What a funny story CI. You might try picking up a few pullets from a feed store this spring or at a poultry swap or auction. The blue/green eggs are the coolest thing! I haven't got any pink layers but can only imagine the thrill. I do have one that lays a deep dark brownish pink though. I just love the different colors. -Sheila

I wish I could grow albas, but we don't have enough (or practically not any) winter chill here. If I was you, I would consider this an experiment/adventure, and order the roses, let them grow, and then see if you can figure out who they are for sure. (I do realize that I have more of an adventurous spirit than some folks who like to be certain of things - what I think would be fun some might think would be horribly awful, so do what makes you happy.). Jackie

QUOTE: In addition, snails have great homing instincts, so if you fire them over the fence into your neighbour's yard, they will find their way back. That's cetainly reassuring. My thoughts on the matter: It's a good thing in historical times they did not use "carrier snails" to bring the news from the frontlines to headquarters. "Send reinforcements." ______________________________________________ QUOTE (AlmostHooked) Just a thought as you can purchase a 250 fot coil of it for around $50 and there is 3 wires in each foot, Has anyone tried this or is it hogwash? My thoughts on the matter: I'd think it nice to hire old gray-haired hippies to braid you a copper bracelet to go around the neck of all your pots, and have a couple of arm and leg bracelets made for you and Myrle to ward off arthritis. Copper is such a grand cure-all....so why not prevent slugs........and you'd be giving an old-timer some honest work. That said, I saw that Pieterje's pots had them around the necks, and saw how some really large snails (in pictures from Europe) had GIGANTIC snails stopped by copper PIPE, and so I caved and bought some of that sticky-back copper tape for my ceramic hosta pots. And some others too. Did it work, you ask? Well, who knows..it looks pretty....makes me feel like I'm really gardening now, ya know......and let's face it, we had slugs raining down on us with lots of rainy soggy weather, and they were everywhere. So I was fighting the war on too many fronts last year to know what one thing actually HELPED. The thing I believe helped the most was learning to NOT PUT THE BAIT IN THE POT WITH THE HOSTA. Duhhhh, I mean, what if it kills a slug intent on eating a WEED not a HOSTA....I mean, is there an issue of killing a GOOD slug moral issue to be resolved? You know how they say life forms have sensitivities and sensabilities, and after all a slug IS a "life form"........but I haven't removed the tape, I like it. So what if bait scattered in the moist areas and NOT in the pots is what reduced the slug problem. I'd use both option A. Copper Tape and B. Bait .....regardless.

Obviously global warming is a bad thing overall (I think I feel worst about the coral reefs and associated life which are already suffering from increased water temps) but for me and my garden is it amazing. I have never before picked beans on Nov. 4, and I still have some tomatoes and tomatillos holding on. A few feeble morning glories bloom every day still, marigolds are holding on (barely) and so on. I live in Wisconsin! Yes, in the warmer part of the state if there is such a thing, but still this is freaky. Normally we get a light frost end of Sept./very early Oct. We have had a couple but light enough that my raised beds (just up about 8-10 inches) are still kicking. Still picking good apples, too. On the negative side, my forsythia has been blooming on and off for weeks now, and lots of things have started regrowing thinking it is spring. Marcia