Go blue, I had them and they are quite easy for me. They are heat tolerant and wind resistant. Your experience with these is almost certainly the result of a disease. "Phytophtrhora to Fuchsia" is like "measles to the Native Americans". These new world natives have zero immunity. The following post is from this site: Quote - Fuchsias are Gondwanic. They occur in Mexico but birds probably brought them up from South America long before the two continents collided near the Ithsmus of Panama. They have fine, wide-spreading (and rather greedy) roots which are not as susceptible to disease as those of many of their compatriots, but bear in mind that their resistence to Phytophthora is poor. Phytophtrhora didn't occur in the southern hemisphere until people inadvertantly brought it in. Many southern hemisphere natives have zero resistence to it. This is why they can grow in Sacramento, California, in shade with lots of irrigation, despite temperatures in the 100s in the summer, but are almost hopeless in the southeastern USA. The Phyto kills them sometimes within hours. I have heard from a few folks who claim that they can grow things from the southern hemisphere, because their coarse sandy soil is not particularly condusive to Phyto. There is at least one heat-loving Fuchsia. Maybe a few of them, but most are native to cloud forest or rain-forest in cool, temperate climates. Fuchsia triphylla comes from the Caribbean and loves hot, humid weather. Most unusual for its kind. I have no idea if it is any more resistent to Phyto but I would guess that it probably is. It has been tried occassionally in the southeast. It has minimal resistence to frost. It can be and sometimes is grown as an annual. -end quote

Mary, Yes Mother, (joansews) embroidered the shirt, which was t-shirt knit but kinda a pique looking pattern. I undid the hem and attached the ruffle. Then I put 2 different pieces of ribbon to cover up where the original hem had been in the shirt. It took 20 forevers to do that belle/solid ruffle for the pants legs. The embroidery was 2 different designs combined. Thanks, Susan

I wanna know how many of those kids went home and said they wanted a special Birthday Pillowcase like Madisons. Bahhahahaha bet you got ORDERS for more from some of the attendees...great idea as usual ....and you did a nice job on the pillowcase, very creative.

Dear all, I ended up with a white Mandevilla for the trash can spot. :-) Hope it will work well. It looks like it will climb up just fine but I am not sure how wide it grows. I may have to add another one there. I also plan to add a few other small annuals at at the base because the container will be quite large, but it should be fun seeing the Mandevilla climb up. As for roses...I am already up to 4: 1 old KO (it's starting to bloom again after restoration, but blooms are quite small and the foliage sparse). 1 Good Old Gold - recently planted...magnificent bloom, but definitely a variety with very short-lived blooms. 1 Dick Clark waiting to be added somewhere in the same bed where Good Old Gold went, just further away from the tree roots. I'd meant to return it until a nice poster here convinced me to wait. I am glad I did because once the bloom opened well, I could definitely see its beauty. Once it matures, blooms will be even larger. It's a keeper. 1 Climbing Pinkie on the way from ARE; it will go in the flower bed behind the deck rails to hopefully climb on it and spill over. Yes, vapor...I've already eyed a few more spots where I could add a few more roses in the future; but for now I am just trying to see how I will do with these four. It's a steep slope for me - since 2 weeks ago I had no idea it was even possible for anyone to grow roses in the South, other than a KO. The bed across the garage - where Good as Gold is and where DC will go too - looks rather empty but this is because it is full of tree roots. Normally, I would try to squeeze a lot more there, but it's so hard because of the thick roots everywhere. Trees are nice but not when they stay in the way of Divas like roses. :)