>I want something that is hardy and somewhat resistant to disease- Maybe Crepuscule and new dawn?? Hi vlodom, I was just going through some similar decisions recently and rhonda in upstate SC convinced me to go with Crepuscle. She posted a picture of it growing at one year old that is incredibly enticing. Plus, it will do that well in less than ideal sunlight. And it has few thorns. Just a really nice rose, I think. I've been interested in New Dawn too. Someone has been working on me towards one of New Dawn's seedlings: Penny Lane. That one has really good shade tolerance, she said, and she loved its fragrance. I assume it will grow as well in the Piedmont as New Dawn will, though she was writing from Kansas. Some other rambling or climbing roses you might take an interest in: Madame Alfred Carriere, Dublin Bay, Red Fountain, Quadra, Laguna, Reve d'Or, Jaune Desprez, William Allen Richardson, Sympathie, Goldfinch, Creme de la Creme, Climbing Pinkie (especially the cultivar at the Antique Rose Emporium). If you'd really like a lot of bushiness as well as the ability to put out some long canes, then take a look at Ghislaine de Feligonde. It ought to mix well with Crepuscle too. Avoid Iceberg, including climbing Iceberg, if you want to try to avoid having to spray for blackspot on the east coast. I wanted Iceberg so much that I decided to give it a try anyway... but sure enough, all I'd read about it being more of a problem on this side of the country turned out to be correct. The best resource on the internet for investigating roses is HelpMeFind.com: http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/plants.php Good luck with your new house and yard! Best wishes, Mary Here is a link that might be useful: Crepuscle photo appears in this thread within Antique Roses Forum

Donna. thanks but there is a problem with its blooms, which is that the rod does not grow high enough. Dan I would love to have that kind, in fact most of the hippe I have are from seed, grow it is very nice from the beginning. I have several species but few pictures of flowers, here are some. crinum

Tomato plants can consume two - three gallons of water per day per plant. Mine did last summer. When my grow room hit 90 F, I had to add 1-2 gallons of water every 12 hours to my tomato plants. I would recommend at least 5 gallons to each tomato plant for your tank as you need enough water left over at the end of the day so that your nutrients are not too strong. Switching from grow to bloom is more about the type of plant and how it is growing. I have had peppers that start to flower after the main stem splits, and then some that do not start to flower until it is almost fully grown. The best rule for me has been to wait until after most of the blooms are open, and you can see several fruits start to form. I also use Bloom to get a plant to bloom so that is another use. I also use Bloom on plants like pepper for their entire life as Grow contains too much nitrogen for peppers. Tomato plants usually set a few flowers when the main branches split, and then may not set more for a while. Tomato plants in hydro can grow up to 10 feet tall. You will need to know how to prune the plants. You can wash the dirt off of plants roots that were purchased from the store or nursery. As commented before doing so introduces bugs into your garden. I lost an entire garden one time doing this. It is best to grow from seed in sterile media like peat and then wash the peat off the roots and transplant into hydro. However, I have purchased plants and been successful. The plants would likely be fine for several days, and here is why. If you are growing indoors under lights, the lights create the heat, the plants use more water the hotter it is. If you are growing outside, it would depend on the weather more than anything 2-3 days average. Other things to consider when growing tomatoes are: how do you plan to support your plants.

I'll reinforce some of the others' suggestion, and maybe change some. If you're looking for the cheapest possible way to create a landscape, try the following: Go to your library and check out some books on garden design. While you're there, get one or two about plant propagation. Read, read, read. Take notes. Plan on paper. Keep in mind when you plan that what you're planning isn't cast in stone. If the yard is completed slowly -- to accomodate your budget -- then you'll have plenty of time to change your mind. And in the end, there's something very satisfying about seeing a plan become a reality. Also, it's not necessary to buy nice paper or colored pencils. Printer paper and crayons work just fine. Or notebook paper (you can draw lines the other direction to make a grid and use the grid to approximate space in your yard so you're not overplanning the space). And if you have a computer, that's even better: I don't know about Macs, but the IBM version of the Windows operating system comes with a very basic program called Paint which works just fine, and you can change the layout to your hearts content without throwing away a scrap of paper. If your soil is heavy, start collecting leaves and plant material scraps *now* and create impromptu compost piles. Get stuff from your neighbors: grass clippings, fallen leaves, trimmings, etc. If your yard is unplanted you have plenty of room to create piles for composted material. With time, patience, a lot of hard work, some indulgence from your neighbors, and a few large and unsightly piles, you can have a decent amount of soil amendment for cheap or free. (Though you may have to compost for as much as a year to generate enough for your purposes). I definitely second the getting-cuttings-from-your-neigbors approach. Or drive (or walk) around town and find plants that really strike your fancy instead of limiting your selections to your neighbor's tastes. And make sure you understand propagation (getting and using cuttings) before you go, not just so that the cuttings survive and thrive, but in case the owner of the plant you lust after takes some convincing because they don't understand propagation and need it explained that what you're after won't damage their plant. For pots to grow cuttings in, yogurt containers work fine, and you can pot up to gallon milk containers when you need to. The things that will be tough to find for cheap or free are the hardscape items. One recomendation I have is for mulch paths (or mulch in general): you can usually get mulch from power companies when they have to cut down brush or trees for maintenance purposes. If you tell them you want the mulch from the next job, they'll make it and drop it free of charge (or exceptionally cheap), though you have to be willing to accept an unknown (usually large) amount and you'll have no control over the timing. If you're worring about getting too much, try making arrangements with your neighbors for taking any excess off your hands. With patience, time and (sometimes huge) effort, you can have a nice landscape for the price of rooting hormone, soil-less sterile mix (for the cuttings) fertilizer, and some hardscape materials. Now, you may not want to go about it in this bare-bones a manner, but I took my suggestions to the extreme just as a reminder that landscapes do not need to be store-bought and expensive. Good luck!