Thanks everyone. I'm so happy you enjoyed the photos. Peachiekean: I'm glad my Gruss inspired you. I was really taken with some of the photos I saw here last year so have it now growing in a pot. Hopefully next year I'll have space to put it in the front yard and let her really strut her stuff:) Becky: Thank you. We ended up this year with a lot of new whitish, pink, pinkish and yellow roses and overall I've been pleased with them. Hi Beth! WAP blooms open quick and I saw some apricot peeking through this morning so they should all be open over the weekend. Good timing for me to get a photo for you. Hey Carla. Thanks. Are you getting Dresden Doll for next year? I wonder if Pickering is carrying it now. If not you might check Nor'East as starting September they are going to be offering a lot of Moore Roses you apparently cannot find anywhere else. Happy Labor Day everyone. Kate

Oh good, larger pictures. Yellow Lady Banks puts on a floriferous spring display here and has no thorns. Grows beyond 10ft (here z9 CA). Very little fade. Ditto for the white version. I've not seen Rosa canina 'Creme' in person but sure does look the ones at this link. http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.18046.3&tab=36

The funny thing is, I knew the bloom looked familiar, but could not place it until I was looking at my brand new American Rose Society magazine which came yesterday. Ha! on page 87 there was a one bloom photo of Dainty Bess (on a page of examples of photos of rare roses). Jackie

And you are so right: a home garden grown without chemicals is good for people and the planet. Such cannot be said of the golf courses. We lived close to two large ones in the Sacramento area. They always smacked of elitism to me. No offense to those who play golf, but I was never part of that world. The only time I was on a golf course was when I would sneak in after hours and pick big bowls of the blackberries that grew along the borders. I canned many a jar of pie filling from there. I froze some too, and were they ever delicious! Who knows what kind of chemicals they were exposed to, though. One time I went too early in the evening, just as the caretaker was making his rounds in his little golf cart. He chased me and my children out. I learned my lesson: make sure you don’t sneak in till after he does his rounds. I wasn’t the only one who knew about the hole in the fence by the creek: numerous people would fish in the ponds after hours.