Man, I can't believe all the stuff you guys do to germinate these babies. I like my method of just sticking them in the starter greenhouse and setting it in the breezeway. I guess if you don't have a cold room or area like that to put them, it is necessary to refrigerate them. I'm just so excited about them popping up in the starter cells without any fuss. I see new seedlings popping up all the time. I had one whole section of the cells that I was afraid weren't going to do anything, but when I got home for lunch today, another new baby had begun to emerge in that section, finally! I filled up two more of those 72-cell starters last weekend, and I can't wait to see what they produce. My biggest baby already has split and is branching out in two directions!! I'll have a tiny rose "bush" soon!! That one is from ELSIE MELTON. My best germinator so far tho, seems to be LAVANDE. There are 6-7 of them! I can't wait to see how different each one will be. This is so much fun!!

Sherry, one thing I've noticed about your garden is how fast your roses grow, and I've read about your soil prep so I know how much you rely on organics, manure, etc. Just the difference in the Natch N pictures makes me wonder if the bloom problems in the second pic were because of fertilizer needs. Your good soil prep and and climate seem to be so conducive to growth, that coupled with your sandy soil and constant rain lately, that I wonder if the N is being depleted really quickly, so something like a fast acting nitrogen is a good fix for right now. Makes me think that your feeding program next year needs more N overall...? I have been using Milorganite; some people don't like it because of suspicions about heavy metals, etc., but my roses sure like it. Anyway, just a thought. just one more anecdote, Hermosa for me started getting those washed out blooms like your NN. I got so disgusted that I cut it down to 6 inches and started feeding it Miracle Grow frequently. It snapped out of it, regained its lost growth and the bloom color went back to normal. That is purely anecdotal, but it makes me wonder if that's what caused the NN problems too. I don't know, just thinking aloud, so you know what that's worth! Love ya, Gean

But mostly, I want seed from this plant. It is so tenacious about living, that I want some copies next year. I'm worried that it's too late in the year, but I'm going to try and grow this one out far enough to get some seed. **** with those blossoms and you being in Atlanta it shouldn't be a problem to get mature fruits. But I do hope you get some single blossoms b'c with so called megablooms you can get fusing of the fruits and then there's a greater chance of getting crossed seeds b;c of the possibility of different blossoms in that one megabloom being independently X pollinated and then the several fruits becoming one. And I noticed you weren't bagging blossoms but perhaps this plant is far enough away from others to help ensure no X pollinations. OTOH seed for Big Rainbow is readily available at many places. ( smile) Carolyn

Igloo, It appears that the PUFP-CT-BK is a fully Code-compliant way to put a required receptacle into a countertop. Even so, it has apparently been rejected by at least one inspector (who used reasoning that didn't follow the Code). When you do something that's out of the ordinary, it's never a complete slam-dunk that the building department won't balk at it, even it any reasonable person can see that it's Code-compliant. The Mockett "grommet" doesn't meet Code for several reasons. So one would expect that one's chances with the PUFP-CT-BK are better than with the Mockett. I don't think that adjusting the depth of the shelf would make any difference, at least not at the 18" point. The 18" refers to the distance from the sink to the corner behind it. In your case, the question is whether the inspector will accept the position that the step up is the "wall" behind the sink (in which case the magic distance is 12", because the distances are 18" to a corner or 12" to a parallel wall). If it's a "wall," then the next question is whether the section behind the step is a "counter" or a "shelf." There is no requirement for outlets on shelves, but there is for counters. And I know of no formal definitions of the two, so it's totally the inspector's judgment call as to what you have there. Have you talked with your building department about this? And do you currently have a working relationship with them? In my opinion, the thing to do, if you know them well enough to have a frank conversation with them, is to present them with the problem, say "this is the best solution that we've been able to come up with", and see if they're OK with that. If you're not comfortable with that, I'd suggest going with the PUFP-CT-BK in back corner (or close to it), and take the position (nicely) that what you have is completely Code-compliant if they question it. . To address this from a slightly different place, I don't see any Code requirement for an outlet in your "step", a few inches behind the sink. The Code clearly doesn't require that (who told you that it does?). The only question I see is whether you need an outlet in the corner. I think you mentioned that you actually want one there, because there is something you want to plug in there? Or was it a rationalization of, "Well, if I really have to put one there, I guess it's OK because I could plug the X in there."? If you really want an outlet there, I think you're in pretty good shape. Also, you might want to poke around the Lew Electric web site. I believe they have some "floor pocket" type receptacles that sit below the surface, and just the cord comes up through a notch in the cover. That could be really slick in your setup. (You've have to verify that the particular unit would be Code-compliant. The key issue here is that the outlet not be sitting flat with its face pointing up, because the Code doesn't allow that on counters (but does on floors).)