Florence - I have almost fully recovered now. It took 5 month! 3 different antibiotics, asthma meds (broncodilators and steroids in stronger and stronger dosages. I truly understand what being very chronically ill feels like now. And yes it finally forced me to quit smoking ... however hard it is, I have to with such sensitive lungs. And I hate the smell of tobacco smoke anyway. But it never affected my ability to smell - and I don't notice any difference yet. Thanks to all of you for your good wishes. Joe white/cream roses truly are pretty. Now If I could only make Kronprinzessin Victoria grow a little better here. Yours always look gorgeous. I love the cats. They are like two rivals constantly fighting for my attention and are jealous of each other, if I pet one the other looks offended. If I go outside in the garden they constantly look for me out the windows. One is a Holy Birman, the other a Siamese, like Connie wrote. Christina - It is so great to have a cutting garden! I learned how to graft/t-bud roses and now produce most of my plants myself and greatly increased the number of roses - I even got a new small plot of land nearby so I can grow even more roses! It is so overgrown with weeds and I look forward growing more roses there: A blank canvas I do not spray the roses in my other plot and only prune them in the spring and deadhead a few times during the summer. Since they grow no spray I really learn which roses have good disease resitance here. This summer I got a lot of rust though on roses that always have been clean for me - and Randy - Heritage was one of them!!! Never seen that before - a little mildew but never rust this bad. I have a lot of cleanup to do and I might have to spray with a neem/copper/sulfur spray when they go dormant and cut the canes more back to get rid of as many spores as I can. It is great to learn what roses do really well for cutting. Some begin to drop petals after just one day, while others do not drop their petals but look tired after a few days. They either have a good vase life or be very fragrant - preferably both of course. I think most can make plonks of roses - but I really suck at it! Huge fragrant plonks with up to 20-30 stems of e.I. Austin roses really fill my rooms with perfume and I always have smaller vases all over the house with about 5 rose stems in each - Just Looked - counted 6 vases on my bedside table (Papa Meilland, Crimson Glory, Rouge Royal (last very long!! but produces so few flowers) Paul McCartney Rose, and Frederic Mistral and Blossomtime). The scent is amazing - when I lie in my bed - Ready - Wooopss - Reading - in my bed. And I always fall asleep drifting away feeling the wafting scent of some very fragrant roses. (at least 5 month every year I enjoy that luxury). I have begun collecting many different sizes of vases mostly glass, but also a few silver and ceramic vases. Seems I can't get enough of different smaller vases. Randy - sure you may use the picture(s) I post If you like it. When posted publically it is hard to control the use of images (Fair use) - if any want to use some of my images for something - all they have to do is ask. I never say no to private websites, bloggers and authors. I had picture of "Cloris" published in ARS old garden journal last spring and some of my images garden images have been published in books. Even though I am not very skilled taking pictures and dont have to work them in Photoshop (will take a course this winter - got the CS4, but don't have clue how to use it. I need to take more images in RAW format in the future, and will spend some on better lenses as I able to afford new ones. I simply keep putting of taking flowerarranging classes - I just know I am going to be the only man there ... I wrote an article on my blog about it: Flowerarranging for Men? I know how to grow roses and it is a luxury to be able to take in huge plonks of roses, I just need to learn to arrange them better and use different fillers to present them better. Then I may take pictures of something else than plonks like these above and these Heritage roses. And Eden Roses: Robert - LEH has really grown on me. And the dark colour of the buds, stems and leaves on new shoots are truly different and unique and make the blooms stand out beautifully. I also like the sweet fruity rose fragrance. And it has a nice growth habit too. I also look forward to try the new lady of Shalott. I have ordered 3 and time will tell if I like it. Hope you are doing well over their and that the Brits treat you good. It is good to be back in better health and post again ... I hope you forgive me my lack of ability to make short posts and I have been a little cranky and sensitve since quitting (sorry Andrea).

Jeri, I still don't want to bother to test for ph, don't know how, and afraid to send in soil samples and the work of that. Maybe I'll be forced to do it. I'm lazy about some of it. There are little buds on what's left of my RDV's. Guess I'll have a couple mini RDV's this spring. If they put out new growth this season, I'll try to force myself to protect them for the winter. I don't have to do it for all. They weren't in the best of shape when I got them anyway; they offered to replace one, but I didn't want to bother with it. That one isn't patented, I doubt, so I got two for insurance anyway. I can root some new ones from cuttings if I want unlike some of my others. First blooms on Harison today; they're not going to be very double this year like last. Probably the winter, but absolutely no tip dieback. Every single other rose had a little or a lot of it.

pm2: Mine is an 8 oz one from Wild Birds Unlimited. It's identical to humzinger in every way, even made for them by humzinger. They have a retail store near me and their feeder was a few $ cheaper than the brand name Humzinger. 8 oz is plenty for me because my birds will not allow more than one to feed at a time. I make nectar in larger portions and store in covered jar in the fridge. Only takes a minute for me to clean, refill, and rehang. Again, easy to clean and can even go into the dishwasher. I just use any old soap or spray cleaner. Someone above mentioned no soap but the manufacturer makes no such recommendation and I don't see how soap could be a problem as long as it's rinsed well. Karen Here is a link that might be useful: Wild Birds Unlimited

You did get Goldstern from Tantau. I wanted the Cants Gold Star but I got the Goldstern instead. I have grown Goldstern and it grows into a tall shrub. It is listed as a climber but Tantau says it is a shrub. I kept it down to about 6 feet. You are warmer so it may have to be disciplined in the summer as well a spring pruning.Blooms well and had no BS in my garden. Here are photos for you.