I attended part of it (would have done more but our daughter lives there and we spent most of our time visiting her and her family). The garden tours are always one of the highlights of the conventions. It's fun to see how other people grow their roses, and you can get some good ideas from them. The convention this September will be in St. Louis. Hotel costs will be less and we will have some great tours. We will also have some outstanding speakers like Tom Carruth of Weeks, Gregg Lowery of Vintage Gardens, Steven Scanniello, and Thomas Proll of Kordes in Germany. Hope some of you can make it. www.arsconventionstl.com.

What a rich voice for a seven-year-old! Great job, kid! I think Whitney Houston was the first to tack the higher pitch on the end of the "free" (going from the fifth to the eighth, if you know what I mean). I thought it was great when she did it, but since then it's become almost required, which is too bad.

Oy vey Like Chicago doesn't have some bigger issues to deal with first. SMH Topspin After weeks of holding their tongues, Chicago aldermen may finally have a chance to stake out some moral turf in the nationwide controversy that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick ignited over protests during the national anthem. Amid the dozens of ordinances introduced by Chicago residents to the City Council on Wednesday for things like damages to vehicles that hit potholes came a proposal from former Bridgeport Ald. James Balcer, a Marine veteran, to dictate proper decorum during the anthem in Chicago. Balcer’s proposal calls for a section to be added to the municipal code explaining how people should act when the “Star-Spangled Banner” gets played. The language does not specify where the rules of anthem decorum would apply — government functions or professional sporting events or school assemblies, perhaps? Nor does it include penalties or explain how the standards should be enforced. According to Balcer’s proposal, members of the military in uniform should salute toward the American flag during the anthem, and those out of uniform are welcome to do so as well. Nonmilitary people should face the flag with their hand over their hearts, and men should remove their hats. When there’s no flag, everyone should follow the same rules while facing the source of the music. The measure was sent to committee Wednesday, and it’s not clear what its chances are of getting a hearing, let alone becoming law. (John Byrne) bold added http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-rahm-emanuel-city-council-meeting-20160914-story.html

Varieties: Gaye Hammond, Easy Does It, Wedding Bells, Plum Perfect, Poseidon, Winter Sun, Beverly, Koko Loco, Desmond Tutu, Savannah The red ones are obviously Desmond tutu, the big huge yellow ones that are blooming like crazy I believe are Gaye Hammond, the other yellow is winter sun, the light pink one is savannah. and the darker pink is wedding bells. The orange one is easy does it. Carefree beauty and shreveport are our controls. Carefree beauty is there basically to record blackspot pressure, which with no humidity and hot temperatures all summer, has been largely negligible, but will be interesting how that changes this year as we move into fall.