floridarose, I got my seed from a friend, but I always assumed they were something like Summer Carnival, but after being open pollinated for years, things can change. There is some variation in height, but most are a little shorter like SC, and do often bloom the first year. It's hard to tell if they act as short lived periennials or are just reseeding almost on top of the mother plant. I don't stake my hollyhocks, but grow them against fences and the house. I've tried the Madame Butterfly snaps, and didn't like them as well as la Bella. Not only do la Bellas live longer than most other snaps, when they are pinched back they promptly send another single thick shoot up. When I pinch back Rockets, they start branching off with floppy shoots, though they also live through winter here quite well. La Bella doesn't reseed like the other snaps I grow, though (darn). It's probably a hybrid that wouldn't breed true, anyway. Here is a pic of Rocket snaps. Off to the side are some pink la Bellas. Hopefully, my file isn't too large for posting here.

This is a great thread! I've learned SO much this year as it was my first true "gardening year". There definitely were a few bumps in the road but overall I think it was a great first year considering I had very little to no experience, and a sad, naked patch of grass when I started. I must credit the many experienced, helpful and friendly people on this forum for all the invaluable information you have shared on this forum over the years, as I have picked it apart this year and it has been a priceless source of knowledge and inspiration. Here are a few lessons that stick out to me right now. 1- Give roses SPACE... apparently more than you think they need. As someone that is brand new to roses, I made what I assume to be the most common error made by a new rose grower & planted my roses way too close together. And a few of them too close to my house. This has caused me all kinds of trouble, most of all it has encourage blackspot to spread from one plant to the next, down the line, eventually reaching the other side of the boarder, I'm still not entirely sure what to do about certain layout problems that I've got, but several things will be moved/removed this fall, so I'll just have to sit down and plan it out... which leads me to ... 2- PLAN PLAN PLAN where to put big things like roses, trees, and other shrubs. Most of my most frustrating gardening errors revolve about my placement of something, be it a rosebush or another large plant. 3- I need to pay more attention to the shrub sizes given in online reviews and forums and less attention to the shrub size the nursery lists in the description. 4- Rose slugs are jerks. They really are the worst, and now that I know what they look like and where to find them hopefully they won't cause as much devastation as they did this past spring. 5- Plant everything immediately or ASAP. From my experience in trying to care for plants that are still in their nursery provided pots I have gained a whole new respect for nursery gardeners & the magic they must use to keep these masses of fledgeling plants alive. These baby plants (mostly talking about perennials, but tiny bands fall into this too) in their poor quality soil and flimsy nursery containers are the equivalent of a ticking time bomb when left in my care, even on a mostly shady porch and watered regularly. I have lost so many plants that were waiting on me to plant them, for no apparent reason at all other than they were tired of waiting on my unrelenting schedule. 5- Cut back the rose more severely after big blooms. So many of my roses are looking scraggly and overgrown right now and it is driving me crazy, but I know cutting them now could put them in danger of suffering more winter dieback, so I guess I just have to live with it. Next year they will be getting more regular haircuts. 6- Sweet potato vine, my newfound love this year, was both a blessing and a curse. I think someone above mentioned putting sweet potato vine in with their roses for container interest, but I would have to recommend against it. These things form a thick, chaotic network of roots like I have never seen before! Every planter that they were in they choked out all the other plants that went in with them. They completely killed all their companion annuals, and just plain sucked the life out of their companion roses. Just for an example, I bought the famously free-flowering Easy Going and Living Easy as bands, put them in GIANT containers with a small sweet potato vine in each, great soil, full sun, consistent water and they haven't done anything all season. I think easy going had maybe 2 tiny flowers and Living Easy had zero. Neither has grown any taller or wider than when I got them, meanwhile the fragrant cloud (not the most free flowering plant) which I got at the same time, in the same shipment is in a tiny pot off to the side on my porch with only afternoon sun & is already 2 feet tall and blooming regularly. It has to be the sweet potato vine, it is one hungry, fast growing beast. I love the bright green foliage and draping nature of this vine so much next year I might just put it in its own pot on a tall plant stand behind the shorter pots so that it may drape down behind them all, but it will never be a companion plant for me again. there is so much more but I don't have enough time to write it all! Jessica

PLEASE READ ALL OF THE INSTRUCTIONS NOW THAT THIS THREAD HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE COOP FORUM, THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF ACTION. THIS IS GREAT! I WELCOME EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO PLACE AN ORDER. BUT PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU READ THE INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING ORDERING FOR THIS COOP. ALSO, I HAVE NEVER ORDERED FROM NWBULB BEFORE, SO I HAVE ONLY THE INFORMATION THAT IS ALSO AVAILABLE TO YOU THROUGH THEIR WEBSITE. WE ARE BUYING BARE ROOTS, OR, IN SOME INSTANCES, ROOTED PLUGS, NOT FULLY FORMED PLANTS. PLEASE BE AWARE OF THIS AS I DON'T WANT ANYONE TO BE DISAPPOINTED. NWBULB UPDATES THEIR AVAILABILITY LIST EVERY FEW DAYS. WHAT IS AVAILABLE TODAY MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE TOMORROW. THEREFORE I NEED TO CLOSE THIS COOP ON MONDAY, APRIL 17 SO I CAN GET THOSE ORDERS IN. I SEE THAT TERRY HAS ONLY RECENTLY REINSTATED COOPS ON DG. I ASSUME THAT WE ALL WANT COOPS TO STAY, SO LETS WORK TOGETHER TO MAKE THIS ONE VERY SUCCESSFUL. ORDER THROUGH DMAIL, NOT THROUGH THIS THREAD, ASK QUESTIONS BEFORE YOU ORDER, AND PAY ME IN A TIMELY WAY. THESE PRICES ARE EXCELLENT!! HAPPY SPRING AND HAPPY SHOPPING!!! This nursery is wholesale seller with only a 100$ minimum order, and they sell to anyone. This is an opportunity to get together and buy some desireable plants very cheaply. Plants are sold in groups of 25 and the price per plant ends up being much, much cheaper than your local nursery, even if you can find some of these varieties. I propose that people on this forum who are interested do a group purchase. The plants can be mailed in bulk to my home, and then people can either come here and pick them up, or, if you don't live close by, I can mail them to you. I've given some thought to how this could work and here are the guidelines I have come up with: 1. In the next post, I'll create a list of plants that I know I am interested in, just to get us started. By the plant name, I'll put the price per plant and how many I would like. Note that they are sold in groups of 25 plants. 2. If you see something on the website that I have not listed, but you are interested in, DMAIL me and I will add that item to the list, along with your name and how many you would like. Please don't post to the thread asking me to add the item, because I might miss it. I'd like this thread to not get bogged down with too many posts, because I don't want to make a mistake. (That happened to me on the traveling gnome thread, and I don't want to repeat the experience.) When you dmail me, give me the name of the plant, the price of the plant, and how many you want. This way I can create a folder in my dmail just for this information. 3. If you see something on the posted list you would like to have, DMAIL me that you'd like your name added to that plant, and state how many you want. I will continually edit the list so everyone can see how many of each thing they are committing to and what is still available. When the number of orders reaches 25 for each plant, I will 'close' that plant. Anyone wanting that plant is welcome to add another group of 25 to the list and see if there are enough takers to round it out. There are some plants that are so cheap that you might want to buy an entire group of 25 - great way to get that 'large drift of color or texture' look without paying too much. If so, just dmail me that you want the entire group of 25. I'll still put it on the list so it doesn't get confusing. 4. We should set a time limit for getting the order together - say two weeks from today. Then I will find out how much the postage will be for the order. We'll all have to split the postage evenly unless someone has a better idea. Also, for starters I'm limiting this to the NW forum just to keep it to a mild roar, but if there isn't enough interest to round out orders, we can open it up to other forums. 5. I will need for everyone to pay me for their part before I place the order. I will tally everyone's order and send each person a dmail with the total amount, including postage. If anyone is computer savvy enough to figure out how to do this using a spreadsheet or something, I would welcome the help with it. Numbers are not my strong suit. All the information should be on the list - name, price per plant, how many, and then postage. No sales tax. ! 6. You can send me a check, or you can pay into my paypal account. But if you pay via paypal, I'd appreciate your adding in the fee they charge me everytime someone deposits money into my account. I'll have to check to find out the percentage. 7. When the plants arrive, if you live closeby and want to come help sort and fill orders, that would be great. Otherwise, people can make arrangements for me to either mail them or to come pick them up themselves. You pay for the postage for this mailing either through paypal with the added fee, or by check. I don't think I left anything out, but if I did, just LMK. Here's the website. Keep a kleenex handy to wipe the drool off your keyboard! www.nwbulb.com

There are a couple of pink forms available now. I bought Crystal Drops on e-bay from a Qld person. Lovely plants, quite reasonable. Seeds would most likely not reliably produce what you want - possibly revert back to white. The flowers are more white than pink - just have pink highlights. Very pretty.