Apparently the person lecturing forgot the 3 most important rules of public speaking: Be Sincere Be Brief Be Seated Pooh Bear

Going back a century or two, Vibert, writing in 1830 in the context of the stocks available in his time, decidedly preferred own-root. (He was drawing on personal experience with grafting reaching back to at least 1815.) As you'll see, he wasn't so much considering the size or floriferousness of the plants as he was the plant's general health and longevity. After many pages of discussion of the distressing ins and outs of grafting, he turns to own-root plants: "Own-roots do especially well where the earth is not too sandy or too hard; in these two cases, correction is necessary by the known methods employed on similar occasions. These are not difficult: Frequent hoeing; some watering during great heat, especially during bloom; pruning appropriate to their sort--these are the main efforts required. Plants which are very feeble or very delicate require a lighter soil, though still substantial; and, by way of precaution, protection from too much sun the first year. Their existence not being restrained, as it is with grafted specimens under the influence of another sort, they fend for themselves, developing without let the faculties proper to them; and, freed from our meddling--too frequently fatal to them--they can attain an age which does not always come to the hand that planted them. From the modest place Nature assigned them, they have seen pass all these ephemeral generations of big grafted Briars, vain pride of our beds, which borrowed--but only for a few moments--their grace, and the freshness of their blossoms. [...] The mania for grafted specimens further keeps merchants from putting themselves to the trouble [of producing own-roots] in many localities, because they would not sell. It is necessary to have very wide-spread dealings, especially outside of France, to get a turnover with them; and I know some very respected and learned nurserymen who would have no sales at all if all they had was own-roots. These persons have them on hand to sell because they know the advantages of them, and are forced to sacrifice to the bad taste of the day in grafting Briar tree-roses. Raising own-roots for commerce is, in truth, longer in the doing and thus more expensive than raising grafted plants; and this reason may explain the preference given to these latter; however, true fanciers, who are in the practice of growing, make no mistake, and are well aware of the bad effects of grafting as it is done." The subject of grafts continued to interest him throughout his life; indeed, in 1865, fifteen years after he retired and the year before he died, he was still writing articles on the matter ("Observations Relative to the Influence of the Graft on the Stock," in this case about grafting Pears). I can add, from my own experience, that own-root specimens of 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' are, in the long run, much more satisfactory than grafted specimens, at least under my conditions. While the flowers are perhaps a little smaller than in grafted specimens, and the canes and growth perhaps a little less strong, the blossoms, being less "ambitious," don't ball as they frequently do in grafts, and the plants have a nearly continuous growth and bloom, while the grafts I've had tend to grow and bloom in bursts. I find a lot of truth in Vibert's statement "Their existence not being restrained, as it is with grafted specimens under the influence of another sort, they fend for themselves, developing without let the faculties proper to them; and, freed from our meddling--too frequently fatal to them--they can attain an age which does not always come to the hand that planted them."

I have it on the "holds" list at the library. Sounds like a good book. I am back on a desk top, and so excited that it is up to date enough that I can post here again, not just on my Ipad...which I find rather annoying if I want to write more than a couple of short sentences.

Many, though not all, indecisive people I know often tend to be people who could use a dose of extra self-confidence. Self-doubt can manifest itself in many ways and indecisiveness can be one. Either because of or as a causal factor to being indecisive, after struggling to make decisions, such people often continue to evaluate, question, investigate, and reconsider decisions they've made. An unhealthy practice, of course. We all face the need to make decisions, big and small, and few of us have the time to dwell or question past decisions because of other obligations. Often the result is dissatisfaction and more and future indecision. Also, another of my (n= a small number) anecdotal experiences, people who have jobs or other responsibilities that regularly require they make choices and consequential decisions learn how, either through practice or necessity, to make decisions as they come up and then move on without looking back on the decisions themselves. Sure, we all learn from decisions and bad decision impacts do come up, but not because the decider continued to ponder past choices or continued to seek out and assess alternatives after decisions have been made. That's unproductive.