Oh, Luna, you don't want to go Route 66 in a Corvette. !st stop you wouldn't be able to get out of it. You are almost laying down. Most uncomfortable vehicle I've ever been in. Cousin had a 1958 or 59 turquoise & white one, paid a fortune for tuck & roll black leather seats. I hated that thing, we "cruised" Van Nuys Blvd in summer of 1962, either the cops were stopping us (her flaming mane of red hair helped) & they wanted to look it over or sit in it. Or she was tailgating or racing down the street. Drove like her mom-crazy!!! Looked great- sold it to movie star & turned around & bought it back couple yrs later. Bottle trees are great! Love the lantern on top!! Glad the man got creative with bottles, some have quite a history. Glad you had a great day at the bottle place Linda & got to take TJ & get pics & 1 with the artist!! Jan

Rich--I'm not trying to attack you. I'm just trying to understand your point. I've searched the issue and the articles I've found led me to conclusions very different from what you've said here. Everything that I've read indicates that nobody knows for sure what is causing this. Imidacloprid has been listed as one possible contributing factor. If you provide a link that supports your claims, I'll be glad to follow it and read it. The fact that a company defends itself against some claim doesn't give any credence to that claim. Companies defend themselves against false claims all the time. That said, a company defending itself against a claim doesn't automatically mean the claim is false, either. All I'm asking is for something that supports your claims that Imidacloprid has been banned in Europe and is the cause of the collapse in the bee population. If you'll provide links, I'll follow them. If not, I'll drop this and thank you for getting me interested and reading up on the subject.

Wow! Beautiful photos Masha! Nice to see some unusual roses. I have RAPTURE, but it's not bloomed yet, in several yrs. Those tiny own roots from Vintage take so long to do anything for me. Wish it would bloom soon! I went to SJHRG several yrs ago with our local rose society. It was in early spring and drizzled rain off and on. Still I enjoyed seeing the garden and all those roses! I wish we could've stayed longer, but they all wanted to go to the rose show. I don't exhibit, and it was nice to see the show, but I surely would've loved to spend more time at the garden! Thanks for sharing these!

I've seen a couple bluebirds already, too. Several of my neighbors have BB houses, and I get the benefits! Here where I live is a new development with new smallish trees. I've been here 5 years and the trees have grown and we are seeing more and more birds. House finches and Goldfinches mostly, but in the last week I've had a cardinal, a mocking bird and 4 Red Wing Blackbirds. Bird seed has gotten very expensive. Sue