Susan, somehow I think that 'Lady Ann Kidwell' has a place in your future, even if you don't know exactly what that place is. Context is all with flowers: a color will be glorious together with one group of plants and sickeningly jarring with others. Yesterday I was gazing amazed at a fiery light orange iris that I had never seen before (sometimes I think strange plants pack their suitcases and move into my garden at midnight), growing right beside the cool old rose pink of 'Bourbon Queen'. Ouch. But just above it is 'Austrian Copper', with a few field poppies scattered about to boot, and putting the iris close to it, what could be a finer, more blazing arrangement? And I have some silver artemisias to place this fall, too! So I'll shift the iris from its current uncomfortable place into the neighborhood of 'Austrian Copper' and all will be well; in fact, it will be magnificent. By the way, how about 'Thisbe' for your tempering intermediate rose? If you want to pursue that plan. harmonyp, I don't know if this will help you, but for a long time I had trouble really liking Rugosas, even while admitting all their virtues, including their undeniable beauty. It was when I stopped thinking of them as roses and mentally recatalogued them as flowering shrubs that they fell into place and I could appreciate and enjoy them. Perhaps you need to reclassify 'Blueberry Hill'. Melissa P.S. Kim, I think it might be a good book, too.

Deborah, Yes, all the roses you have listed are eligible to be exhibited. You are correct none of the roses listed appeared in past or present ARS publications. The six you mention are but a few of (by a rough estimate) of thousands of roses missing from the 2004 official "AEN" publication. The problem is that the CRL contains Roses in Commerce and Rose Registration updates. When a rose is listed, it may have a "NR" (not registered with "IRAR") or the new CRL notation, indicating rose introductions have not appeared in any ARS publications. When a rose first appears in the "CRL" with the "NR" notation, the following year it generally has an approved exhibition name "AEN". The problem is ARS does not post these "NR" changes in the next AEN publication, in the "Rose Registration" column of the American Rose or the handbook. This is preciously one reason why ARS should reinstate the Combined Rose List "CRL", as an official recognized publication to verify an "AEN" as the ARS Board approved in 1999. (Not a "temporary AEN" until the name is listed in one of the ARS publications). As it is stated, if there is a difference between what is in the "CRL" and the ARS "AEN" publication, ARS publication will prevail. Posted on the GW on 5-12-04 was a listing of all roses in the 2004 "Combined Rose List" having the new CRL notation, indicating these roses have not appeared in any publications of the American Rose Society. This only covers roses with the CRL notation. There are roses in all the back issues of the "CRL" with "NR" notation that need researching, to find out if the "NR" listing have been changed and now have a "AEN" designation, like all the roses Deborah had on her list. All of Deborahs roses started out with this "NR" notation, but were changed the following year having an "AEN". In the meantime her roses will be included in the next monthly posting on the GW of new or any corrections to the new 2004 "AEN". It may be to everyone benefit, if judges and exhibitors check their rose against what is in the 2004 "AEN" for missing or incorrect information. E-mail this information to me, and it will be on the next GW post. Waiting until the new 2005 "AEN" is published to share this valuable information, is doing an injustice to all exhibitors. The Combined Rose List is not a source for verifying AENs; it is only to be used as a reference if a rose is not listed in an ARS publication, but considered having a temporary "AEN". And as ARS stated, the handbook is no longer a reliable ARS publication as it previously was for verifying AENs. (See the post on new judges manual arrives). 5-13-04 Ronald Schwerdt

Sending wishes for four special ladies: Carol, congratulations on the new baby in the family and hope you are feeling better now that your meds have caught up to you. Susie and Anita, prayers for you that you will be better soon. Sassy, I'm hoping the situation with you brother has improved. Take care of yourselves! The sun has been out here the last two days which is helping. We had bad storms the day before that. We have been getting rain regularly since January and I guess we forgot about the problems it brings - my winter sown containers get flooded and then I spend a few days completely taking the tops off in the daytime so they can dry out a bit and recovering them at night. At least I don't seem to have lost anything yet. However, now that I have planted over 100 containers, it is quite a project! Actually, most of the milk jugs seem to be able to handle the rain, it's all my smaller "use anything style" containers that are having the bad problems. I will definitely save the milk jugs to use again next year. Actually, we go through lots of milk at our house but nearly all the milk jugs now are opaque rather than transparent so there are only a few that we can save. Sometimes I cut the whole top off the opaque ones and try to use them, but then the plastic that I put over the top does not hold up well to the heavy rain. I use rubber bands to attach plastic to the top of the container and those seem to snap apart every few days. Maybe eventually I will get just the right set up. However, the plants in the ground are happy as can be and I will have wonderful displays of daffodils and tulips this year. Will have to post pictures soon. Jeanne

mine - or should I say my daughters - Ah! who am I kidding! It may be enjoyable to the girls and any little kids who stop by sit and stare for HOURS, but essentially it was my idea, I designed the whole thing, and have been the driving force behind having it at all... And I continue to think up and create new things for it... Anyway - mine has ended up being placed under a 2 year old corkscrew willow tree instead - It's closer to the house and is much much bigger than originally anticipated. For now the sweet woodruff and wild strawberries are filling out the area around the base of the willow, there's a violet and elfin thyme covered hill with a small lake at the bottom of it and a small gravel path leading to the top (a gazebo and miniture roses pruned to look like climbing roses are being added to the top of the hill later this fall) and a flattened out hollow covered in irish moss for a "meeting place." I have variegated forms of thyme and melissa lavender as shrubs around the edge of the garden and a few branches from my over zealous pink and white weigela hangs over the "hollow". The fairy garden is actually an extension of my butterfly garden, just slightly shaded (and will be deeply shaded when the willow fills out over the next couple of years) I just added some rembrandt tulips I hope will give a nice dramatic splash of color next spring before the freesias, columbine, violets and roses bloom. (and after years of plain colored tulips I can tell the girls that the fairies painted these ones!!!) I will post pics as soon as I can but right now I'm being selfish - want to keep it to myself till I feel it has some semblance of being ready for public viewing... :) Also waiting for the plants to fill out and really look like it does in my head (did that make sense or did I just seem nutty???) As well as the gazebo I'm working on 4 houses to put nestled in the sweet woodruff and a "bait shop" for beside the lake and looking for some small stumps or seats to put around the thyme hollow, maybe even a little swing for the fairy babes? Next year I'm hoping the willow will be big enough to dangle twinkling lights in and lots of birdhouses of course... Soon as I figure out where to put it I'm adding some white heliotrope that I grew from cuttings and have slightly too much of. Now I'm just hoping that the wild strawberries calm down cause they are going bananas and I fear they will choke out the rest of my plants... I'm 30 years old, mother of 4, a criminal psychologist in training and I am no afraid to admit that I love my garden. I am envisioning a few years from now laying in soft green grass in the shade of my contorted willow tree staring into the little village and seeing if I can see the sparkling glint of gossamer wings, or hearing the giggling of fairy children in the rustling leaves of the willow tree.....