Buff, 'Adam' has very, very few thorns. Many of its canes have no thorns at all, but a few canes have a very light sprinkling of them. Would it fan out on a trellis? Yes, and then in a couple of years it would eat the trellis. I wouldn't even try it on a trellis long term. In my garden it was much too vigorous for that and it has a mind of its own as to where its long, arching canes want to go. It's basically a giant arching shrub. Giant. It's blooms never balled in this climate. Basye's Blueberry and Nur Mahal have very different plant habits. BB is fairly erect and its canes are not flexible at all. It naturally is an open plant. It reacts well to pruning however, and by pruning it can easily become a more full shrub than it normally would be. It's a beauty, I love it, and is 100% thornless and fragrant. So sad that mine had rose mosaic virus. A neighber two blocks from me has a BB and his has the virus too. I'll eventually order a new one and it will come from The Antique Rose Emporium, where I think I will have a better chance of having a virus-free plant. 'Nur Mahal' is an arching plant with fairly flexible canes. Mine is about 5 ft tall and about 7 feet wide. But it doesn't look bulky at all because it is very open in habit. I think it's a graceful looking plant. As much as I like BB, I like Nur Mahal even more. Both are totally thorn-free (at least mine are). Hamp, I give my purple coneflowers lots of water and they seen to really like it. I guess I'm not surprised that they would wilt in our furnace of a summer. Their blooms last a long time on the plant and in a vase, which is a nice trait. Hamp, I promise you, Red Yucca will not wilt on you :-) It's extremely drought and heat tolerant. All that it asks is well-draining soil. It is not a true yucca and therefore has no thorns or sharp points. It is said to be very cold-tolerant ... it can handles anything you would get during a Mississippi winter and then some. Randy

haha yeah we have the japanese beatles here now... lots of fireflies for the last two weeks as well... it always tickles me to see them come out... we haven't been getting much rain.. but comparing to the average we're ahead of schedule for the year... here in southern kentucky its been similar to phil's situation... low to mid 90's for a few weeks now... with a chance for isolated thunderstorms just about everyday lol... beautiful sunny day the other day.. out mowing on the husqvarna and within five minutes the sky darkened and I was getting pounded with (in the voice of forrest gump) "big rain"..... and in fifteen minutes it was gone lol...just enough to water everything pretty good and deter me from mowing til everything dried... I make a big deal out of watering... I'm a lawnhose junkie.. about 300ft of hose and a garage full of sprinklers and attachments... so all my hostas are still looking strong... though I can see how things will go quick this year... my midsummer bloomers.. mostly lateblooming daylilies and some lilies are all already blooming... I have colocasia thats about 18 inches long already... grown from straight bulb...most of my daylilies have already hit their peak and starting to have fewer blooms... since we had lots and lots of 70-80 degree weather in April...Its going to be a boring fall for gardening... Good thing I have guns lol

Oh, man, Jolana, I used to visit a friend when I was little and the pastures, woods and streams around his house that we spent all our time roaming through were infested. I'd come back with dozens of the little buggers. I can remember being one big - miserable - welt from those worthless critters at times. My sympathies!

Our mothers' war : American women at home and at the Front during World War II --Emily Yellin