A bunch of Lens hybrid musks from europe. Sibelius was a most surprising little purple, Pleine de Grace, Matchball and Jaqueline Humery are healthy and delightful (had a white thing going on) My new rose hedge (well, post and wire between 2 allotment plots) has Nastarana (still very small and delicate), Goldfinch (think I may have to move this as it is going to be far too widely bushy), Leontine Gervaise and Ayreshire Splendens - very promising with trainable canes and an ability to grow almost horizontal - the most successful in the hedge, I think) Climbing Iceberg, and a rescued rugosa complete the hedge. I also have Aimee Vibert - slow, no flowers yet but healthy, paired with a softly cream hybrid helenae which is also quite small still (am expecting a lot more growth to meet Aimee over a long, high timber structure (currently doing duty as pea and bean pole supports). A couple of Austins, Crocus rose (being mugged by a large clump of cornflowers and thalictrum) and Summer Song - a great colour but terrible growth habit and not very healthy. The other duff rose is a Poulsen rennaissance rose, Lilliana/Claire Rennaissance - awful BS. Jasmina (Kordes), Perpetually Yours and Penny Lane(Harkness) and Nahema (Delgard, I think)are a healthy bunch, propping up various veggie posts and the like about the allotment - all work well, are healthy and good choices. Another early yellow, R.cantabridgiensis, a little spinossissima and R.pomifera duplex/Wolley Dods rose are perfect roses for my sandy soil and and open, windy plot - they are unblemished and beautiful with enough blossom to promise much more in coming years. Most disappointing is Hot Chocolate, which has languished next to Summer Song doing nothing - annoyingly, Liliana is also part of this vignette along with zinnias which are also rubbish (this weather!). The imagined glowing scenario of paprika and peach is gappy and splotchy - I avert my eyes. The most surprising is Crepuscule, a make up the numbers choice, bounding into flawless healthy beauty in a tricky but fertile spot (side of the compost bays). I expect the compost mountain will be prettily disguised next year. Most vigorous and fastest is, unsurprisingly Darlows Enigma - I think this rose is going to take to a UK climate with vim and vigour - a truly delicious rose, perfect for the rampageous allotment. Oh yeah, a couple of oddities, another hulthemia Alissar, Princess of Phoenicia (what a name!) and Pomponella - love them both. Finally, my failure rose - Pauls Scarlet Climber - done in by a vicious bindweed and an uncaring owner.

A nice "take with you to the garden" journal consists of using a recipe box (I prefer the 5"x8" size) and use two types of dividers (Alphabetical A-Z and Monthly Jan-Dec). I then file a card for each plant/tree/shrub by name of plant and also include plant detail/care/other information, where/when/price purchased, and where planted in the alabetical section. I also can place a photo protected by clear tape on the back of the card. In the monthly section, I file general cards noting "TO DO'S" that I would like to accomplish that month so I don't forget seasonal needs (fertilize, prune, etc). One could also add additional sets of alphabetal A-Z dividers in possibly different colors to use to further divide different groups (annuals, perennials, trees/shrubs, etc). You can also use the monthly section for other monthly reminders you may want to remember (birthdays, anniversaries, or special "to do" reminders). Hope this is helpful - Works for me!

I'd have to see it in person to gauge the quality. In that era, there was nice chrome, and there was cheap shiny metal. I nursed along some cheapo shiny metal tables for many years. Remove the glass and give the thing a heft. Turn it over and look at the bottom of the legs. Hollow? Solid? With the glass removed, does it hold its shape, or does it rack and bend easily? Like deedee said, I first thought of a glossy white top. Either glass, or a lacquered top of some kind.

You need an account with a stock brokerage firm who will buy and sell stocks for you. If you do not want advice from the firm, you can use a discount service, which charges less per transaction. You need an easy means of transferring money from where you have it into that account - and, of course, back! It's simplest if you can make that transfer electronically. Many people start with a "cash account", allowing the owner to buy and sell online, using pin numbers, of course. I won't do that, for I use an old computer and fear that it may be infected with a spy that may transmit information to its boss that I don't want him (surely not "her"!) to know. I can call the discount broker on the phone, my discount brokerage allowing me to make the transaction by keying numbers on the phone. Being an old fart, I pay some more per transaction to talk to a broker to make the orders. The financial institution where you hold your money may have a preferred broker with whom they connect, but usually they can relate to various brokers equally easily. My discount broker account is held with one that is owned by a bank where I have an account, so transferring money back and forth is very simply done. With a "cash account", usually the official documentation is held in the brokerage database and they send you a report regularly, usually monthly or quarterly, giving details of the cash and stocks that you have, with current value. You can buy stocks with the total cost, plus commission, being no more than the cash balance that yuu have in your account. Some investors want to have the shares that they own issued in certificate form, which usually costs $35 - 50. per transaction, in Canada. One reason for this may be that they wish to use the certificate as collateral for a loan at a financial institution. You can have a "margin account" with the stockbroker that allows you to borrow from them to buy more stocks, and in this area they usually charge about 1% more interest rate than borrowing from a bank. If you're not familiar with the operation of the stock market, it's likely a good idea to avoid borrowing until you become quite familiar with how that system works. Otherwise, if you borrow a little too much, and the market goes down, you don't have enough collateral to cover the amount of your loan. The lender will want either: 1. more share certificates, carrying enough value to more than cover the amount of the shortage, or 2. enough cash to make up the difference. If you have given them $10,000. worth of stock, most will lend about $5,000. If the value of the underlying stocks drops to, say, $8,000., they'll be willing to lend only $4,000. So they want more stocks carrying a minimum of $2,000. value to bring the collateral level back to $10,000. But they usually ask for some more, in order to have some cushion there, in case of some more reduction in value, which would require them to call you asking for more collateral. Or if you pay them $1,000. cash (probably more like $1,200. - 1,500.) that will satisfy the shortage ... and leave a little extra, in case of need. And - they want the extra collateral ... or cash ... by later today, tomorrow at the latest. I don't like getting margin calls ... and when I ran a personal financial advisory business, I sure as heck didn't want my clients getting any (unless they were fully familiar with the system and able to take care of any problems, immediately ... and don't go on vacation, in case the market drops 15% or so, as it has in the past week)! There may be variations in the way that the system works in the U.S., and I hope that folks from the U.S. will inform you of such differences. Good wishes for increasingly skillful investing. ole joyful