Anne, it is a great rose, but I can't comment as meaningfully on its hardiness as I'd like just yet. So far it made it through its first Minnesota winter with protection and has bounced back pretty well from below ground, but somehow I was expecting it to be hardier than, say, 'Nastarana'. I guess it isn't necessarily true that china influence makes for a more tender rose than moschata influence does, unless time proves the mature Rosa moschata to be much tougher (which is possible). Ann, thank you, that's a great tip - I will have to try it (especially since Claritin causes me all kinds of problems and DC is a den of allergies; I never had them in Minnesota)! I had to take some opiate pain medication last year and noticed a greatly enhanced perception of pleasant fragrances... so I believe that might just do the trick. I'll try to seek out even bigger patches of multiflora next time, but I would say I've been around quite a bit at once... maybe I'm just not thinking on the right scale. Hundreds of plants might be quite a bit more than I've experienced so far!

Glo - Thanks for reassuring me! I hope your move is awesome! My husband has wanted to move us to Colorado for years and hasn't managed to quite convince me yet, although I think it's absolutely wonderful there. LOL So, Winter Solstice is the same everywhere? (LOL)... I guess you're seeing how little I know... Nancy - Thanks for the tip! I am gonna have to watch the lead hand myself as I way oversowed my cantaloupes this fall. The poor babies are fighting each other and giving me 2 to 5 inches fruits that don't look like they're EVER going to full ripen. I will be much more careful in the future. I'll try to not get TOO excited when I go to plant. LOL Carrie - Wow! That's some really good info. That's exactly the kind of thing I was worried about. I'm grateful for the heads up. Liz - LIZ!!! Hey, girl! Fancy meeting you here and there and now here! hee hee... The whole last paragraph of what you wrote is exactly what is concerning me. I know that I personally wear shorts through-out almost the whole winter except for those few crazy days that we see. 50's or what have you is not cold to me... We do get the occasional freeze, but then a week or two later at most you could have a 70+ degree high! All this in the same few days / weeks / months... it's SO crazy! Oh, and if they're having a plantswap around the 8th of December as well, I sure want to know as I'll be out that way. :-) Blessings, Angela

No Christie I don't have any verbena bonariensis, it's not hardy to my zone. I do have sedums and that was a favorite with the buckeyes. I also had some short orange cosmos last year and they liked those. I was going to plant some snapdragons this year and I forgot, I'm not sure what else is a host plant for them.

Well, today was really nice. Lunch was from CPK. Thai chicken salad, a chinese salad, bolognese pasta with chicken, spinach pasta with light cream sauce, and spaghetti with meat sauce. Then the cookies! There were so many, and all so good! I only tried three varieties, an almond bark, chocolate espresso cookie, and cheesecake cookie. We brought a lot home, and the kids are looking forward to tasting them. We will do the scratch offs tonight. I've attached the link to the photos below, I am wearing a red sweater with black scarf, and have blonde hair. Near the end of the photos, I'm holding up my lottery tickets. Just click on Laurie's Cookie Swap photos. Thanks so much for your support! Here is a link that might be useful: cookie swap photos