According to Freepatentsonline.com, Autumn Glo ripens a week later than Earli Autumn. With a March 1 bloom, it is showing Autumn Glo as first picking August 15 at Modesta, CA. Both varieties are listed as having 16% Brix which is high for most commerical apricots. Both are firm fleshed with moderate juice and moderate aroma. Since their main appeal is for a late ripening variety, I would go with Autumn Glo since it is the latest.

I know the nursery I work at part-time has Embers, I am not sure about Sunset - it doesn't stick in my mind as one carried. Since they are in 3-gal., well-draining pots, under a large shade-cloth covered hoop house, overhead-watered daily and fed regularly, it doesn't QUITE replicate normal in-ground conditions. However, the summer foliage on all the 5-7 varieties the nursery carries looked good over the summer, but I don't think any of them dropped spent flowers cleanly. I know I spent a good bit of time on several of the days I was there, cleaning old petals off so the shrubs looked good for the customers! Several of the 'Autumn Embers' still had scattered flowers on them when I was last at work on Tues., but the main fall flush seemed to be over - since there is a major freeze forecast (which doesn't mean it will actually get there, nor that it will affect the hoop house, for 4-5 days from now, it's just as well, IMO.

Punk, these talented gals here have taught me so much when it comes to creating tablescapes. The best thing I've learned is to shop Goodwill and places like Marshalls for bargains.That, and almost anything can be the start of a fun table centerpiece! I hardly ever buy a full set of dishes, though. Salad or dinner plates are easier to use . . . and store! DD: I wish you lived closer, too! I wish you all did, as it would be such fun to get together for shopping excursions and for some meals, too! Betty: More pinecone plates? Oooooh . . . that sounds tempting, but I think I'm at my limit with those. Thanks so much, though. Your kind offer means a lot! And yes, please do keep an eye out for more pieces of that other set. I'd love to get some of those dishes. As for my furkids, yes they do seem to like to pose for pics. They're both sweeties and I love them. Despite the bad rap dobies get, they are the sweetest, cuddly dogs. Ronin would like nothing better than to sit on our laps and sleep in our beds. We don't go that far, though! We dobie owners call them "Velcro dogs" because they always want to stay close enough to be touching you. Lynn

Karla, I’m not a professional but I do have more than a dozen climbing roses among my approximately 200 roses. ( I don’t know the exact number and don’t want to know.) I don’t treat them all the same because they vary in need based on their growth styles and my wishes for each one depending on their location, etc. However, when mine “ go mad” in the autumn, as they frequently do, I mostly let them go mad. If I feel a need to whack them back a bit, I focus on those that are shooting out directly away from the structure I have them fastened to. Those I cut all the way back to the can they came from. I don’t want them now and I know I won’t want them next spring either . Any cane that looks like it might be a good one for next year’s blooming, I simply fasten it in the general direction I want it to go. I’m not particularly trying to train it at this point, but while it’s young and supple, I start it going the right direction. In the spring when I prune and train everything is when I do my final sorting through the canes and lop off anything that doesn’t fit my scheme for that plant and tie in and train the ones I keep.