Mostly I've been reading forgettable mysteries. I read Robert Parker's The Professional and it was pleasant but, well, anemic. Listened to The Lost Symbol and was greatly disappointed. I kept falling asleep during the lectures. In short, the lecture to adventure ratio was too high. I expected to enjoy it. Daddy was a Mason and I grew up with lots of old Mason stuff around the house - mostly clocks. We had a huge blue Mason's Bible, the last half of which seemed to be about Egyptology (could have seeded my early interest in archaeology) and had lots of discussion of symbols so none of this stuff was really new or exciting to me. Just now I'm in the middle of Nevada Barr's 13 1/2

I have a few of David Austin's roses, some of which now seem hard to find. All here are own-root, and all came from Heirloom Roses. Abraham Darby -- many bemoan him, but for me he's rather nice, growing into a somewhat arching large upright shrub. For me, blooms come in a few waves rather than continuously. It will veer pink or apricot depending on the temperature. Mine gets some blackspot, but only in the lower 12". Golden Celebration -- mine got hit hard by blackspot in its first year, but now seems to have outgrown it, except for the bottom 12" or so. Blooms are gorgeous for the first flush, smaller in successive flushes. This one grows similarly to Abe, but a bit less upright and a bit more arching. Happy Child -- I heard it's "wimpy", but that worked for me where I put it. Right now, two years after arriving as a band, it's about 3' tall and almost 2' wide, with a generally upright bushy habit. Blooms heavily in the first flush, then lightly but steadily through Summer, with another big Autumn finish. The color holds well -- when I call it "lemon yellow" I mean that it's really the color of a lemon's rind, not the pale color of the flesh. It gets some blackspot, but for me not until about October. Jude the Obscure -- for me, this one gets hit hard by blackspot in July, then struggles the rest of the season. This year, I decided that after the first flush I'm going to cut it back hard, hoping that new growth will be more vigorous. If asked, I wouldn't recommend it for my area unless fungicides were used. The Prince -- where I put mine, I anticipated it to be "wimpy" like I kept hearing it'd be when grown own-root. Mine is about 5' tall now on three stiff upright canes, with shorter bushier growth at its base. I suppose I could cut it back harder and see what it does, but I kind of like that I just may have the world's tallest own-root example of this rose. The blooms begin a deep velvety red but finish dark purple like 'Cardinal de Richelieu'. Give this one midday shade to avoid crisped blooms. Prospero -- Jeri often says to treat this rose as a Pernetiana, meaning do little more than just dead-heading it. Mine got all set to put forth thick new canes a year after being planted, but then a squirrel decided to dig around its base and snapped those soft new canes. That sent it into shock, I suppose, and I am still waiting for new basals two years after that. What it has is one thick, stout, upright cane that's about 3' tall, with some shorter bushier growth at the base. That taller cane has branched quite a bit, so it doesn't look gawky. Give this one midday shade to avoid crisped blooms. Tamora -- this one shows its Rugosa ancestry in my garden by starting to sucker, but not far from the center. Right now, it looks like I planted three bands in a 12" circle. Growth is HT-like in shape, but as prickly as a Rugosa. I got it mostly because I wanted one "myrrh-scented" David Austin, and that it sorta resembled a Damask Perpetual in Apricot made it fit where I wanted it. :-) ~Christopher

Ooh, Dara - how exciting! I'd never heard of the Heritage Rose Australia before - I must look it up! I would love to join fellow rose lovers and view gardens on the tour - perhaps not the whole thing but certainly the part in Perth. (And thank you so much for the compliment about my garden :-) ) Marlorena - yes, that little tree is a frangipani (plumeria) - it was one of the earliest things I planted when we first moved in the house. There had been a native peppermint tree growing in that spot which inexplicably just turned brown & died, so I had to replace it - and a frangipani was recommended. It's got beautiful pink flowers, although it's not really fragrant. Oh, and I'll share my photos of John Clare next! :-) Karen - I love that phrase "fat and sassy" - haha! And yes, Golden Celebration has one of my favourite fragrances. I think Jude is my favourite, followed by Golden Celebration and Windemere. Ingrid - we get hardly any rain in the summer months but we do get rain in winter - so I think that's more than you? It must be so hard for you to cope with the drought conditions. We do have water restrictions in summer - we're only allowed to run the drip irrigation twice a week - but we can water by hand as much as we like, and in the last month, I've been out there almost every day carrying buckets of collected waste water from the kitchen & bathroom out to the roses. Rosylady - yes, I think you're right! I'm very lucky that the previous owners chose the light stone walls and had the house painted white. It's actually brick but covered with a white plaster coating, and it does keep everything light and bright. In fact, in mid-summer, I find it a bit too dazzling to look out sometimes as the sun reflects off the walls and there's a terrible glare. But it does help all the colours stand out! ~ HY

I showed y'all my new haworthia limifolia variegated a bit ago but I was outside today fusing w/plants when I discovered something wonderful... BABIES! I'm thinking they aren't going to have any variegation at all sadly but I'm hoping as they get a bit bigger they'll be some slight markings on them. Either way I'll still love them!