That is a good idea, I had a lady on my blog the other day say she had to go into construction sites a lot and would love a painted one - I always got nice compliments when I wore it. I remember one day one of the bosses came in to my work with a nice tailored suit on. He couldn't go into the site without a hat so he had no choice but to use mine - we laughed so hard as he skipped out of the building singing "I'm so pretty - I'm so pretty". Some guys have such a good sense of humor. Anj, I paint on everything. Years ago I drove all the way to New Orleans (4 hours) to get a palette knife from Italy that I wanted badly. I loved that knife. I decided to go paint with Priscilla Hauser in Destin, Florida for a week. She was very nice and pointed out my painting on several occasions. On the very last day we took a break and went outside on the porch - during that time someone decided I must have a magic palette knife and stole it. When I discovered it gone soon after, I was in tears. Priscilla was very angry and asked for the knife to be returned - of course, no one returned it but she went into her paint box and found a brand new knife that was similar to mine and gave it to me. I appreciated it so much but it wasn't the same. Now I paint the ends of my brushes and the whole handle of my knife in bright fuschia in hopes if it comes missing again I will be able to see it. I also put them in my painting tote if I leave the room and I never leave my tote in the room overnight. I just never thought anyone would do such a thing - and I hope the darn knife broke the first time she tried to use it ---oh, that wasn't a nice thing to say, was it. I hope it gave her the same kind of pleasure it gave me and made all her paintings beautiful. How's that??

Oui, La Coloma à Sint Pieters Leeuw, C'est une des plus belles en Belgique, mais seule une partie est consacrée aux roses anciennes. Connaissez vous la roseraie communale de Chaumont-Gistoux? C'est ma préférée, mais elle est loin de correspondre aux "standards à la mode". Là , les roses sont en liberté-comme chez moi-.Le jardinier s'appelle Ivan Louette et est le meilleur spécialiste de la botanique des roses à l'heure actuelle. Voici son site, plus bas. Sans doute ma tondeuse est-elle plus bruyante, et vibrante, que la vôtre. C'est un vieux moteur Brigss et Stratton qui fait un chambard de tous les diables. Bien à vous, Pete. Voici un lien qui appartient à ce message: Ivan Louette

Ivan I will add something to the great advice you've gotten here. Next time you get a rose, if the roots are exposed like yours were, mound some mulch around that crown to hold moisture in and don't repot until early October or so when temps are not as wicked. You likely get lots of reflected heat from the pavement too. Couple of things that worked for me re winter protection---find a pot several sizes larger and put your pot into it. Then insulate the sides of the larger pot by filling with bark mulch. Make sure the rose can drain though. Also you can make a sleeve of burlap, wrap around bush, stuff with pine straw and enclose with some twine. I KNOW you will try again because it's obvious how much you cared for Bolero. Best wishes! Susan

Ivan--Please do NOT bare-root the rose when you transplant it. That is what almost killed the Bolero. Roses cannot support leaves unless many fine roots are in firm contact with the soil, because leaves pump out lots of moisture, and fleshy roots cannot take up much moisture. When you move to a bigger pot, keep most of the root ball intact and fill the extra space with a similar potting mix. It's OK if you lose some mix from the outside of the root ball. If it is necessary to transplant bare root, you must strip off all the foliage, which is a big unnecessary setback for the plant. However, it can be done with roses too large to get a meaningful root ball, or when moving roses to a different garden.