Thanks Nastarana - i have NO plans to SP any roses (even the PO's old HT's that died off and left me with a handfull of Dr. Huey's are enjoying a place on a far off fence that needed some color) I just came in from doing some early spring cleaning it he yard. I got a bug up my ... and pruned back all the roses about 1/2 way. They all showed signs of new red bud growth so I dont think I did a bad deed - Evelyn was among these. I hit her hard (ok, for me it was hard pruning, im a real light-weight on the pruning thing, big yard so I like pig plants). Wish me and the roses luck in a month or so ...

I don't know either ngraham. My first bloom was reall pale but the color got better even if the form didn't. I guess the form is ok, just ragged.. Nancy VB, GT will get lots better. That's a ffo and I didn't realize she had opened until after the daily rain/storm..I do love that one.. Rita, Alice Lambertson & Blue Winged Warbler are my favorites of the odd forms. Choral Fastasy is blooming for me for the first time and it's a ffo. Like Golden Tentacles, I didn't realize she was bloomed until after the rain/storm. I would like to have seen it before the storm... Well Kay, I still don't have lots but if the ones I have bloomed would just straighten up and do right, I would be happy. I love that one ( BWW ) too and when Lambertson first had it for sale, I hadded it to my list. I bought Bird Talk & Magnificent Hummingbird when they were first released. Neither bloomed last year. I'm surprised silverkelt, that you haven't seen Alice Lambertson. I think it's very popular, but maybe just in my area.. BWW is on this years first bloom so there should be some improvement soon... Thank you all....Ellie

I am so lucky. I've never had spear pull on any of my palms (knock palm wood!). Although last spring I had a windmill drop two fronds and part of a spike when they started growing for the season. My pindo is showing some burn on its newly emerging frond, but its growing and green. A local palm buddy here (Turtile on GW) said they all suffer some cold damage during first winter in the ground. All the palms away from the porch were new last year, so they've gotten a good start and will fill in the holes. Also added more zone 8 gardenias that do well in protected back gardens. Can't really notice them in these pics, but they are covered with emerging flower buds. I've never been happy with the flowers on my zone 6 gardenia.

Busy day - Macbook has been crashing, got that post out in between crashes. Worked with Apple Care on the phone, think they fixed it. So yes, IR Scan during blower door test. I'm sure I will get all the details, but he said it's not uncommon, but because of the drafty house, he could not get the fan up to a certain level. Forget what that number was or the value of that number. So the house did not get that cold either. The blower was running for a long time, and the house cooled down from 70 to about 63. I expected much worse after you guys wrote about it in here. I think I expected the inside to feel like outside. Anyway, he pointed out the edges of all walls, at the corners and top rails where you can see there is no insulation. I think you can clearly see that the walls are insulated ok. Attic access panels are killers. We dont even try to fake it here, just a thin wood or sheetrock panel, we have 3 access points. He suggested buying a can of Mastic, spread it on the back and press on insulation, it would help. He suggested sealing any recessed lights, and using the spray fluffy insulation in attics. For one of the attics that has an air handler, he suggests creating a conditioned attic space by insulating the walls, but I dont think I agree with that. For the Crawl, he first suggests I stop any water entry, yes there is right now, might be hard to fix. I have two Sumps down there, but somehow water gets in, and just hangs out on the floor, never more than 1/16 inch deep, but spreads out. Then he says insulating the walls of the crawl to make it air tight, no venting. Or the other approach is to insulate the ceiling or main floor - floor. It's insulated now, but he says it's not doing anything, Its installed backwards, and only a few inches thick . He said I could go with a spray foam, a little pricey, or a real thick high R value insulation. I will share the report when it comes. Was nice having the house warm over the last 24 hours, but I used well over 300 KV in that time.