Princess Charlene is over 10 feet tall right now 9/14/22 in my zone 5a. It's a 4th-year own root. Carding Mill is 2.5' x 2' right now as 11th-year own root. Carding Mill has bush beauty, Princess Charlene does not .. looks very odd with a super tall cane in the middle. Carding Mill always have zillion petals, Princess Charlene has less petals (single or double) in hot summer. Carding Mill loves hot & dry over 90 F. Since it's a small bush, it doesn't demand tons of water and fertilizer like other Austins that throw 4' octopus canes. Carding Mill does best in hot & dry & alkaline region. Its color is deep apricot if soil pH is alkaline. I constantly have to top it with biochar at pH 8.6 to prevent blooms from turning pink. Carding Mill is much smaller than Crown Princess Mag, but gives way more blooms. Carding Mill is a constant bloomer, but CPM is long pause between flushes. Some pics. of Carding Mill, 11th-year own-root in my zone 5a garden in alkaline & rock hard clay. Carding Mill is very small & compact at 2.5' x 2' as 11th-year own root: Carding Mill has the nice apricot color plus zillion of petals for the vase:

Late but checkin' in. GO BUCKS Thank you all for the lovely, funny, glittery, eggy, puzzling, yummy, cards this year. I'm speechless. Once again I can't bear to throw any of them away so they'll go into my buffet (egg ON the buffet) with the last two years. Kids are still asking me why I hang a picture of a cat named Pisser on our tree. GO BUCKS I love and cherish each and every one of them. You guys that got the winter scene...my front yard when we were snowed in!! GO BUCKS Only cottagers could be this creative!!!! Love you all and Happy New Year. georgeanne GO BUCKS P.S. Diana...counting the days!

Brad, Thanks for the lemonade recipe and tips. DGS and I have found 3 meyer lemon trees in the woods where we hike. He always wants to make lemonade when we get home so I need a Grammy worthy recipe. At Peppi's urging, I documented my grandmother's recipe for spaghetti sauce that she brought from Italy and I have been eating since---maybe birth. I'm sure it's not to everyone's liking but in my family it is THE SAUCE. Anyway on subject--in an effort to save this family treasure on something other than a recipe card and in an effort to decorate with purpose (learned that from RiverRat), I am handwriting it and having it aged, enlarged, matted, and framed or put on canvas.

Stephenei: What got me hooked was a section on home made cards in a Feb issue of either MM or CK magazine. And I REALLY got hooked! Card making has replaced (for the time being) scraping. As for ideas, I got some from the aforementioned magazine, some from looking at cards in card shops, and some from my own imagination. ItÂs amazing what creative creatures we can be when doing something we enjoy! One idea for an Easter card came from a quote I found onlineÂÂGive hugs, if you carrot at all! My sonÂs best friend calls me ÂAunt Carront, so I made a little card out of lime green card stock. I made three little carrots out of orange and brown card stock and cut thin strips of dark green card stock for grass. I attached the grass and the carrots to the front of the card with pop dots (for the 3D effect) and outlined the edges of the front of the card with thin strips of orange card stock. I made one large carrot for the inside to hold the latter part of the quote. It turned out to be a cute card and the idea came after seeing the quote. Other ideas come from looking through my materials and Âplaying with them,Âi.e., seeing what goes together. IÂve never scanned anything for use on the computer, but if you like, IÂd be happy to try and scan and post-to-you some of the cards I made to help you get started with ideas. I know what itÂs like to feel like...where do the ideas come from?! And once you get started, believe me, thereÂs no stopping!!!!!!! Also, some others have posted about tea-bag/paper folding which I have tried yet. As Sally said, when your scraping and stamping, the ideas just seem to flow. p.s. there are also books on card making and paper projects. My husband gave me one for a present and one was referenced in the magazine that I have been looking for but have yet to find. Hope this helps. karen