Hi again, Kate....I don't recall exactly which it came from many years ago....either Pickering or Hortico, but it was grafted. The funny thing is, this rose has 'self-rooted' for me a couple times, where its canes had bent down to the ground and where the cane touched the ground, it rooted. Its very low-maintenance and gets no special treatment, yet rewards me every June with amazingly beautiful and plentiful blooms. It would be a perfect rose, except it does sport some nasty thorns, so be forewarned. In spite of them, I adore this rose and its one of my favorites. I'm posting one more picture to convince you...lol. Florence, thank you for your always endearing words of support & love. My dad is doing great now. He stays with my brother now but drives to his house so he can still have his amazing vegetable garden. He is turning 87 next month and still has the most LUSH garden I have ever seen! Dad is nearly hidden when he is working in his garden. You may recall a post I did about him & his garden a couple years back....well here is a picture of him the other day in this year's garden. Thanks for asking about him. He did have a bad fall awhile back and couldn't walk for awhile, but he's walking & climbing stairs again. Good to hear from you, Carla! I have missed you. I hope all is well in your life. Thank you for your kind words. mille fleurs....that is so sweet of you & I appreciate your taking the time to let me know you've enjoyed my pictures. Its not easy being a cold-zone roselover! Becky, thank you for your cheer and compliments. I always love to hear from all of my friends, and it does a heart good to know I have some wonderful rosey ones. Thanks, All.... Celeste Dad, in his veggie garden....

No fear, Dsieber! Remember the zone designations are really just a Jumping Off Place to get you in the Right Neck of the Woods when you're looking for things to grow! There are so many variables, that it's all pretty much a guessing game. There's the fact, as others have said, that the USDA map is old, and we've been warmin' up in recent years, there's the terrain in your immediate area, and then there's Digit's "growing days," which, I think, have more to do with food crops than with flowers! This map shows me in 5b, but I don't even bother with the a/b part since it's such an imperfect "science!" I just think of myself as being "in" zone 5---and then it doesn't take much at all for me to try things that are "said to be" zone 6 plants----and, well, it it's something I REALLY want, I'll even try zone 7 things occasionally! And besides how imperfect the map itself is, there's also the quandary of what "zone" any particular plant actually is anyway! If you pick a specific plant and start looking around, chances are you'll find people with all sorts of different ideas of what zone it'll grow in---like the Crocosmia that came up on another current thread! Good luck finding any consensus about what zone that one is! So go with your z5, and then go out and buy yourself some z6 things and find out what happens! Experimenting can lead to all sorts of worry-------and LOTS of fun! Grow, Skybird

Good old view master. I remember when this hit the market in the 1940s. As children, we did not get one - money was too scarce at the time. We had to make do with an old stero-optican and about 300 slides that my mother inherited. My sister still has it and the slides. When mother died, I examined some of the slides and found that we had slide no.1 : A picture of Sears at his desk. Another slide of note is a view of the moon shot by the famous scholar, Rutherford. A note on the back of the view-card tell how the stero shot was made. The 2 frames were shot one month apart. There was just enough difference in each view to make the stero effect. It is stunning. Now, I wish that we had used greater care when we played with these. The set show sign of wear. Those view cards are collector items now.

Hi, I've been stalking Ellen kennon for the last two weeks. I've sent her pictures of my rooms and have been emailing back and forth ever since. She has been extremely helpful and sent me swatches of what she suggested I use. I'm really excited to use her paints. She actually sends the formula to glidden prof. paint and you pick it up there. So, it should be local for you. Glidden paints now owns ici. I did see that the ici paints uses (and incidently glidden) the same manufacturer that Fine paints of europe uses. And, I've always heard good things about the ici paints. Anyhow... In my room, I have these wonky grey green couches that I can't match anything to. And, lovely brown orangy trim to boot. She recommended mushroom, her tobacco road knockoff, sage, and several others. I really want to go with the powdered pebbles, but she didn't recommend it. I just love the color. She said mushroom would work best. It is a light beigy, greyish color that I do love (not as much as that darn powdered pebbles- the perfect taupe). And, she reformulated it so it didn't have those funky pink tones. For the gallon size, it was 52 dollars in flat. Maybe 53 in satin. I spend that for regular old BM (not aura) paint. Originally, I was planning on FPE paints, which was I think 125 per gallon. I contacted FPE for help. They have a color specialist. Though emmett was helpful, Ellen was much easier to speak with and get ideas. FPE literally has thousands of colors. Ellen only has maybe 100 to 200. Easier to deal! I'm super indecisive. So, I've been collecting paints/painting for months. I was going to hire a color consultant and pay the 200 dollar fee. Until, I saw some information on EK on here. She will help you and is really nice. I think you should seriously look into her paints or at least give her a call/send her a picture. I think it was funcolors that speaks with her/did some sort of interview with her. You might search for funcolors and see what she says.