Barbara, thank you so much. I would love to see you and hug your neck again :-) Deb, just look at that beautiful rose. You are doing a great job with your roses. I'm so happy for you. Thank you for the nice words. Hi Kate with the face of an angel and the dancing pugs. I thank you for the birthday wish. Hello to Joe and hug the pugs. Melissa, it is never too late. I wish I could visit your garden some day. In the meantime I will continue enjoying your stories and photo's. Thank you. Kathy, I knew I should have bought that rose.... LA, I remember every step I took in your garden, how warm and wonderful that cup of coffe was, and how fragrant the roses. It was a wonderful day and I wish I could visit again in May, but I doubt Bill will let me run away again so soon. Thank you so much. Maybe you would like to come back to the hot humid south? Love to you too. Bet, watch Suze, she is a sneaky one. Before you know it Alchymist will live in your garden too. I have one because of her, but I can't say that I am sorry. :-) Judith, well I love it, it's a beauty. Carol

veilchen: yes in general it is milder here, because of the costal location (We have the sea all around us ...so it takes longer time to get cold here (water takes longer time to cool down than land surfaces) than places with inland climate) and as long the the west wind blows and we have a constant stream of low pressures coming in from west it is mild here 34-45 degrees most of the winter. But every year a high pressure builds up and the bitter cold from east and north comes our way and temps drops below -16F- -10F or more for weeks sometimes months. And then it is certainly a zone 5 here and I choose roses accordingly. Only push the zones in sheltered locations and south facing walls. (Last winter was more like a zone 8 winter ...never seen that before here!!!).I always hope the winter is going to be mild ... At the end of winter in February and march we see very low temps since the ocean has become so much colder ... but yes a zone 5 with inland climate is much colder for longer time than here since the cold are more constant and comes earlier than here where we see great fluctuations. I love Papa Meilland. For me it is the quintessential red rose. Dark red, with a sheen like velvet! And a very, very strong perfume. Perfume Exceptional as Meilland says... It may not be an easy rose to grow (very mildew-prone here) and the plants are very small and barely hardy here. I have a few groups with 3-5 plants in my garden and a row of 12 in my cutting garden so I can cut one of these wonderful red roses many times during the season. There are many better HTs out there that are more disease resistant and hardier than this and looks better as garden plants...but that exceptional strong rose perfume and the velvety petals make forgive the flaws this rose have. And sometimes I am lucky enough to capture the beauty of almost perfect flower like this one... I really do like all classes of roses ... but I prefer roses with a very strong scent. Yes I also like the glowing colors on the Autumn picture. It may not be very sharp and a bit out of focus, but it did not make the impression worse since it captured the essence of Autumn some of the places I go fishing (Another one my hobbies). I sometimes make large prints of some of my pictures and frame them. I have really bought better cameras and lenses and hope you will enjoy some of the results next season. And no I do not Hibernate ... These days I really try to get in better shape so I can handle working harder ... making gardens for my clients (which takes good strength, especially a strong back and stronger shoulders)... I swim, do Pilates and work out with weights and work on better and healthier eating habits. I have lost 45 pounds during the last 15 weeks. I also need to take some courses so I can make some good homepages. One for my garden design business and one about the joy of gardening and roses. And another one about flyfishing and flytying (I am one of the best fly tiers in Northen Europe and have won many awards for my innovative designs). So I certainly do not have time to hibernate. Soon the holidays are coming and I am visiting friends in Chicago and Iowa. Hope to get to meet Foghorn Leghorn and maybe Aliska? Take Care all of my rose friends on this forum. Niels

Jan, actually its 66 now. Last year was my Medicare birthday. ;o) So there is ONE good thing about turning that age. Punk, if I slow down anymore, someone is going to start watering me twice a week! Janet, having my great grandson visiting this past week was sooooo wonderful. I can't believe he's already 10 months old. He's just too cute for words, of course I may just be a tiny bit prejudiced! They left today to go home, Alabama. Here's his portrait that his Mommy just got a few weeks ago, and then a quick snapshot of us ( 4 generations!!) taken yesterday. Bransen wanted down to crawl in the grass and wasn't too happy about photos being taken! hugs, Karen

Well, if these sweet thoughts don't bring her back, nothing will. Hope it was a great day.