paulinct, I guess that the best place to start is with the statement that "nothing happens until someone buys something." Commercial agriculture is intensive (the greatest yield from the smallest acreage) and the demand for an agriculture (by)product will drive many diverse industries like plant breeding, chemicals manufacture and labor saving machinery- each with its own, and sometimes unexpected consequences. Sometimes we come a full circle and are back to the same point from which we were trying to get away. Take pyrethrum, an insecticide derived from a plant and having the three great benefits ie deadly to insects in small doses, with little residual and not harmful to mammalian life. The product is in heavy demand and has been 'tweaked' into pyrethroids - stronger, longer-lasting and consequently more harmful to mammals (the danger is in the dosage). Demand has brought on the development of products that exhibit the same undesirable properties for which others were banned. I have no doubt that the same fate is in store for the 'organic' concept in horticulture. Florida has committed to a facility for producing ethanol from corn but as far as I know the state does not produce the crop significantly. The demand will encourage more production, more fertilizer use and yes, more glyphosate use. Or there will be competition for the product and organic lawn care might be severely stressed. Has the price of corn and its by products gone up again recently? I am quite sure that I will not be putting down dried cow pats as fertilizer on my front lawn and I am equally confident that I do not have to apply synthetic fertilizers or combination products every eight weeks to have a presentable and acceptable 'front lawn'. But I do find myself redefining terms which I thought I had mastered long ago. What is a weed? What is organic? What is the difference between mutation and genetic engineering? Thank you very much for a thought stimulating post.

Thanks you so much Bgrose, Carol, and Jim! Carol, Folklore is always supposed to be a bicolor but the camera fails to capture it because I don't take it under the optimum lighting. It is a brilliant candy-tangerine orange on one side and a lemon butter cream on the other side. It looks nothing like Disneyland. Disneyland is very floribunda-like but Folklore does consistently "spiral" and is a classic HT. Bgrose, yes, Lincoln is my favorite rose! but the next one in line will almost 98% be Ferdinand Pichard. Both roses have the most AMAZING FRAGRANCE!!! Great news people, Crescendo's color is deepening, and may revert to Gemini coral. I am so excited about this... But if I post new pics that would be breaking my promise about saving everything for the next Lumpy batter batch, haha! Which is another reason why I stopped myself from posting my photos of my Scottish heath and heather. I absolutely love those new plants but we will see if they can flourish in my soil which is very ill-suited for heather/heath...They need sandy and acidic and not clay.alkaline soil so I'm trying to feed them tea leaves for the acid... lol, Jim, I am having a ROTTEN DAY TODAY, lol, today of all days, and yes! I did try to clean out that mailbox, lol! Hope you got my email about how horrid of a day I'm having with Kansas IRS. They are refusing to send back the money they made a mistake on back in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Their error too! Missouri got it straight, but Kansas didn't!!! So frustrated!!!!

Even though chijim's inspiration pic is beautiful, I don't recommend trying to copy it without new cabinets. That kitchen has very traditional, heavy on the molding, detailed cabinets that work well in that space with that light. Your kitchen has cabinets with clean and simple lines -- I'm guessing 1950s-60s? The inspiration pic does illustrate that a black & white floor can be a wonderful focal point, but I suggest looking at MCM kitchens for further inspiration with your cabinets. Without knowing what material works best for a MCM countertop, my suggestions are: 1. New hardware, absolutely -- sleek modern brushed steel speaks to me. 2. A metal or concrete countertop can be expensive if installed by someone else, but very inexpensive for a DIY'er, if you're talented in that direction. (Or you might luck into finding a contractor who can do it for less than he wanted 3 years ago.) IMO metal or concrete would work best in your kitchen, but failing that, black granite. Soapstone isn't the right feel for your kitchen, IMO, and marble etches. (Go to the kitchens forum for more opinions & suggestions.) 3. The dark backsplash is too much! A dark countertop and white backsplash would work much better. If you want some color, you can work in red/green/whatever you like color accent tiles into a plain white (subway or squares)tile backsplash. 4. Undercabinet lighting looks like a necessity (even if you change to a white backsplash) because of those dark corners. It's not too expensive and it will do wonders in lightening up the space. 5. Remove a couple of doors, preferably in the upper peninsula, and cut out enough space for glass panel inserts. (Select frosted glass if you don't want everyone to see sippy cups and spider-man plates.) It will lighten up the kitchen and add visual interest. 6. If you haven't already visited the kitchens forum, check out that place too -- lots of friendly and smart people who'd love to help. Good luck!

Oklahoma is one of my favorites: Firefighter is NOT dark red. It's medium fire truck red, on the orange/pink side of red. The variety selection in Oz is different from the USA, but a great old HT rose available in your country is Charles Mallerin -- ugly plant though. I have 3X gallon sized plants from Roses Unlimited growing out in #5 pots at the moment. They have bloomed, but probably still too immature to give that saturated black velvet effect. I'm no Francophone, so it took me many many years to realize the name is actually pronounced "Shawl Mahlran." Oklahoma & Papa Meilland are it's seedlings, you should skip the bush version of PM. I'm very jealous of the Climbing Papa Meilland in OZ, because it's not sold in the USA. I recommend you try Black Baccara. It's a satisfying garden plant with very long lasting florist type roses. The fragrance is light at best, but it's a sacrifice for petal longevity. Each 5" perfectly shaped flower lasts over two weeks on the bush for me. Dakota Redwing is brick red or burnt orange during summer and most of the year. I have yet to see a purple bloom, but now would be perfect conditions with cold nights and clear daytimes. The first year has been underwhelming.... I grow the miniature Black Jade near my doorstep because I like to affix it to my jacket's lapel when I go into town. It's a beautiful blood red colour. I'm ordering Black Magic this upcoming Spring, so can't yet comment on its performance. You can find pictures to all of these on HMF.