Thanks everybody! Mantis, probably it's creping. Not my favorite thing but doesn't look bad on MOM. Shores of Time has a low budcount here but it can open its flowers and even reblooms a little, plus it's such a pretty shade of pink. Julia, fertilized with the usual stuff (Micracle Gro), no new soil. Oh Chris you have flies too :( Maybe it's a 'north thing'.. Linda, Barbara Mitchell is a diploid. Supposed to be short, but mine is taller, and opens its flowers well.

I am so pleased that the whole family is enjoying the Dipsticks. We love them! I have all of the Marcia Adams cookbooks EXCEPT for the Christmas one that all of you are talking about. I will have to look for that one now. I love Lars's description of the show. The quilts and pottery that she has at the end of the show are always quite interesting. I have not seen the show in awhile. I know that it is no longer in production because Marcia Adams had some heart problems a couple years ago. However, the show was still running for awhile after that. Not sure about now though. Anyway, I am really happy that you are enjoying the items that I sent, and I hope you save a little of the apple jam to try out that coffee cake. Gail

I decorate for all major holidays & seasons. I have to say it's actually not so much fun doing the decorating but I love the end result. We went pumpkin picking so in the front of my house I have bales of hay with pumpkins, ghourds, mums. On my front walkway I have metal jack-o-lantern buckets with mums. I change my holiday flag for all seasons plus the outfit on a little "welcome dog" & there are always a few garden stakes that change. For Halloween we also had a scarecrow & an inflatable ghost/jack-lantern ballon. Of course I change my door decorations as well & even my door mat. On my patio I added a windsock & change the 2 wall decorations. In my daughter's room I take out all her holiday plush. My diningroom & livingroom have a change of candles & I add cornucopias plus I have have silk mums & several asst. Halloween items. Now that Halloween is over I took off anything CLEARLY Halloween & in its place added a turkey here & there, plus I changed my flag, doormat, dog's outfit, balloon to a turkey, etc. It's allot of work. And this is nothing compared to Xmas where my sister & I spent 2 days decorating my house, which even includes changing dishes BUT I don't even consider doing outside lights. It's actually getting to be too much. Michie

You should look on the underside of the leaves. Looks like the leaves were eaten by rose slugs. They are small green caterpillars type insects. You should squish them or knock them off the leaves. When you see one small hole, then look on the underside of the leaf, and squish the bug. I usually use a small rock or squish the leaf over the insect and squish. Carol