That is such a shame, so sorry for your loss there Dave. Quite a few factors have to be taken into consideration when rating a rose for cold hardiness and also disease resistance, is it on its own roots, or grafted? How old is the plant? Did you have extremely cold temps with snow or without snow? Was it exposed to alot of rain and/or wind? How deep was it planted? Did you prune it last year or the year before? And these are just a few ??'s that you have to ask yourself, and not just you Dave but everyone that grows roses. Now for disease resistance..... What zone do you live in? What state do you live in? What is your weather like in the summer...do you get high humidity or low? Do you get alot of rain....and would that be in the morning or at night? How old is the plant? Is it planted near a wall or fence? Does it have good air circulation around it? Are you feeding it regularly and watering it this much but not too much? What kind of soil do you have....have you had it tested? Is it on its own roots or grafted? Now I am sure there are more questions that anyone can add to these that I've posted. But the bottom line is that these questions should be taken into consideration by rose producers and hybridizers before they put them out on the market and in magazines with fancy pictures and "false promise" advertising. Or you could grow your own.....

Well the rose gods of the world intervened, I was right on only one clue - once bloomer. The rose is White Provence (apparently recognized in the 18th century). Registration name Unique Blanche also known as R. Centifolia Alba and I planted it last year and it was a European import from Petrovic Roses of Serbia. Check my import list and sure enough there it was from 2007 delivered - thank crikey I was able to recover my hard drive data from last week's crash - one less unknown rose in my garden.

As stated earlier this is such a personal choice. I find the "rule" of hanging personal photos in only private spaces TEDIOUS!! What is the point of having pictures if you can't display them?!? I have also been told one should never display kid photos in a master bedroom, that is WACKED too IMHO!! Saying that, I have one family photo, 8x10 on a large corner table and I have the kid's latest school pictures in 5x7 frames on top of our antique secretary in the living room. Each of the 5x7 frames is a photo album book. I have smaller photos, formal and casual of each of them, for each year inside. When distant family appear or when the kids have a reason to show them off, the photos are at hand. Downstairs in the family room I have many, many photos on book shelves..from my grand-parents to my nieces and nephews. I find it curious that "high style" dictates no photos, yet every movie, TV show that goes into someone's home family photos are prominent. So far I have one graduate, one coming this year. My son's senior picture is in the 5/7 frame. When they were being taken and printed I made my choices on what to print, with with the realization that within one year or less of his graduation I am the only person who will ever care to look at it again. I will not ever display a college graduation picture. There won't be one, I would suspect. I don't see the point of them. If mom doesn't want one, they don't happen!! Some day wedding pictures will need a place. That is so far from now I can't worry about it. Perhaps I will finally put away the sibling family wedding pictures I have on display down stairs.... As far as what to do with the 11x14 or 8x10's I am clueless. Never in my life have I purchased an 8x10 of a single person. There isn't enough wall space I figured, and if you can't display them what is the point of having them? I find family picture wall galleries a magnet, a conversation piece. Everyone loves to see the pictures, time standing still. Why would you want that in a "private" space? It will only mean you will have people trooping through your "private" spaces.

I'm w/ azzalea and sheilajoyce and redcurls--but I like sheilajoyce's point about sending me something less permanent. It's nice to see what the kid looks like, but honestly it will rapidly become clutter. Technically, it's not legal for your to scan the photo company's portrait and e-mail it to your friends--that's copyright violation. So I'd vote for buying the bare minimum for closest family members (not even cousins), and taking your own portrait-like pic of the kid to e-mail around (and people can print them off if they want). You could also do a poll of aunts, uncles, and godparents, to see what size they'd like. I do 5x7s for mom & dad bcs that's what they want, 8x10s for ILs (ditto), and wallets or the slightly bigger ones for godparents and aunts&uncles. My SIL did have pics of nieces and nephews up at her house, stuck in the frame of her mirror, but no one that seemed to be just friends. I can see she might have friends' kids up for closest friends, the kids who FEEL like nieces and nephews.