From a piece published: 13 July 08: Derek Jennings, the well known raspberry breeder responsible for all the Glen varieties which were named after the Scottish Glens that Derek had walked, describes his more recent successes produced during his 'retirement' in Kent. Autumn Fruiting Raspberries: keeping up with the Joans "After years of breeding summer-fruiting raspberries in Scotland it was difficult for me to give up the job when I `retired`. So I formed a partnership with a leading Kent fruit grower and, since I needed a change, took up the breeding of the autumn-fruiting kind. At this time autumn-fruiting, i.e.primocane-fruiting, raspberries; were only just beginning to become popular. Another change was that I could name my varieties after the ladies in the family rather than after Scottish Glens. My first success was Joan Squire. It can be described as a second early and its fruit suited most but not all market outlets. It came from a cross between my Australian collaborator`s selection and the unnamed summer-fruiting selection mentioned. It became a leading variety whose use peaked in 2002 and is now declining in the face of competition from newer varieties. Growers in Chile who export raspberries over long distances to North America reported that it was not quite good enough for this purpose, so I sent them my selection 941/3 from a cross between Joan Squire and Autumn Bliss, just for them to test how it traveled over long distances. The selection has many faults and I asked them not to report them because I know them all! To my great surprise they think 941/3 is perfect and last year reported a production of 338 tons of it. I cannot visualise what 338 tons of raspberries look like. Maybe a small mountain? A selection that came from my own cross between Autumn Bliss and Glen Moy is Terri-Louise. It has exceptional fruit size but poor shelf-life and was more useful as a parent than for commercial use. Crossing it with Joan Squire gave me JOAN J. JOAN J. clearly illustrates the different priorities of the supermarkets and the consumers. Its VERY EXCELLENT SIZE AND FLAVOUR make it a clear favourite with consumers as shown by big sales of plants to amateur gardeners and to non-supermarket suppliers. Thus recent annual sales have been 76,000 plants in the UK and 67,000in the USA. But the supermarkets feel that its slight tendency to darken when very ripe and a slightly weak skin strength reduce its shelf-life and they have all refused to accept it..." From ÂFruit Forum Edited by Joan Morgan http://www.fruitforum.net/autumn-fruiting-raspberries-keeping-up-with-the-jo.htm Here is a link that might be useful: Fruit Forum

I ordered the test roses back in Jan or so, and they arrived last month and were nice big healthy plants. Right now, they're leafing out and looking good. Last month I ordered the Disney Princess roses on their free shipping deal. They finally arrived yesterday. I have no idea when they shipped out, but they arrived in pretty crappy condition. I have a feeling they were in transit awhile. They had lots of "white" new growth, some with nearly 2". Two of the plants had some mold and dieback. I had to cut out quite a bit. But the roots were nice and long, and plenty of decent green left. I'm sure the plants will do ok. But I guess this is the risk you take with FREE shipping! Personally, I would hate to see J&P go under. They have introduced many wonderful roses over the yrs.

Their customer service is horrible this year, too :( They were supposed to replace a rose I bought last spring, and I tried bugging them about it since last May, but their final verdict is a $10 credit. Great. What are the credit card policies on this sort of thing? If they send dogs, can I just have my cc company cancel the charges, you think? Surely bum product + bankruptcy would work to not have to accept another store credit if it's done quickly enough? ***Does anyone have any experience at all with Heavenly Dawn? That's who I'm considering using my credit on if I decide to actually use it.*** I was going to buy Heaven on Earth there now, too, but any J&P rose available elsewhere at all should be bought elsewhere, imho. (Unless your cc company is usually very great about bum companies, I suppose ;) Mine usually is.) Heavenly Dawn isn't some known rose, is it?

In NC (at least my jurisdiction) it is code to do a manual J. That being said, my HVAC contactor did the manual J (I've seen it) and then ignored it. He actually put 4 tons upstairs where the load called for just over 2. (This was redone down to 3 as Carrier doesn't make a 2.5 Infinity) The manual J is imperfect. The latest version doesn't accout for a radiant barrier in the attic which reportedly can save 15% on a/c bills (and would be the determining factor for sizing in the South). Infiltration for your house will likely be better than average if you are building your own house or watching it closely. I personally foamed all penetrations into the attic and I bet that made a significant difference in infiltration. You wouldn't believe the holes in fan housings etc. Now if they did the Manual J after the blower door test, then I'd trust some numbers (although the blower door test is itself imperfect). Our infiltration was 50% of the energy star standard before I had finished a few things. It really isn't possible (I don't think) as the units are hooked up by then. Although, that maybe only because they test the ducts at the same time as the blower door test. I just know when we were at that point, the units were already installed. Anyway - the manual J is an absolute requirement. Just know that it is imperfect.