Buford, very interesting. White clay in the middle of all that Georgia red clay. Two things: if you're keeping your beds well watered (well maybe not since you're in a drought) but hypothetically, wouldn't that make the clay penetrable by the roots? I don't know - just asking. And second, maybe your roses won't mind the iron deficient white clay unless they have Multiflora blood. Thono, yes, I'm right in the city. Jeri Jennings has lovely growth, showing no disease (!!!). My first flowers look just like the photo on the Rogue Valley site. I forgot to smell her - duh. I think she's going to be a keeper! And you know, I haven't been mixing the alfalfa pellets generally in the bed until the last 3 or 4 roses. I put it in each hole but not out in the rest of the bed. Someone on the soil forum said horse manure compost is good, but the soil needs vegetative matter, too. So alfalfa fits right in there. Live & learn! Never heard of using dog kibble. What do you use - the cheap stuff? My dogs would REALLY go nuts if I started putting there food in the garden! I use Milorganite. The worms love that, too. I have NN (2nd year), and I saw a full-grown BN recently at a small nursery/rose garden near Ocala (Flemington). It was lovely. A nice, well foliated bush. I hope my NN fills out like that soon. Archduke Charles is really nice, too. AMoM is very pretty, too. Sherry

I'm pretty positive not. There are only 11 units; only 9 resident families (one's a duplex; one's empty). There's no room in the units to be installing devices; it's pretty tight. My big question isn't really "what's causing this?" bcs I'm pretty sure the plumber will figure it out. (I think it's a check-valve that has gone bad; we had the same problem 10 years ago when the plumber put in new water heaters & put the valve in backwards. He fixed that--but this problem is SO much like it, that's my theory--a failing check valve) But I'm just wondering--does it really matter whether you turn the shower diverter down AFTER you turn off the faucet at the handles, or BEFORE? I always thought it didn't matter, and I'd like to confirm it.

I believe most roofing color choices can go well with practically any facade and house color, especially if you're using asphalt shingles. There are some colors that are quite unique, but it seems that the majority of asphalt shingles are one of a dozen shades of gray/brown. We live in hail country, so we're almost guaranteed a new roof every three to ten years, After our last hail event, my next door neighbor and I were selecting asphalt shingle colors for our new roofs from the same manufacturer. We both toiled over what color to choose. My neighbor went with one color and I selected a different color. Their roof was installed a couple days before ours. When I returned home from work the day our roof was installed, I laughed out loud since the two roofs were nearly identical. Material and color can have a big impact on the climate control of your house. We used to have wood shakes before changing over to asphalt shingles. After the change the temperature in our attic was easily 5 degrees higher and it was more difficult to cool our second floor.

"How often do you need to feed? I've never used this type of container and somehow thought it was place the strip of ferts in indentation on surface of growing medium, place the cover and then keep irrigated." That is what the manufacturers state but it is often discussed on the forums there that it isn't enough for the whole season anyway and that its effectiveness all depends on your climate and how much rain you get for top watering. We do put in the fert strip, just don't count on it for that is needed. Several different methods for later feedings have been suggested but what works best for me in my dry climate is to mix up some some 1/2 strength MG fert and pour it down into the water well every 7-10 days. ProMix is great - when you can get it. Dave