Ohhhh,,,,I just love reading all these posts! Karin, I am sooo past salivate I have to wear a bib to catch the drool !!!!! Part of my problem is I don't worry about available space. Or go into the future and wonder will it fit in??? I just jump in. And somehow it all works out for me! I must admit though,,,,,unlike some of the post I read I only keep one of every kind. I don't have multiples of the same variety. Unless it is in the baby growing, gonna find a home for stage. Su your new violets are delightful ! They were the first thing I saw this morning and they are beautiful!!!!!!! And I agree with you,,,a bunch of numbers on the label don't mean as much as a name does! AND easier for us to remember!!!!! I will tell you one thing Joanne (yeah just one thing??? what a hoot!!!) when I go visit my daughter I will have saved up a buttload of money. She says Optimara is about 2 hours from her and that is the only place I am interested in seeing in the entire state of Tennessee!!!! (Course in my opinion she really needs to move back to Michigan. I miss her. Yeah I know she is mid 40's but she is my baby and I miss her!) ANYhow! Karin last fall our local library had a very small new "garden group" form. It was only designed to last about 6 weeks. I found out about it after 4 meetings already passed but I was there for the 5th. When I walked in, there were only 4 others. I made 5. Everyone brought bulbs they dug, starts of stuff wrapped in damp newspaper and one lady even brought quart jars of jam! I thought it was just a "discussion" type meeting. You know, talk, compare notes on how to everything about gardening. Boy did I feel out of place! I brought nothing. But you know, they made me feel welcome anyway, and when they asked "anybody want this or that? I also have this or that at home I can bring next week" of course I said nothing. Without blinking an eye,,, the ladies didn't exclude me from the giving! I felt funny and tried to decline but they acted like I was part of the trading! I ended up bringing home jam and lots of goodies to plant. And I asked them would they like some of this or that from my yard that I would bring to the last meeting. I brought a boatload of stuff for the last meeting and I was so sorry that they wouldn't keep it going thru the winter. I guess the whole point of this is,,,,had you come to a meeting that I was a member of I would have still sent you home with a bunch of stuff. I would have gone out of my way to make you feel welcome. AND this is not a hindsight statement,,,,I have belonged to a few groups that I came to realize were hmmm, well I guess the word is "uppity". While I was there I still made newbies feel welcome and once I really got the hang of that group I decided I could and would live without them. This forum is welcoming, kind and generous. And I try to be the same way when I see someone who would like to rebuild their lost collection or just plain can't afford to buy+ship. Been there,,,understand. And I offer what I can. I love this group!!!!!!! Rosie

I have a brand new Canon DSLR T6i I got for Christmas to replace my 13 year old Canon XT Rebel. I love it. I do not use a tripod generally though I do have several different ones I could use. The first photo was shot with my old camera in my hotel room at the Dixie AVSA Convention in Atlanta when I purchased the plant last March. The second two photos are also my old Rebel but were taken outside, and the last photo is with the new T6i under the shelf lights. The lighting doesn't really matter as long as you reset your white balance on the camera, as long as there is enough light. If I were using a tripod I could play with the ISO more than I do but I am often lazy. Afterwards I do post processing in Photoshop, mostly to crop and resize down to 72 dpi at roughly 900 pixals for the web because the original files are much too large. I may adjust color or contrast slightly if the colors look off but I do as little as possible. Always better if I can learn to adjust the camera correctly in the first place because it saves me a huge amount of time in post processing (such as white balance).

We are pretty far below on a customs list... there are much more dangerous items they check for... x-ray and use dogs to sniff. Praise the Lord for their efforts! You have 100 times more chances to lose your shipment to delay. But it can happen - so it is at your own risk, NY only charges several $ for phyto, CO - $62 - and the whole day wasted. I tried to get phyto in Sweden - they only have it for big semi trucks filled with sales plants - and it cost $1000. Phyto is not required for the countries of EU. In some countries - obtaining the phyto will bring the tax inspector to your doors.

Thanks for the kind comments, everyone. All of you are way better gardeners than I, so decided best just to snap photo of my Butterscotch. Hope this helps--I don’t think black spot any worse than any of my other roses. Jim