Hey Kim, I forgot to mention that I'm going to cut down my Miscanthus perennial grass after it dries out this fall and use to insulate the rose canes before I wrap them in burlap. If you don't have any perennial grasses, you could use straw, and I saw the long grasses at Farm & Fleet last night back in the duck blind section. I don't grow any red climbers, so I don't have any first-hand knowledge about their hardiness..just what I've gleaned about others' postings. I did grow New Dawn for several years until it contracted RRD last summer. The two New Dawns grew over a very large homemade trellis and stretched over French doors on the southern side of a walkout basement. They were about 10 years old, and during that time, I never winter protected them nor had to spray for BS. They had a great spring flush but just a very small flush again the fall, so if you are looking for continual bloomers, these would not be a good choice. The spring flush was magnificent, though. If you do choose New Dawn, you will need a very sound structure to grow it on; it is not a wimpy climber in my experience. It did get tall enough to reach the second story bedroom on a regular basis.

I ran across this site while looking for on line info about pipevines. I don't think I like what it says about butterfly gardens NOT helping butterflies. ( Read it - am I not understanding it correctly?) And this is just one study on pipevine swallowtails only. Jacqueline M. Levy1, 2 Contact Information and Edward F. Connor1 (1) Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway, San Francisco, CA 94132, USA (2) Jacqueline M. Levy, 4226 Mt. Taylor Dr., Santa Rosa, CA 95404-6255 Abstract Gardens with nectar sources and larval host plants have been proposed to stem the decline in butterfly abundance caused by habitat loss. However, no study has provided evidence that gardens benefit butterflies. We examined the use of natural sites and gardens in the San Francisco bay area by the butterfly, Battus philenor. We found that natural sites were more likely to attract adult B. philenor, received more oviposition, and had higher juvenile survival than gardens sites. Butterflies were more likely to be present in gardens with established populations of the host plant, Aristolochia californica, growing in the sun. Battus philenor are unlikely to visit gardens with host plants planted within the past 7 years. Gardens between the ages of 8Â40 years received oviposition, but did not always support completion of larval development of B. philenor. In gardens with host plants over 40 years of age, B. philenor consistently survived from egg to the adult stage. Natural enemy induced mortality of eggs did not differ between garden and natural sites, but overall egg survival was lower in gardens than at natural sites. It is unlikely that gardens serve as 'refugia' for B. philenor in years when populations in natural sites experience low survival or low fecundity. Even in gardens capable of supporting larvae to maturity, the density of eggs and survival rates were lower than in natural populations of the host plant suggesting that gardens were not optimal habitats. Therefore, without evidence that juvenile abundance and survival rates in gardens matches or exceeds that in natural sites, it is most likely that gardens act as population sinks for B. philenor. Aristolochia californica - Battus philenor - Butterfly gardens - Habitat restoration - Lepidoptera Contact Information Jacqueline M. Levy Email: jlevym@juno.com) References secured to subscribers. Here is a link that might be useful: pipevine study

I constantly get these video pop ups here. They are very annoying and cover part of the page that you are trying to read. I know that this is a GW problem. When I switch to Facebook, I never ever get a pop up. So My feeling is that GW server/system allows these pop ups to pop up.

Just a follow up on the "no gifts please" issue, because it is something we all always agonize over, isn't it? It went as we predicted. Our very closest friends got me birthday gifts (in groups of 2 or 3). These are the people with whom we are so close that we give each other gifts for big occasions, party or no party, so we ignore "no gifts, please" if there is a party, because just as we aren't giving a gift because of the invitation, we aren't refraining from giving one because of the invitation, either. Our very, VERY closest friends also got us anniversary gifts (one from a group of three couples, one from one couple) -- same circumstance. Most people either brought a bottle of wine, amaretto, or champagne, a small birthday and/or anniversary gift (about like you would give for a hostess gifts -- candy, a funny little purse mirror, etc.), or nothing. Several (whether or not they could attend the party) made contributions to various charities. Another factor that may have made a difference was the gift my husband gave me -- the best ever. It is an album of stories and memories he asked people to send. Not only do I love it more than anything else he could have thought of, I like the idea that that would help people feel like their contribution to the album WAS a gift -- and they are right! Anyway, the bottom line is that I think that whether or not you put "no gifts, please" on an invitation doesn't make much difference; those who would anyway will anyway, and others might bring something small, but about the size they would probably bring as a hostess gift anyway. The real function is for the hosts to avoid feeling embarrassment about giving themselves a party for a gift-y occasion. So I guess in the future I will stick to no reference at all to gifts, EXCEPT where we are both hosts and also the guests of honor. I still feel, also, that people LIKE giving gifts to their friends. And I'll close with a funny story to that effect from this birthday: one day, about 11:30 am, a couple of weeks before the party, I called my friend G, on her cell phone, to see if she wanted to go to lunch. No answer, so I called A. No answer, so I called N. No answer - !!! "Why don't my friends take my calls," I thought, feeling very unpopular. So I called C, and she and I went to lunch. The next day, G called me, laughing. She said, "Sorry I didn't get back to you until today. I bet you wanted to go to lunch. I was out with A and N, shopping for your birthday present!" They had figured it out and wanted to share the laugh with me. (Good thing I had tried all three of them, eh?) They had fun shopping together, and I love the gift (it's a glass necklace) because it makes me think of them having a good time because of me.