Hope you don't mind if I join in on this message thread with a little "tip"... it's my first time on the roses forum..... A word of intro.... I live in Howard Co MD - I used to have a beautiful rose garden back in the '90's. Mostly hybrid teas. In 1998 I moved away for several years, came back and the rose garden was gone. The tenants dug it out and used the hole for burning trash! This is the first year I've returned that I will have the opportunity to replant new roses. I kept a list of my favorites from before, and will look it up and post it here later today --- from what you've listed in your message, I think some are ones you might like. Want to mention that since some of you are in Maryland, too, that there is a rose garden nearby that is worth the effort of visiting.... it's the Bishop's Garden at the National Cathedral in Bethesda. I last visited it in July 2006 - in the middle of an extreme heat wave, and their roses were FAN-TAS-TIC!!! Full, healthy plants.... healthy blooms, healthy leaves --- NO JUNE BUGS!! They have a wonderful variety, and all are posted as to what kind they are. I was so very impressed!! I would've gone over to the little garden center they have on the grounds and asked what their care program is, but I was with out of state visitors, and it wasn't the best time. Just thought I'd mention this for you Maryland folks.... it's worth the trip to the National Cathedral in the middle of a hot summer to see THEIR ROSES..... it's truly an inspiration and learning experience. Miss Mary One of my roses was Chicago Peace. Is that one still around?? I can't remember, but there is "something" people don't like about it.... maybe disease prone? Whatever... it is gorgeous.

Jo, I don't winter sow tomatoes, so someone else will have to suggest how you deal with them now that they've sprouted. No, your tomatoes are not confused---they are performing exactly as they are biologically designed to peform. Tomato seeds don't "know" when to sprout intellectually, but rather they simply sprout when the soil temperatures reach the right range, assuming they have enough moisture to induce germination along with the soil temp. Since it has warmed up early this year, the right temps for seed germination are a bit earlier than usual. To the tomatoes, it doesn't really matter if the calendar says December or Febuary or April....they will germinate when the soil is warm enough, provided it is moist. (In very, very dry soil they either won't germinate or they'll germinate and die soon thereafter.) If they were mine and I had them in vented containers, I'd leave the containers closed if the venting was cooling them off well enough. If I thought it was too hot and sunny, I'd open then up during the heat of the day and close them up a couple of hours before sunset so enough heat would build up inside to keep them warm all night long in case the temps border on being too cold. Remember that your containers are like little mini-greenhouses protecting the young seedlings. If I had wintersown tomatoes that had sprouted this early, I wouldn't move them inside but I'd throw a heavy blanket over the containers on nights the temperatures are going to get down near freezing. Moving them inside would sort of negate one of the benefits of wintersown seeds---that the plants are well-adapted to outdoor temperatures and light levels. Once you start moving them inside, you lose that advantage. I hope someone who actually does wintersows tomatoes can answer you questions about what to do with them because it is easy to say what I'd do with them, but since I don't wintersow them, it is a hypothetical answer to your question. I only wintersow a few flowers and herbs, generally only those that need cold stratification and, since they need cold stratification they don't germinate too early anyway or, if they do, they are pretty cold-hardy types by nature. You might check the wintersown website to see what they suggest. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Wintersown.org

Hi Ken, I followed most of your advice for my lasagna bed except I started it early this spring and it is finally done. I was showing some of my pictures to a few of my Round Robin friends and they were hoping for some very good directions to go with it and I came back to find this post and your pictures are all gone! Your pictures were so much better than mine so I was wondering if you could repost them? I sprayed on roundup in an area that was about 40 by 10, followed by a layer of straw that I got on freecycle, next was my compost layer of all my wonderfully decomposed grass clippings, leaves and other organic material from the last several years, then my topsoil/humus layer that we got from the city, finally the top layer of mulch which also came from the city. This was a very cheap project for us to do since most of the materials were on hand or came from the city services department. Almost all of the plants I used are divisions from my yard, plants received in trades and seedlings that I grew in winter sowing containers. I took pictures of my progress but didn't take them for the first few steps. Only from the compost layer and after. Your pictures were an inspiration to me from the laying out the design pictures to the finished product. Thanks for being such a great influence! Tracy Here is a link that might be useful: Lasagna Bed Slide Show

dont know what these other people r talking about personally i think you have ruined what should b a perfect conical tree but then then i suppose each to their own