"OK, you two, I'll go and maybe put in a word here or there at the RHA if I think I have anything I can contribute. But don't expect brilliance, please!" Why, Seil? You gonna save all of your brilliance for HERE? LOL! No, I'll expect the same level of brilliance, or perhaps a bit more as you become more self confident there, as you continually share with us here. And, why can't you, or anyone else be thought of in the same "class" as Mr. Moore? He started by raising self set seed of Mlle Cecile Brunner because he liked it and it was THERE in his mother's and grandmother's gardens. He was the first to admit his failures, in fact, those were some of the funniest stories he'd tell, and he'd laugh at them harder than any of us. Why not? I'm not ashamed to admit I goofed and picked up Sweet Limes instead of lemons for a lemon meringue pie. Looked right and I didn't pay attention. I thought, "these are rather MILD" and they made a very pretty, if TERRIBLE pie. He messed up and learned from the goofs and other people, and he adored sharing everything he knew with anyone who wanted to know. Why wouldn't any of the rest of us? We're all potential "Ralph Moore" types in training. His real genius was in not believing "that won't work", "you can't DO that". Tell him that and he proved you wrong, repeatedly. Pinocchio had and may still have, a great deal to offer, but it is notoriously DIFFICULT to deal with. So many offspring means there were many more seeds created to obtain them. It is a notoriously terrible seed bearer. It often makes them, but they most often don't germinate. Pollen from it is more reliable, but even that doesn't guaranty the seed is going to sprout. Mr. Moore loved that one, too, and it fought him every step of the way. It's honestly one we discussed on several occasions and he complained about how "stubborn" it was each time. It didn't stop him from using it and continuing to try, nor did it stop Pinocchio from being as obstinate as it has always been. Jack Harkness wrote virtually the same thing about Cecile Brunner. He and his nursery tried repeatedly to get something good out of her, with no success. He wrote that he was envious of Mr. Moore's successes with her because of how many failures he'd had trying her. mendocino_rose, you'll make the level of effort you are comfortable with when you're comfortable doing it. It really is NOT hard! And, it can be done successfully with just your fingers. I collected baby food jars for my pollen when my nephews were infants and still use the same ones nearly twenty years later. Office Depot and Staples sell boxes of a thousand paper string tags for about $17. You write the pollen parent on the tag and slip it around the stem of the hip. You don't need the seed parent's name until you collect the hip. No greenhouse, no laboratory, nothing computerized required. Nature does it without even using baby food jars. Why can't we? You both have wonderful collections of roses which do well where you are and which you love things about. Choose the best performers for consideration for parents. See which ones set lots of seed by themselves and consider them as "mothers". Germinate self set seed from them to learn how so when you create seed, you don't waste the effort by trying to learn to raise those. You'll get the hang of it quickly, just don't MAKE it hard or involved. Don't let it intimidate you. If you make a mistake, so what? Another part of Mr. Moore's 'genius' was, like water, electricity and gophers, if something didn't work this way, he just went at it from another direction until it worked. Eventually, "The rose will find the way". Keep it simple and the fun will increase dramatically. Change your mind set and your word speak. You aren't a "dummy". Ignorance and lack of experience are EASILY overcome and corrected. None of us was born with full knowledge of it all, why should you be expected to have been? We all stand on each other's shoulders to reach higher. A German breeder raises a break through seedling, which breeders in many other countries utilize differently than he thought of, creating even more outstanding roses. You're going to take an idea someone here suggests and you're going to think to yourself, "Why on earth did they do it that way? THIS is so much easier!", then you'll share that and someone else is going to improve on it even further. Kim

Well, it was a swap, and lots of people brought very nice plants. Everything from dead-common like Stella DÂOro daylilies, to what I thought were more unusual things like pulmonaria and true geraniums. Since I donÂt have grasses thatÂs one of the things I was looking for. Do you mean that really good grasses donÂt get given away? (Or really aggressive grasses expand so much that people have to give some away to keep their stand within bounds ?) : ) IÂll have to see if I can find a picture of a large stand of this and see what I may be getting myself into. Do you think both grasses are the same, even the one that is more white? Donn, when you describe sinking the pot "buried in the ground with just an inch exposed" do you mean leave the rim of the put sticking up out of the ground one inch?

I found Chick A Dee on Nor East website....that looked pink/white. Otherwise, I cant find anything else close. Charlie Brown looked like a darker pink or reddish color. I am going back to Lowes today - they had a few raggedey looking ones left, I wasnt going to pay full price, but the lady who can discount will be there today. I might pick up the couple that are left and see if I can make them grow. Just dont seem to be many in this color to choose from. Judith

Are you sure it is not just a green anole in the brown phase? The light stripe down it's back is common on green anoles, and it's head looks more pointed than the cuban anole's. I know cuban anoles have stripes down their back, but they are normally more of a zig zag pattern.