Rosemarie, beautiful pictures! I especially like the seventh picture with the silouette of the tree against the gorgeous purple-pink background. Thanks, Dan

The AOL article doesn't say much of anything, really. This is a Kansas story so the better coverage is in Kansas news, so far. It's going to be an ugly story, I think, and those adoptive parents better prepare themselves for a long journey into he!! Here's a link, I hope. Leslie/KS Here is a link that might be useful: missing boy

The thrips can destroy bloom, I found that they are especially attracted to yellow roses (for a wedding, all ten brides maids carried Graham Stuart Thomases (I had 25 plants of him). I was appalled making bouquets when I looked down and say the table, my skirt the floor, my blouse, and even my arms were crawling. I'll never forget that. What saved me was the outer six petals was where the thrips were, so I cleaned up all those roses by taking them down to the undisturbed petals (GST works that way rather well). I don't think a malathion spray would have worked, and the hay fields (this was a fall wedding) are thrip-iferous at that time of year. I had a huge healthy plant of Eden which I had planned to use for the Bride's bouquet. The thrips had browned every bloom and they were not the sort that could be saved by removing petals. So I cut a lot of noisettes and had some small sized white and pink polyanthas and the Bride probably carried several hundred rose blooms. Lesson 1: plan for alternative solutions. Tennessee Lesson 2: the weather has a sense of humor, you will lose yours. Make sure your irrigation system is working 100% maybe borrow a dosatron for slow fertilizer application. This fall buy enough Remay/ frost-proof very light material that can float over the roses and protect them down to 24F Find rose friends who can supplement your blooms if need be. (I had two backups) Lesson 3. Cutting the week before the wedding. Accumulate a couple of spare refrigerators and some max-min thermometers. You will need a place to store the roses that is cold BUT NOT TOO COLD. Work on the refrigerators until you TRUST them not to freeze and not to get over 40. The blooms must be kept vertical and at the same time must NOT touch the freezer above. Test them this fall at the temp range outside that you expect to equal next spring. In the garden, spray bor black spot with a religious fervor that would put a Pope to shame. That very warm temperature that TN often gets the first week of May will bring out fungal problem (when you think through April you won't have any.) Learn how to snap deadhead at the abscission layer the week before the wedding, you don't have the time to prune with Felcos and your thumb joint will thank you. Consider buying fill in roses from Sam's club. Nandina makes a lovely fern-y look and unlike a lot of ferns, Nandina foliage doesn't wilt. Will write more as I remember more.

Off topic- a friend nicknamed our dear departed stupid beagle named Ida, Idabean and i used it as my screenname . when she died ( a long time ago) i retired it but couldnt come up with anything i liked as much so im just me now. i went to that swap once but there were people who went for years and years. the food was as popular as the swap. I know there are a lot people who remember her name (and her) fondly but i can’t right now roxanna- If and when the will returns i hope you will re-start your story. or perhaps start at the end- which would be now. i bet there are still many beautiful spots. Sort of like us as we age….