As for feeling guilty, keeping fish is no different than a cat or dog. Most fish are farm raised. Very few are wild caught. "Most" fish sold now are hybrids and are a little more colorful than their wild cousins. Also, in a properly maintained and established tank, the fish usually outlive the wild ones. A far as low maintainance, it depends on your water chemistry and quality. Not meaning your tap water is safe to drink and has no bacteria, just pH,nutrients and hardness. For example tap water that is hard and higher in pH is going to be more work for the fish that require a more acidic environment, also the type of plants that will do well in it. This can be reversed for acidic water for the needs of hard water fish. Any way you can save alot of money by building your own tankstand. They usually cost as much as an aquarium kit. For live planted tanks with the "red" plants you like (my favorite also), you need a high amount of light. A few plants do well in the low light that is usually provided in "complete" kits. I can go on and on (I normally do), so I'll post a few sites for you that I found usefull. This first is all around the best IMO. P.S. Goldfish only become a problem if the tank and filtration isn't sufficient. A bowl is way too small for them. When they grow they emit more ammonia and poison them selfs. Also they can grow to 12"+, a min 30 gallon tank with good filtration will work great. Here is a link that might be useful: Best info IMO

We have a flower coming!!!!! As for size, the leaves now reach to about 12-13 feet tall. I got leaves steadily getting larger, then a 3/4 size leaf, then a teensie little leaf which while unravelling reveals a twisty looking thing which is definitely not another leaf. Here comes the flower!! I do however worry that the fruit will not mature before winter comes and the maturing may be so slow that everything will succumb to rotting. I build a greenhouse structure over the thing in the winter so it won't freeze, and will get a fair amount of light and heat especially up until December, but if this winter is anything like last my greenhouse will have steady night temps in the 38-45 range for January and February (days 60-70), which won't kill it outright but I'm afraid it will stall out completely. Oh well.... I still got some freakin' flowering. If only I can get it to flower in June instead of September.

Mila - sounds like you have a plan, and I know what you mean about not wanting to wait to follow through on your plan. There's always room for more roses if you get creative! Glad the pictures helped you get tempted - they're all great climbers and you can't go wrong with any of the three you mentioned. Summers - for sure you'd have to finagle a way to attach the canes to the trees, and that's getting way too close to Quadra for my skin's sake. He's big and thorny, and between two trees he'd be just waiting to pounce. For sure you'd need another kind of support in addition to the trees, or he'd be flopping on your other roses as you mention. I used to grow my Quadra as a free-standing bush and he was at least 7' wide and aggressive with space. Can you stretch some sort of trellis or arch between the trees for extra support? He might not bloom as much in part shade beneath trees, but I'm all for giving it a try if that's where he is. I have Veilchenblau beneath a huge oak tree and it's pretty impressive (though it doesn't want to climb). Cynthia

I am not an expert but I have a June bearing type that is also hit and miss but also sends out way to many runners. I had some Fort Laramie, everbearing, that have been much better but this winter were killed in my raised bed and the grass took over what was in the ground. I could have dug them up and washed the roots off before putting them in the raised bed but never got around to it. The voles were doing a number on everything in the ground.