rallys and will come back to bloom and be lovely all summer. My advice is to mound up some soil around the base of it to about a foot in the late fall. Next spring you will find that the top of it will be all brown and dead, but once you remove the soil from around it in the spring you should find some green, live cane. Prune it back to that green cane and it will sprout new growth that will produce flowers later. Most of my roses, with the exception of the old once-bloomers and rugosas (and a few Canadian-bred roses) will have quite a bit of dieback, but so long as there is some green cane, no matter how little, your rose will come back. Make sure you don't remove the winter protection until the ground and temps warm up fairly consistently (usually late April to early May here). Ownroot roses will come back even if the plant appears brown to the ground, because they come back from their roots. But I grow mostly grafted here because ownroots struggle in our climate, and I haven't lost a rose to winter yet. I've learned to accept the fact that in zone 4, most roses have to be pruned back fairly drastically in the spring. But no one would think by looking at them all in bloom in June that they ever had a 'haircut'....they grow rapidly and the pruning really stimulates blooming. Take care, Celeste

You want to snip off right above the leaves that are still variegated. Then you just remove the first couple of green leaves above where you cut and plop the stem into your potting medium. The remaining stem will most likely branch, yes. It is my understanding that once 'Rubra' reverts, it stays green. The flowers remain unchanged. From what I understand, most hoyas prefer being rootbound because of how they grow in the wild. They start off in the ground or sometimes in the hollow of a tree or in between some rocks/boulders. They make just enough roots to support upward growth and stability. As they grow, they send out epiphytic (aerial) roots, attaching themselves to trees/rocks, as they grow.The epiphytic roots and leaves are the main mode of transport for nutrients. Not all hoyas grow this way, but those that don't are the exception. As far as aspects of their growth changing if they are snug vs. overpotted, I am unaware, as I don't overpot.

There's a series of Hallmark Gift Books for children called Recordable Storybooks. I just purchased one, as my nephew's wife will be having their first child this month. They live in California, I in Virginia. I can read the story, recording my voice into the book, & the baby will be able to hear his auntie's voice. It's a nice little way to bring far-away relatives closer. Your doctor can record her voice into the book & her grandchild can listen to grandma read a story, even though they are miles apart. The one I have is called, "Bright & Beautiful, A Child's Blessing." Though it is a Hallmark product, I bought mine, less expensively, at Walmart. There are several titles from which to choose. It's very nice of you to want to acknowledge this special time in your doctor's life.