not that you'd be able to outlast! they continue trying to bloom until they succeed - winding up w/ wee tiny flowers that hide right flat on the ground among the leaves - if you keep working at picking the flowers and pulling the plants, a few years will improve things if there's not tooooo much wind borne seed coming in from the neighbors - keeping them from setting seed is a necessary first step, but there's seed all over, and buried in the soil so that any disturbance allows a new crop to sprout Bill

You can also try smothering it if you can't pull it out. One way is by using an opaque pot upside-down placed over the dandelion, with all leaves tucked under the pot. Put a stone on top to keep the pot in place. It will take a few weeks to be sure, but if it can't get light, the dandelion will die. Another thing you can do is to cut pieces of cardboard to make an overlapping layer around the base of the rose, then cover with a few inches of mulch. In a month or two, the cardboard should start breaking down, but by that time, any weeds underneath will die from lack of sunlight. :-) ~Christopher

In my opinion Bloody Mary is an illegitimate name, it is actually Majesty which is a very old hybrid. Some wholesaler probably had thousands to sell but didn't know the name, so made one up. I've been growing Majesty for decades and "Bloody Mary" for a few years, there is no difference between the two. Leland Laren, Jay is correct... I agree that your specimen is Pink Princess that's lost its variegation. Note the pink stripes along petiole edges, this is typical of Pink Princess and would not occur on any other philo, especially a non-variegated one. If you haven't done it already, it would be interesting if you would take cuttings from your plant to see if latent nodes along the stems would produce new plants with variegation. Cuttings near the base, or the base itself, would be most likely to produce variegation. Of course that means butchering your plant more than you might like. I have many, many plants of Pink Princess, including large ones in 3 gallon pots. My experience is that in general, the bigger they grow, the less variegation they have. Among new offsets from propagated plants, I often get one or two with no variegation. Interestingly, I see no difference whatsoever between these unvariegated plants and an old, vintage philodendron called Royal Queen. So I think Pink Princess is a sport from Royal Queen, perhaps occurring 80 to 100 years ago. Please post results if you've propagated your plant already, or might consider it this spring or summer. Russ

SOME SPECIAL QUOTES, ABOUT DAVE AND DEB, BY FORUM MEMBERS. "Deb sounds (and looks) pretty special". from Harryshoe __________________________________________________________ "I'm sure your wife understands that your post is one great big love letter to her. How wonderful that you two have those feelings for each other, AND that you, unlike lesser men, are not ashamed to show them. Not to mention the witty, wonderful way you did it". from Ingrid ___________________________________________________________ "I envy your wife diggerdave. If only you could convince my husband about it being sexy being with the roses". from Countryrosegirl ___________________________________________________________ "Dave, thanks for sharing. Your love for Deb sounds very beautiful. As one who has lived with a lot of similar criticism too for most of my life, I know about low morale and low self esteem, but you are right she is very beautiful and great figure". from Moodyblue(Pauline) ___________________________________________________________ "Hey Digger I love your post and Deb is a beautiful woman. Your life and roses together are the best. I think your roses reflect your love, the TLC you give them and each other". from Lesdvs9(Leslie) ___________________________________________________________ "Digger------Your wife is one lucky lady----and you are a great guy for giving her back her self-confidence----I understand how she was feeling and then you came along and now she is a Princess. Two Lucky people". from Zeffyrose(Florence) ____________________________________________________________ "Diggerdave lucky bird". from Iowa_Jade(F.L.) ____________________________________________________________ I see two really sexy-- beautiful people Dave you are a hunk and I'm sure your Deb values you as much as you value her----- I love seeing two happy people like you". from Zeffyrose(Florence) ____________________________________________________________ "You and Deb are a handsome couple and it's rare to find two people complement each other the way you two do. A marriage that's still strong and having fun all these years later in today's world. You're each other's true halves of a whole". from Lesdvs9(Leslie) ____________________________________________________________ "Congrats to Digger and Deb....the Dh and I are knocking on 5 yrs and I hope we feel the same at 23 yrs....he is my digger man too" :) from Bluebetty ____________________________________________________________