1. Favorite RED / MAGENTA - Maggie. I especially like the flatish (not high-centered) form that looks like nothing so much as a dancer's full array of bright rosy skirts. Even though it's a Bourbon, it's extremely healthy and easy to grow. Low in thorns, large in bloom size. The blooms last a long time in the vase, and you can stare at it forever without tiring of appreciating its beauty. 2. Favorite ORANGE / APRICOT - We don't have this color yet that I've seen, though tiny Crepuscle (noisette), when it gets large enough to bloom, will be a faint shade of this. Maybe. That's a low-thorns healthy rose with large blooms too. 3. Favorite YELLOW - Julia Child. I like its butter yellow color, but even in the summer when it fades some, you can still tell that it's a yellow, not a white. 4. Favorite PINK - General Schablikine. Often called a red, it has always been a dusty deep pink here, regardless of season. We've had it from two different nurseries and the color was a dusty pink in both cases. It's a beautiful, beautiful color that contrasts nicely with the lighter pinks that we have a good many of. Its form is flatish and full-petaled. Fairly low in thorns, good-sized flowers that keep on going late into the fall. Evergreen in North Carolina. 5. Favorite PURPLE / VIOLET / MAUVE / LAVENDER - Reine des Violettes, assuming it's going to eventually get around to blooming here. (I've read that sometimes it takes awhile to establish.) Low/no thorns, and so far the picture of health here. 6. Favorite BICOLOR (Example - Double Delight) - Cinco De Mayo. This is a party rose, pure party rose. If you plant Cinco De Mayo, you must prepare to take a bloom in the house, clinch it between your teeth, put on your dancing shoes and dance all over in a big ruffled skirt. (Guys can wear kilts, I suppose...) The rose's only negative is that it's a bit thorny. Otherwise, it's amazingly healthy, and beautiful in its combination of colors with ruffly edges. It blooms less once it loses much of its sunlight, but it never gets a bit of any kind of disease (grown organically, at least). 7. Favorite WHITE - Lion's Fairy Tale. Healthy, healthy, and will take a bit of shade and still bloom well. Large blooms. 8. Favorite CLIMBER - Madame Alfred Carriere. We don't have it yet, but I'm figuring on ordering it this fall. 9. Favorite FLORIBUNDA - Gruss An Aachen. It's simply a perfectly beautiful rose, and it smells wonderful too if you get it in just the right temperature. 10. Favorite GRANDIFLORA - Eutin. The pictures at Help Me Find are so heavy with the numbers of blooms in its bloom clusters that you'd swear they must have been Photoshopped, but no, those huge numbers of bright red blooms are actually what we're seeing here... growing next to our pergola in far, far too much shade. It is getting a little powdery mildew in all that shade, but a hard spray with the hose once in awhile gets rid of it instantly. If shade is your problem, this is your rose. A little bit thorny, but you can't always have everything, and its interesting foliage looks good in the landscape. Evergreen in North Carolina. 11. Favorite HYBRID TEA - We don't have a hybrid tea, but we've had two pinks (tossed due to Rose Rosette Disease) that show a lot of hybrid tea parentage and we'll buy those two again soon: Belinda's Dream and a tiny very attractive small shrub with a bloom that looks like a tiny version of another Belinda's Dream: Rose Rosette. 12. Favorite Old English, Rugosa, Romantica, or David Austin - David Austin's Mortimer Sackler, hands down. The blooms here have looked exactly like those featured on David Austin's website, and this rose is healthy, healthy, healthy. Beautifully delicate looking and lovely to sniff, too. 13. Favorite LANDSCAPE ROSE OF THE YEAR award (I just made this one up because there's no list that ought to leave out this rose!) - Mrs. Dudley Cross. If you can only have one rose, this one is it. It's luminous creamy colored blooms are breathtakingly beautiful and they're eyecatchers in any vase too. Give yourself a gold star if you buy this one, because you made the right decision! And add a second star if you can also buy General Schablikine to plant beside it; the pink of General Schablikine perfectly reflects the faint dusty pink edging of Mrs. Dudley Cross in cooler weather. They look splendid together in a vase. Quite healthy if grown organically. Evergreen in North Carolina. Ours is a no-spray anywhere any time yard and all these roses are suitable for growing that way, at least in warm and humid blackspot-prone North Carolina. Best wishes, Mary Here is a link that might be useful: Mrs. Dudley Cross

Okay, I FINALLY got my lists together! Sorry for the wait folks, but things have been soo busy these last few weeks! Here's what I have for the swap: Plants: *Apple Red Delicious seedling: Perennial, FS & WD soil. *Canna "Yellow King Humbert/Robert Wallace(these got mixed up & cant tell apart until bloom time):Perennial, FS & moist. Yellow & red blooms. *Castor Bean -Red(R. communis 'Carmencita' ): Per. in zones 8-11, FS & WD. Grows fast, red blooms. *Seeds are poisonous. *Coleus (C. blumei) seedlings: Annual/Tender Perennial or houseplant. PS & moist, WD soil. *Crown of Thorns (Euphorbia Milii): Perennial succulent zone 9-11 or houseplant. F/P sun & moderate water. Red blooms. *Daylily (Hemerocallis): Perennial-all zones, F/P sun & moist, WD soil. Orange blooms. *Desert Rose (Adenium obesum) seedlings-Pink: Perennial succulent zone 9-10, or houseplant. FS & moderate water. *Hosta T-Rex: Perennial zone 3-9, Part/morning sun & moist, WD soil. To 30" high. *Hoya Fungii: Perennial houseplant. PS, WD soil. White bloom w/burgundy throat. Fragrant. Hanging basket. *Hibiscus Sunset seedling: Perennial zone 9-10, FS & WD soil. Red & gold bloom. *Paperwhite/Chinese Sacred Lily (Narcissus): Perennial zone 8-11, F/P sun & WD soil. *Plumeria (P. rubra) seedling: Perennial, small succulent tree or container plant. zone 9-11, FS & dry soil. *Spider Plant Variegated (Chlorophytum comosum): Perennial. Houseplant or outdoors in Part sun. White blooms. Cuttings: *Purple Queen (Tradescantia pallida): Perennial zone 8-11, F/P sun, moist -dry. Pink blooms, groundcover or hanging basket. *Purple Jew (Zebrina pendula): Perennial, Part/morning sun. Hanging basket/houseplant. Bulbs/Tubers: *Air Potato Vine(Dioscorea bulbifera): Perennial zone 9-11, F/P sun, drought tolerant. Native to Asia & Africa. ...for my wants, please see my trade list. It was completely updated yesterday.... Here are my answers to the questionaire... About my Garden: a Which of these best describes your DREAM garden: All of the above (including 'Much larger!, LOL) b Which of these describes your REAL garden Chaotic c. What is your garden colour scape All of the above d. My biggest challenge in the garden is: All of the above e. My garden is Non of the above- sunny & tree roots! f. I know I am a plant-aholic because...... I get dirtier than the kids when we go outside to 'play' and if weather's bad/cold, I bring the dirt indoors! Thanks Frances for being patient with me, and thanks for hosting this swap! Here is a link that might be useful: Chellflower's Trade Lists

I have done 4 of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilts but only have one completely finished. I love her mysteries. She puts in some challenges and holds the secret until the end. For the RRCB, I have changed my colors a bit. I put blue in place of pink, green and brown. My constant (red) turned out to be plums/cheddar orange. I just happened to have sewed all my cut offs from last years quilt and had 200 HST...was I going to pass this up, no I don't think so! I am doing a smaller version so I only had to make 100 HST. I still need to make more string blocks but I have a few pics you might enjoy. HST group Block with Green Constant and I reversed the brown/blue Here's what the layout will look like The Final Set of Green/Blue with Brown HST Here's a closeup of the string blocks This quilt is an easier one than some of the past. I get a chuckle when she throws in 600HST's. That kinda blows your mind. Her quilts are quite big so I am doing 1/2 the blocks and will see what size that turns out. Well I must get back to making string blocks.

No quilting for me. I am trying to finish the landscaping from last year's front porch renovation. It started in July and we got the final inspection from the city in January. Contracted with a landscaper in April to redo the sod since the front yard was destroyed and he finally got to us in late June. The concrete people (also contracted in April) had a cancellation and were able to pour our lawn edging last week (3 weeks early - yeah!!) Hubby rototilled the areas for plants and I have been to the nursery three times, but the bulk of the plants are in. I am now moving tons (and I mean tons) of rock to fill in the plant beds and hope to finish it this weekend. I have the drip line laid out, but not hooked up until I finish the rock. I will still need to get a cubic yard of dirt for one planter, but that is a lower priority. Would love to sew, but this has been a year-long project and I can finally see the finish line and hate to quit! I will think of all you lucky quilters as I move more rock! Sue