Yes, let's do a Halloween tea! Thursday - Oct.28th. Great idea, if only I had a teapot in the shape of a pumpkin or a black cat. I love pumpkin bread and have some Halloween cookie cutters. As far as baking with lavender, I have had no experience but used to buy a lemon cake with lavender at a craft show that was very good. They haven't had it the last couple of years. Cookies with lavender are good too. Maybe you could freeze some ice cubes with spearmint leaves inside. No tea today for me, I forgot; drank coffee instead. I had my washer and dryer going all day, purging my clothes closet and getting the clothes ready to take to the church rummage sale later this month. Two big bags full. Plus some shoes. Donated a little faux fur coat I've had since I was 19yrs.old! Time to move on for goodness sake. :) Yes, you're probably right. Next week may be the last time we'll be able to sit in the garden and have tea. I will be putting my outdoor furniture away pretty soon. But soon it will be time to curl up in a chair with a wool throw and sip hot tea, watching it snow!

Dan Hinkley wrote a book on it, but I don't know if you could get him to come or not. He DOES speak to groups, but is away much of the time, may limit who he speaks to in some way (in addition to being physically absent). Try heronswood.com for more information.

It is very useful information for people, let more people know about roses. Here is a link that might be useful: mbt shoes supplier

Even in the few z9 locations in this area, this plant will not survive long term Full blown USDA 9 being present here debatable, hence such failures. Last time I looked record lows north of Coos Bay were all below 10 degrees F, with long term weather records expected to be the basis for Sunset mapping everything north of Gold Beach Sunset 5 or lower. Garden centers here sell the Musa lasiocarpa, I bought one on clearance in a 4 inch pot and planted it here last year. It grew significantly larger during the summer, I didn't think to protect it when the cold came and don't actually know what it looks like now. The 2014 edition of The Hillier Manual of Trees & Shrubs (Hillier Nurseries and The Royal Horticultural Society) says about this one Will survive outdoors, ideally with protection, in the mildest parts of the British Isles but in most places best overwintered in frost-free conditions so it wouldn't surprise me if mine is now a dead heap. Due to warming ocean currents the "mildest parts of the British Isles" actually go up as high as USDA 11 in the most southwestern islands (with - unlike here - Santa Barbara, CA style plantings long being present there, serving as proof). Claims of USDA 7 originating back East may be based on better results in hot summer climates. And probably also the prevailing misinterpretation of USDA Hardiness Zones, with it likely having been observed that the plant fails at 10 degrees F, is therefore "Hardy to USDA 7 (average annual minimum temperature 0 to 10 degrees F)".