Hello lexilu As I've mentioned, I haven't found much variety among the garden centers regarding roses. Of course, I only began looking for them a month ago; it's probable that the centers/nurseries had a larger selection earlier in the summer. Greenbrier (Starkey Road) is the largest nursery in the Roanoke area: huge selection, mature and vigorous plants and pricey. Pine Ridge Nursery in Salem has become one of my favorites. Although the volume and selection isn't as large when compared with Greenbrier, i'm impressed by the fact that the owner grows all of his Japanese maples on his tree farm outside of town. (Since Jms are my favorite tree, you could say I'm a bit biased!) Last year, Southern States (Botetourt County, just north of Roanoke) decided to add a garden center and it's been a roaring success. Staff is knowledgeable and helpful and Cynthia is a pure pleasure to deal with. Except for a few roses from Jackson and Perkins, about all that I've seen remaining at all these places were the Knockouts. Of course, Lowe's and Home Depot have them too. Hope their roses will be reduced soon; they haven't as yet. (I'll be checking Southern States again today and Pine Ridge the first of the week. Will let you know if anything's changed). If you decide to venture this way, I'll be more than happy tp provide directions. gary

If I had an unlimited supply of cash for the garden, I would certainly be in heaven. I want, desperatly, to get a Wollemi Pine. They are 100 dollars now. I think it'd be great to have a plant of a specie which only has about 100 known to be in the wild. The mystique draws me... I recently visited the botanical garden in Rome, where I was able to touch one of these beauties. Theirs was about 4ft high and flourishing. I have been waiting with abated breath for them to be available here in the US. I would also like a yellow peony and camelia. There is a new begonia available called "bonfire" that looks like it will be making an appearance in my garden whether or not I win the lottery. ---Keith

Thank you all. I know we have a long road ahead, but I honestly feel better than I have in YEARS. I had no idea how much I'd been dying inside. I've been a less than good mother, Realtor, friend, daughter, everything because I was fighting "giving up" for so long. One thing I've learned is that loyalty to the point of death and pain is NOT always a good thing. As a child of divorce, I know full well how it affects kids. I have to say though, that I was so happy to have grown up seeing a truly happy, truly whole mom, rather than a shell of a woman pretending she was happy. I got/get almost all of my strength from watching how my mom dealt with being divorced. My heart aches for my kiddos, but I know in the long run we will all be better for this. I only wish I'd been able to do this sooner. As I said, it's been over for a very, very long time. Again, thank you all for your support. It means so very much.

Yes, I think you are correct in that I'm usually very trusting of people. It's not my nature to look for the worst in people and I'd like to think that people will treat me the way that I treat them. However, in the past few years my husband has taught me a valuable lesson in what happens when you are too trusting. When I look back on some of the different situations that have happened I can't believe that it totally slip past me or how deceitful he is as a person. I trusted him to move money out of my checking account to pay monthly expenses until one day when I was trying to make a purchase and the clerk informed me that my debit card was declined. My first thought was my account must have been hacked. On my way home to figure out what had happened I remember how during the past few weeks he kept reminding me that I was spending a lot of money. I only spent what I knew that I could afford to spend and never more than what I was making. His statements should have been a clue. When I went online to view my banking account I saw where he had transfer more than $30,000.00 out of my account over a period of year and half without consulting me. Hence the "you're spending a lot lately". I never really checked my account because I always knew that I had a pretty good cushion for what I wanted to spend. My spending was nothing more than a visit to Walmart every now and then and I knew with the amount of money that I make (retired Federal employee and now a government contractor making six figures) that I really never had to worry about my card being declined. When I confronted him about it the first thing he yelled was "I pay the house note out of my check'! There was about an ounce of truth to his statement with the exception that the money was first transferred from my account to his account and then of course he paid the house note but using my money. What a snake in the dirt! At that point I really just wanted to know what was going on with him so I was willing to sit down and discuss the situation with him but he got angry and slapped me across my face. He told me that I had repeated to him that I didn't really need to know what was going on with the budget just as long as everything was paid and on time. That was his excuse for not telling me that he was taking money out of my account. Well needless to say when he put his hands on me I used his cane and beat the crap out of him. No one, and I mean no one is allowed to touch me in that way and every since that night we have not shared a bed. I knew then that the marriage was pretty much over for me. That happened last March and I'm still trying to figure out how to get out. It can't be that difficult because people do it all the time. I think I need a some sort of life coach to help me to navigate all of the changes that I'll need to make. The other thing that I noticed is that he no longer takes his mom and sister out to dinner and movies anymore and he's not offering to guy rounds when he visits a bar. REALLY?? When I look back at the time that I've spent with him and various situations that are questionable I realize how he's been lying to me all these years. I've had people question me about his comments and how they say he bashes me behind my back. Oh well, I'm sure you're probably bore and have heard enough of me. Thanks for your time. Pam (forgive all errors in this almost book that I've written. I'm writing this while on my break so I don't have much time to proofread.)