You know, every so often, I see people set up near an intersection or by the side of a road, selling a handful of gorgeous plants. I always said to my husband that I was sure they were stolen from someone who was building a new landscape, or from a nursery. I would NEVER consider purchasing from someone like that, or from a flea market either, for just that reason. We also see a fella selling used canoes (cheap) by a busy intersection not too far from the Silver Springs River, where we canoe a lot. We always felt that he makes his rounds , perhaps in other states, stealing these canoes. We could be wrong..... Melissa, and everyone else who has had plants and flowers stolen, I feel for you. It hasn't happened to me yet, but I sure will be upset when, or if, it does. I have had many other items stolen off of my property. We never leave a garage door open anymore unless we are outside. I guess my plants would be too much work for them. I laugh when my neighbors say how "safe" we are because our community is gated. Melissa, I'm so glad they weren't any prized roses, but still, you must feel very violated. I don't undertsand the mentality of peopole, who think that just because they want what is yours, they have a right to just take it! Sandy

There were roses everywhere when we bought this house, and we have been removing them one by one and giving them to friends. One friend lives on a street called Rose Circle, or something like that, and she has been good about taking the unwanted roses off our hands. I have been replacing the roses with drought tolerant plants, such as succulents and cacti, which I much prefer. Still, some roses still come back from roots that we were unable to remove, and so it is an ongoing process to get rid of them. We have kept one rose bush in the front yard that makes white flowers, and it seems to bloom all year, which is why we kept it. Also, the white flowers go better with our color schemes than the pink ones. We are trying to get rid of the pink that we inherited with the house. The first thing to go was an ornamental peach tree that attracted possums. We have replaced that with banana and heliconia - not drought tolerant plants, but they work with our existing watering system. I have a hard time throwing out orchid cuttings, but we have too many epidendrum in the back yard and no place to put all of them. I also have a bit of a hard time throwing out bromeliad cuttings, but I have no trouble at all throwing out roses, as the thorns are quite nasty. Some of the bromeliads are nasty also, and so I do not feel bad about throwing those out. If it pricks you, do not feel bad about throwing it out is my philosophy. It's nice when you can find homes for unwanted plants, but it is not nice to keep something that is getting in your way.

Hi Vicki, Just yesterday I just dug up a Japanese Silver Grass in my backyard garden. It has beautiful variegated foliage and grows beautiful plumes in October-November, but the root ball probably grows 2 feet wider each year:) It's just too big for my garden. I've had it for about 6 years now. Two years ago I even dug it up out of the ground and divided it into 3 pieces. I gave away 2 and just re-planted 1 piece back in the ground. Two years later it has outgrown its space again. So anyway, I just felt it was too much maintenance, so yesterday I struggled but managed to dig up out of the ground once again. Like your situation, the grass was also packed into a tight space with beautiful perennials closely surrounding it. I didn't have much area to even stand. Here's what I did that may offer you some help. First I cut the stalks down as short as possible to the ground. Then I used a standard spade to carve out a circle around the perimeter of the plant to outline the rootball as best as possible. Some of these ornamental grasses have such strong roots that even if you didn't have other plants closely surrounding it, you would still have a difficult time digging out the rootball in one piece. What I did and suggest you do is take an axe and visualize a vertical line running down the middle of the rootball. Then begin striking the line with your axe in small stages. I guarantee that little by little, you will work your way through the entire depth of the rootball. Once you complete that stage, try digging up the two individual pieces. It still may be too difficult. And if so, then just pick up your axe again and cut it into quarters. It's a slow process but you'll definitely be able to eventually dig up the entire plant using this strategy and with causing as little disruption to your rose as possible. Let me know what the results are. Wish you the Best!

Thanks. Would you keep the Austrian roses or let them grow in Austria. Are they are cheap $rose? My wife says destroy them. But I don't want to. You are right about being hard to start. I've tried two years to get starts rooted and all have failed. I do see many plants coming up from roots, but there's no way to tell if they are the yellow or copper. I have seen both the copper & yellow on the same plant, but have seen some stems that have solid red flowers. Evidently red is not dominant color? Thanks for the help on these. What do you think--kill them or try take cuttings, or new plants that have come up and move them? And anyone know on the other rose, that acts more like a rose, except it seems to have adapted to solid shade and blooms almost continually--very fragrant. It's definitely not a hybrid-tea.