Tyler, which plants did you get? My bias is for unmounting as many mounties as possible - the daily misting/spraying/watering isn't for me. However, the grower may be able to advise you. My small Dens may not be as small as yours. They're all in pots: Den aberrans Den ceraula (gonzalesii) Den laevifolium Den sulcatum Den unicum My only Den hybrid w/ moniliforme in the background is Den Himezakura 'Sanokku,' a Yamamoto nobile-type Den that stays about 10" tall - definitely not tiny and fragile. Easy (for my conditions, anyway) and recommended, if you like that type Den. He's also got several others with more brilliant flowers. Calvin, my Den mons are still an experiment: They may not get enough light here to bloom well. Winter and spring, '07, I got 8, almost all from Jason Fischer @ Orchids Ltd. (orchidweb.com). They were in sphag in plastic pots, and I repotted them the same way this spring. They've been in the cooler living room (see picture above) w/ E/SE light from the double sliding glass doors. Supplemental light is from 2 octopus lamps w/ 26W CFL bulbs. Winter night temps are 58F; summer night temps are in the mid-60s - low 70s. Humidity % are low 20s - 40s. Jason speaks Japanese and has been studying Den mon culture w/ some of the old Japanese growers for several years. His culture notes: 1. No fertilizer, ever. (Of course, the guy @ New World Orchids told me he brings back a special fertilizer from Japan.) 2. For water, Jason said I should add 10% of my (wretched quality) tap water to the reverse osmosis water every time, so the plant will get enough minerals and trace elements. If your tap water is suitable for orchids, you can use it all the time. (Now I'm using only water from a nearby spring that local orchid growers swear by and add no tap water.) 3. November through February, make sure the sphag is "crispy dry" before watering. 4. From March through May, the sphag should be "barely damp" before watering. 5. June & July  the sphag can be "soaking wet" almost all the time - very slight drying. 6. August through October - sphag barely damp before watering. 7. Once a month, spray w/ horticultural oil to prevent whiteflies. (This may apply more to commercial greenhouses than home growing; however, I've found whiteflies on a couple of plants occasionally.) 8. Summer outside, if possible. This winter/spring, 2-3 plants had only 3-4 flowers each. Another plant has several buds on it now, but they may not bloom. I'll give them another couple of years. If you've got more light, yours could flower much better. WC8

I certainly The blue-ing towards purple of the dark red Austins as a great quality. Strange but it is considered a bad trait in Hybrid teas. This blue-ing or even deepening of the dark red to almost regal purple is really beautiful in OGRs and Austins. It makes them blend in so well together with OGR where a bright red would be to LOUD. francie12 is right LDB does meet the coolor wish of the original poster mauirose. It is a red rose that darkens to sometimes even a dark blackish red. They have a good scent in quality, but very few who have have noses for roses will state that this rose is "so dangerously well scented that grown men drown". And I have never seen a well grown LDB, it is stingy with blooms. In the public park in the city they planted big beds of Austins (LDB, Fallstaff, and WS 2000) it does not take a rose expert to see which rose produces most flowers ... WS 200 wins. All the LDBs I have seen seen produces 5-10 roses in each "flush" LOL.....That is if they do not turn into one cane wonders over the years. It is one of the few roses you plant as with 3 canes when it comes as bare root plant and the number of canes will actually decrease as the years go by... So I would love to see a picture of a well grown specimen of LDB. It will be a first! I saw Darcey Bussel on the rose fields. I do not like the scent of it and then it will never be planted in my garden. But it does produces a dark red/purple mass of flowers for those who like such a rose. It really is early to early to write a review of Munstead Wood since I have only had container grown plant since may. But it does look promising. It has shot new basals and are 2 feet tall which is a great improvement over Tradescant who in my climate rarely gets more than a feet tall. And it begins shooting new laterals before the flowers at the end of the canes have are done blooming. It is sort of a mix between Tradescant and WS 2000. The flowers are refined and have a wonderful scent similar to WS 2000. But they are not very large. So I can´t say something bad about Munstead Wood Ceterum ... not yet. IMO WS 2000 is still the best Red/purple Austin ever. Carol your RR is really well grown ...I am so envious! Well done. Mauirose. I would go for WS 2000 if it has to an be Austin, especially If you also want to grow it no spray. Watered and fed well in your climate most roses will become what we refer to as low climbers anyway. I have even as I wrote seen Tradescant grown as low climber in California. But the flowers are much darker than WS 2000.

To everyone: Thank you for all of the feed back and trip tips... GREATLY appreciated! Quite a few other people recommended that I visit Ceder Point when I was living in Michigan, but I never got around to going... we'll definitely try to make it there, especially since we've decided to add a few more days to the trip. We don't want to be in a rush the entire time. This is, afer all, our vacation. I'll add Put in bay to the list as well. Bonebloodyidle: I couldn't tell you how many times I've driven a long distance, only to turn around and come back home the next day. My jaunts to New Orleans (which is a 700 mile one-way drive) are usually no more than a weekend long... leave home Friday night after work, arrive in New Orleans on Saturday morning and leave Sunday afternoon to return home for work on Monday morning. There have also been many trips that had no destination... I'd just drive until I decided that it was time to turn around and head back. I've actually done that a few times recently on my days off, now that fuel prices have come down. Gives me a chance to be alone, unwind and think. Casey: Is your car the 4 or 6-cylinder engine? I have the 4-cylinder... but it moves the car quite well with the i-Vtec, dual over head cam and 5-speed automatic combo. I have no problems merging into highway traffic or passing someone at highway speeds. The engine is only running at 2500 rpms at 75 mph. No timing belt to replace, either... although I will have the chain and chain guide inspected at the 120k mile shceduled tune-up. What is the mileage on your car and what problems (if any) have you encountered? I'm at 61,000 on the 06 and it's only been back to the shop for basic maintenance so far. Gas mileage has actually gradually increased along with the mileage. My best average so far has been 38 mpg on the highway.

I recieved an email back last night and here is what they said. I was able to get the Hardness and TDS results. I hope these addtional result will help you properly size the unit I need for my house. Thanks in advance. Look forward to your suggestions. Jim, The project was setup for the complete PWTA group of tests on the raw water and a test of the treated water (pH, Fe, Mn) was performed for free. This approach and this group of testing were established by some of NJÂs finest scientists at the NJDEP when the PWTA law was being formulated in 2001/2002. Additionally, this test group is the current state-of-the-art requirement for all South Jersey if you are selling a property with a well or have a new well put in. The testing is complex and certain tests are done with expensive laboratory instrumentation. The testing is done in a "certified" laboratory setting with substantial QA/QC checks to ensure accurate data. We have invested about $500,000 in our laboratory building and instrumentation, not top mention our technical staff, to perform this group of tests. Please understand you DID get your moneyÂs worth. Unfortunately, there are many tests that can be performed on water matrices in addition to the PWTA group and each test is a stand alone analytical method  we do not have a "magic box" in which we pour water that produces analytical results. I hope your understand this. We can always add additional testing on top of the PWTA group. We, unfortunately, need to charge extra for these tests. I did go back to your initial raw water sample and performed two (2) tests (no charge) that I think will help you: Hardness is 7 grains or 119 mg/L. (Hardness, often times is expressed in mg/L as CaCO3) TDS is 141 mg/L. I hope this helps. Take care, XXXX XXXXXXX Laboratory Director