There are a few young/new roses that I've been waiting to see in thier glory... Champaigne Cocktail - found this in a garden centre and loved the blooms. Haven't been ably to find out much about this rose English Miss - another clearance rose purchased last Autumn. I didn't know if it would survive. It's just had its first flush of blooms The Fairy - struggled with BS this year but it finally flushing Laura Ford - new for me this year. I'm very excited about it. Thank again for lettinge share. M

Scott: You have a wonderfully clear understanding of the deer overpopulation issue. Thank you for adding some extra clarity. I also like your idea of the use of salt licks for "birth control." That way no one has to shoot "Bambi." Pam: The cages are quite easy to make, except for one or two points. First, the rolls are terribly heavy. At Southern States here in Winchester, they load them in my Suburban with a forklift, but a very strong young man can lift one. I jockey them back and forth to roll them out and am careful to get out of the way when I get them to tumble out. I never buy more than two rolls at a time to leave room for this maneuvering. I brace them in the Suburban with bricks. After that it is pretty simple. Find a place with some room to piece-by-piece unroll them for cutting. I use some small bolt cutters to cut the wire, securing the free end with weights to keep it from rolling up on me. The next step might be difficult for you, depending on the strength in your hands/fingers. That is twisting the cut ends--just 3/4 of a turn, really--to secure them. I do this at only three points--more is not necessary. I do the top in one direction, the middle in the other, and then the bottom back again, to add a bit of stability. And each side at each level I twist in the opposite direction. Wearing heavy gloves makes this easier. I am 70 with some arthritis in my fingers, so I am not that strong either. My guess is you could make the same number I do, but it takes just a bit of practice. Of course you could use some kind of soft tie wire to secure them--that would not take any extra time. The way I do it adds some stiffness and makes the rolls keep their round shape better. But using the tie wire with a one section overlap should be just as good. That would just require about 5% more wire per cage. I cut each cage at the 19 section point--that makes cages about 3 1/2 feet across at the top (although I am not completely sure the sections are exactly the same with all brands of this wire), which is wide enough to give protection. A very few times I have had deer put their head/tongue through and nibble anyway. In a few cases I have put extra wire--chicken wire around the upper part to prevent this. I also put the larger openings at the bottom--to accomodate the anchoring rocks and to make the openings higher up harder for the deer to poke their heads through. Finally, you really need the taller wire--anything less than the 46 inches will not be enough. Yes, I put these around the trees and just leave them there until they are not needed. Keeping in place them until the trees are 6" caliper is perhaps overdoing it a little. The risk is less after they are 4", but I have had some scraped minimally up to 6". If the bark gets thick, that affords some protection a bit earlier. Black Walnuts at about 4 inches are fairly safe. Tough lower branches at the "rubbing level" can add extra protection with hardwoods. With pines the deer will simply strip all the lower branches off to get to the trunk. --Spruce

Mindy et al, I got that tall blue pot I had my eye on. It might have been $200 marked down to 40 marked down to TEN DOLLARS. I also got a big metal/copper bucket marked down from at least 150 to $37.50 (I don't think she did the math right. I'll have to check in the morning. I had wanted something like a watering trough near the bees, and this might fill the bill. Or we can use it for logs. That magnificient green pot. I met the nice guy who works the floor. I told him what I wanted to pay for it and without my knowing it he called the ?manager? anyway a woman, and she no way was she going below $160. I think the problem is there was no pink marked down price, so it was 75 % off 699. I really don't want to pay that much because I know I won't move it in freezing weather, and it may break. I'm only willing to risk 100 or less. If anyone can talk them down to $100 or less, I'll take you to LaPatisserie for lunch or Quebrada in Arlington for a cake. Could also do Lakota for a dozen cookies. There's a challenge for the bargainers out there! I'll pay you back in cash and could even meet you at Mahoneys to load and transport pot. Mindy, I saw two "maroonish" pots (one upside down, the other on top) on the pallet, next to the sky blue tall. Are those the ones you are talking about? If there was a salmon pot in the "transition room" I missed it entirely. I'm not looking at your post right this second, but I thought you said it had some branches dispayed it it. I'll look again, maybe when I check to see if the christmas tree is marked down. I wasn't too offended by the look of its branches. But then I had pots on my mind. Marie

Insult me? I don't know how you ever got that idea! Heck no! It's a great bargain from Craigslist, and the original seller happened to get it from Pottery Barn, which is why I said that's where it's from. It doesn't matter to me where it came from if I see an item that I like. I prefer vintage things, although the mirror is only 4 years old, over buying new. That's why I tend to scope out Craigslist and eBay for most of my 'decor'. There's a lady on the HGTV decorating board who is fortunate enough to have a 'transfer station' in her town, more commonly referred to as the town dump. The people there who are bringing items to discard put the items that are still good, but that they no longer want, in a small building they call the 'swap shop'. She has shown us some incredibly beautiful finds from there, and if my town had the same thing, I'd be 'shopping' there as well. Believe me, if my mirror had come from Lowes or Home Depot I would have said so. I have shopped at both places and have found clearance curtain rods for a 5th of their regular price, just because the vendor was changing to new packaging. You didn't insult me in the least, and I'm sorry if my reply made it seem that way.