This spot that I put the rose garden on has a tragic history. I had it plowed, to be a giant veggie/flower garden. Next, I got a hundred lilacs, to go along the fence. I came home, and the neighbor had planted caragana along there. I put the lilacs in the far end of the garden, planning to move them later. 15 years later, they're still there. It became a great place to hide the junk. This garden was divided in half by a gravel path, which became a great place to dump rock. The other half of the garden was equally tragic. We went and got the free city compost. Did they compost grass and leaves? No. We introduced every nasty, vicious thug with deep taproots that occurs. The worst are the thistles. You can't actually find anything that kills thistles commercially. There's a product called Torgon, but you have to have a license to get it. Half of this half of the garden went back to grass, to choke out the thistles. It has a crabapple tree and a hedge. So the other half became a rose garden, and me and the thistles and roses co-exist. Canadian bull thistle grows massive amounts of underground runners. I've tried 2-4D, vinegar, boiling water, gasoline, etc. AND they're back. So I just dig them up. After all, roses have thorns, too. This part of the garden has an arch with a gate, and a little cement path to a small pond with a solar powered fountain. These are Chinese junk. I'm on my third one. I did finally read about the Oase solar water fountain for $369, which might be the ticket, If I ever have the dough. Another vicious self seeder I planted there was saponaria. Now, I love this plant, but now I have thirty. The nicest thing that came out of the city compost was wild verbena, which I let happen until I was sorry. That's interesting, how mulching could keep the rain out: another dilemma.

I am so pleased that the whole family is enjoying the Dipsticks. We love them! I have all of the Marcia Adams cookbooks EXCEPT for the Christmas one that all of you are talking about. I will have to look for that one now. I love Lars's description of the show. The quilts and pottery that she has at the end of the show are always quite interesting. I have not seen the show in awhile. I know that it is no longer in production because Marcia Adams had some heart problems a couple years ago. However, the show was still running for awhile after that. Not sure about now though. Anyway, I am really happy that you are enjoying the items that I sent, and I hope you save a little of the apple jam to try out that coffee cake. Gail

You should look on the underside of the leaves. Looks like the leaves were eaten by rose slugs. They are small green caterpillars type insects. You should squish them or knock them off the leaves. When you see one small hole, then look on the underside of the leaf, and squish the bug. I usually use a small rock or squish the leaf over the insect and squish. Carol

You all have given me such great ideas! I want to go to a wedding with each of these favors. To answer a question, most of our guests will be coming from either New York City, Philly, or Connecticut. Some will be from upstate New York, but most will be from out of town. A lot are either 50 or older, so I'm thinking we might not want to do candy apples (even though I love them.) definitely leaning towards a food item, perhaps syrup, or maybe maple candies. Still exploring. The only other thing to keep in mind is that our menu includes a "pastry delight "table at the end of the wedding with a beautiful assortment of fancy little pastries. Wondering if we need anything as far as favors…