hi, mehearty, I hope this is not too obnoxious/rude to add my questions to your post. But I too have questions /concerns about the brown canes... I had one damaged tree rose branch that unlike the other black frost burn spots on my other tree rose branches had seemed to spread? rot? and wondered if you had this same problem? and wondered if cherriej and veilchen had any comments at this... There used to be a lot of green in the branch in spite of the damage, 2/3 green but the upper 1/3 black... I had hopes for it because of the green but then one day, much too my horror it had spread down to 1/3 black and 1/3 a yucky brown with only a bare 1/3 green left...the brown was so close to a new emerging bud that I panicked and cut it off...The part still remaining was very healthy white and green outer shell, but I made one cut then took it away and made several (investigative) cross-section "autopsies" of the removed branch. The upper black was black on outside but ash-white on inside, but the brown areas were yucky brown on outside with slight juice but yucky sallow center on the inside... Did I cut out a diseased stem...or did I jump the gun too soon. Was your brown like mine in terms of spreading downward? Thanks and much apologies if I'm being rude... I'm a total beginner gardener (never grew anything in my life except for a beautiful orchid)...and in March bought two tree roses that got snowballed and iced (poor tree roses).

Gosh... I hope you arn't dissapointed.... Hey... I should send you a list of what roses I have that are big enough for cuttings.... maybe we can trade a few. Unfortunately... most of my really interesting stuff is still pretty small. Would you be interested?

I've read these forums off and on for several years now. It's amazing how many searches for gardening info bring up Garden Web forums! I bought my first house last fall and decided this week it was time to register and join in here. So many wonderfully talented and knowledgeable gardeners here! And, then, I find a forum specifically for Okies! One of the things I liked best about the house when I first looked at it was the backyard. There are just all kinds of plants. I have to wait to see what many of them are, although my neighbor next door has clued me in on some. The neighbors have a landscape pond in their backyard. One of the things I expected to miss about my last apartment (lived there for over 10 years) was the landscaping, complete with ponds, a stream and lots of wildlife including frogs and toads. I was thrilled to find out that the neighbors pond has frogs in it as I love listening to them. They were worried that the new owner (me) might object to having to hear frogs croak. I think we both got lucky! The backyard slopes severely and has some sort of evergreen planted all around it. Over the years many of lower branches have been trimmed off due to disease, according to the neighbor. Now they are very tall with foliage only at the top. Quite a few of them suffered a good deal during last winter's ice storm. There's still at least one sizeable branch that is broken and needs to be cut off. A couple in the back aren't broken but are badly bent over. I'm sort of hoping that the bent ones somehow magically recover as the birds and squirrels seem quite fond of them. I have already counted at least 15 different species of birds in my new backyard, and that doesn't include mockingbirds which I have seen in the front yard. I also saw a tiny mouse near the back fence a couple of weeks ago when I watering a spot that has some irises and a crepe myrtle. Last Monday evening I saw a baby rabbit in the neighbor's yard by my garage. Some of the plants (many of these I can't verify yet, just going by what the neighbor tells me) include crepe myrtle (3 in the back), a Rose of Sharon, irises, hardy hibiscus (looks like 4 of those), daylilies and some other lily the neighbor wasn't sure of the type, clematis out front, what appears to be a lilac someone tried to chop down that is coming back but is probably too close to the house for good air flow, and some boxwoods up next to the front of the house. The boxwoods look nice but stink so I am going to try to relocate them farther from the house in the front yard and create a flower bed with them as a back drop. To replace the stinky bushes up close to the house I have already acquired two blue hollies, four mini roses, a peony, azalea, hydrangea, blue lilac, and a romantica rose. I'm probably going overboard, but my gardening for the past 20 years has been limited to pots and whisky barrels on an apartment patio, and I'm just so excited to have a house with lots of room for gardens now! My biggest problem is that a large part of the backyard is heavily shaded due to the evergreens, and, especially around the perimeter, there isn't even much in the way of grass. Lots of weeds in the areas where there is grass. I'm looking forward to finding out all the creative gardening things I can do with my new house! I've probably rambled on long enough now. Going to leave work early today to have lunch at the Arts Festival then home to plant and transplant! Debra

Hi All, Not much going one here, just work, cleaning, etc. boring stuff. It will be exciting this week though. I'm going to a beer tasting/education on Tues. I have a web site meeting on Thurs. On Friday I'm going to Gardenscape which is the Rochester garden show I attend every year. It is a really nice one! I will also be working it too for the Rock Garden Society. Dottie, Congrats on the grandson! Lol, about getting over excited about the sprouts. Lettuce, broccoli family plants, and violas are very tough and can handle light freezes when they are babies. So you can take the lids off, but if it is going to dip really low like you said, you will need to re-cap them. Marie, I'm glad to hear of the good news!! Do we all have the wrong address now? lol. Your bloom is gorgeous! 4 years, you are a patient woman. Jeanne, Are those pics of flowers blooming now with your garden critters? If so I'm very jealous! Here's my stab at Carol's questions. 1. I have a statue overlooking my garden what is it ? gargoyle - I have one out front for Gary so I'll guess the same 2. I have several statues and faces of my favorite animal in my gardens what is it any how many do I have ? Wolves 10 3. my no tresspassing sign says violaters will be shot, survivors will be _____ ______? Shot Again 4. a critter climbs my fence and eats my cat food every night. what is it ? Raccoon 5. I have a critter key holder in my garden. what is the critter ? Frog 6. I have 9 windchimes 4 are ? butterflies 7. 1 is wolf 8.1. is ? frog 9 1 is ? abstract Talk to you all later, Remy