I think David Austin's best white has to be ROSE-MARIE, the white sport of HERITAGE. It is a good bloomer, vigorous, and forms a graceful shrub. The vase life of the bloom is shorter and the color is more of a creamy white, but still a very beautiful bloom. BTW, if you are going to get any vase life out of the rose you must cut the bloom while it is still in bud. Don't worry if the bud hasn't cracked yet. As long as one or two sepals are down you should be fine. I didn't like GLAMIS CASTLE because the myrrh fragrance was obnoxious (the blooms also shatter easily). As you folks have guessed "myrrh" can vary quite a bit. With Fair Bianca the fragrance is acceptable because of a subtle vanilla-like base note, which is why the rose marries so well with the annual Heliotrope. Tamora has a delicious myrrh fragrance because of a fruity top note. CLAIR AUSTIN is the hot new English white right now but I haven't had a chance to grow it yet. I'm dying to try BOULE DE NEIGE, a white Bourbon hybridized by Francois Lacharme in 1867. I have its pinkish-white sister COQUETTE DES BLANCHES growing in my mother's zone 7b garden and it is an exceptionally beautiful plant. The blooms are small but are blessed with perfect OGR flower form and appear in lovely sprays on a graceful (and healthy) shrub. CdB has a very strong, sweet fragrance that must be smelled to be believed. Of course no white rose can compare in beauty to the classic Damask MADAME HARDY (1832). I've searched my whole life as a rosarian for a repeat blooming substitute and have yet to find it. That is why I like Fair Bianca so much. The bloom is similar. Alas the fragrance isn't as fine, the chartreuse button eye doesn't have as much visual punch as Mme. Hardy's emerald green pip, and the plant ... well it's a joke to even try comparing the two for vigor and graceful growth habit. SOMBREUIL is a gorgeous white climber but the blooms are more of a flattened rosette verses Mme. Hardy's silky white quartered perfection. Sigh...

homefry....It's easy to tell you are a professional, and a honest guy as well. I think your prices are more than fair. It's easy to see what kind of time and effort you put into your display, as well as your product. You will never be able to please everyone. I say as long as you have a clear conscience and your covering your bills, that's all that matters. I took some bhut jolokias to a local produce stand located at a "flea market". This is similar to an organized yard sale where people rent tables and sell whatever they please for you guys who have never heard of "flea markets". I spoke to him a few months ago and he expressed interest in selling any peppers I had left over. I had no intentions of trying to get rich, I just thought if I could pay for my soil and ferts, that would be nice. He's giving me $1.50 a lb for my habanero, chimayo, red savina, and Numex Twilight.When I took him some bhut jolokias, I suggested $1 a pod. He snorted and said he wouldn't be able to sell them for that much. I left him 18 and he said he would try to sell them 2 for $1. I don't really think he knows exactly what they are. I have more than I can use and maybe someone will be able experience something they otherwise would never have been able to. I won't find out if they sold or not until I call him on Friday. Tim

We have two Dell desktops. First one is a Dimension (3 yrs old, I suppose) with no problems. Funny thing is that when we ordered it, they also sent not one, but four, all-in-one printers, too. It was a nightmare to get them to take three back, which I insisted upon because I didn't want to end up paying for them somehow. Second is an Inspiron 531 that's one year old and was purchased at Walmart - works great, but we had one computer issue (bad power supply fan), and a heck of a lot of aggravation navigating their customer support, even while having all the necessary info, original box, etc, at hand. Dell replaced it, finally. I knew the precise problem but still got obstructed by their PC tracking system. They just couldn't recognize the PC, so I kept getting cut off after a long wait, live folks, etc. I had to keep calling back and trying...and giving them the model number was no use, they needed the right customer ID number. Turns out their info kept sayign walmart was the owner and they couldn't change it to make us the owner. 2) Also, I knew exactly what the problem was, but they don't take that for an answer and I had to keep going through online diagnostics so they could confirm it. Eventually they were even running Citrix from India to assess, wasting more time since I kept telling them the problem: bad power supply! Guess what the problem was? Yes, bad power supply. So they sent a guy with one and installed it a couple days later. I think it got resolved only because I knew something about the problem and lead them to the solution. That was a nightmare, but maybe that's what I get for buying it through Walmart. Buy direct if you use Dell.

Ah, Tony is your SIL! Didn't know Aimee was married! Well, I hope he recognizes what a prize A. is, & behaves accordingly. It's so nice that you & A. bring so much to one another's lives. I have a sister who is like that with her daughter. They too, speak multiple times a day, do lots together, are like girlfriends. You should be proud of yourself Golddust. You were raising a child when you were merely a child yourself and succeeded in bringing a delightful human being to adulthood. You clearly acquired the maturity and skills needed to parent well. I think parenting is a calling, and the toughest job in the world (most important too) and you surely have that calling. Thanks for sharing your beautful family with us at GW.