Richard Mabey quotes that version in the 'Flora Britannica' as being transmitted through a line of distinguished gardeners from Canon Ellacombe to Edward Bowles to William T Stearn. It is the dog rose, of course. I vaguely remember some Colonial pedant discoursing on the following lines: Beyond his hope, Eve separate he spies, Veild in a Cloud of Fragrance, where she stood, Half spiÂd, so thick the Roses bushing round About her glowd, oft stooping to support Each Flowr of slender stalk, whose head though gay Carnation, Purple, Azure, or speckt with Gold, Hung drooping unsustained, them she upstaies Gently with Mirtle band, mindless the while, Her self, though fairest unsupported Flowr, From her best prop so farr, and storm so nigh. Roses being prelapsarian? Hi, Michael :) Jon

Folks, I forgot to update that 2011 is the Year of Camera Experiment. I used to have to wait for the perfect lighting either dawn or sunset, lol! and with certain roses they'd mushroom out and lose their spirals by then, haha! So this year I started messing with the manual settings of my Canon Rebel XSi. I sent these to Jim first to look at, lol! The Ralph Lauren Cover Boy model for the camera is Jim's Baby Napoleon Distant Drums :D 1. Here is the default Sports setting 2. Here is the TV setting of 160 with the wrong fluorescent instead of the sunlight setting but still kind of cool 3. Here is a TV setting of 250 with sunlight setting 4. Here is my favorite TV setting of 200 with sunlight setting I also forgot to demo my frustrations with how HTs mushroom out into moppy blooms with open stamens in the heat... and when it gets cooler HTs start to "normalize"; not quite there but better... I also forgot to show 2 more blooms. Crepuscule is going to be shovel-pruned next year. It started out as a 5" band and grew to be a 6' tall rose, but after the first winter it had to be cut down to a 7" rose from which it never regained much vitality afterwards. It doesn't have quite enough scent for me to have patience. Only highly fragrant roses get coddled in my garden, lol! Another rose, Aromatherapy. This rose is highly fragrant and the color is the perfect deeper bubblegum pink that is slower to fade. But it is highly BS vulnerable and requires a lot of Gardenville sea tea to keep it healthy- way too expensive to sustain, lol! It is coddled because of the fragrance. I may replace it in a few years with Laguna if a friend from England likes her Laguna. I would replace Aromatherapy with Belinda's Dream which is HT PERFECT in bloom form! but the pink is not the deep pink alas!

Goodmorning Everybody ! :) I heard from my swappers last night...:))) Mariann I have a couple of surprizes for you...We love putting surprizes in our boxes Regina started it.. Chell you are so creative and your writing is so much fun to read... I bet the boys loved playing pirate.. I can see their smiling faces now...What a great idea to make a hideout.. They will always remeber their hideout mom made for them... Norma I havent traded with you but I am sure you went way above in sending her nice cuttings..I seen pics of what you send...They are awesome boxes..:)) Please dont be sad..:)) Regina howdy :) I am so sorry about Mark having to have surgery and the heart condition would just send me into heaven.. Wow I am so glad to read it all went well...Shooo My heart sank for a minute...He will be all healed for college this fall..:)) You empty nester dont go through what I went through...Stay busy and call them alot... I miss my kids so much it hurts sometimes... Dogs are okay but they cant replace our true babies...I love reading about chell and her boys... It makes me smile so much... Frances lol You poor gardener..ahhah You need a break from mother nature..Really..:)) Oh big snakes yucky... I would be screaming... I love chippies...They are so cute...Havent had many around with a cat now...Kiki has brought home two gardener snakes...He was very proud of himself... Yesterday I was getting ready to go out and play in the dirt...The crows or blackbirds were screaming...It just like a scene in the movie the "birds"... It creeped me out really bad...I couldnt see what they were yelling at.. I watched tv...Than got bored and went coleus shopping..lol The master gardener sale for the next county over is tommorow... I cant wait to see what they are going to be offering..I have never been to this one...Oh I almost forgot..I heard from the master gardener I met...Looks like we are building another gh..lol She wants to do it closer to fall since everyone is busy with their gardens...I am glad we could help her..They are a pain to build.. well I gabbed enough lol must be the strong coffee and I got a lot of sleep...:)) Have a good day everybody..Barb

hello all can anyone give me some advise I have a new pond about 5ths old there are 2 lillies which i bought off some very nice old man. one has verigated leaves the other is plain light green neither has flowered this year but the verigated one has gone nuts it must have about 30 leaves and more growing the other plant has 6 leaves but they are slightly bigger. the verigated lilly leaves vary in size from some as small as a ping pong ball to others the size of a tennis ball. any ideas on what is going on with the pair of them or is this quite normal please adv as I am a real beginner and teaching myself through trial and error