Thanks for writing Nandina and Cady. There is a lot of truth in what Cady said about short attention spans on televsion. Many shows today, gardening and design and general tend to have fast cuts and move quickly from scene to scene. I personally prefer a more slow pace, (like lingering over photos in a magazine), but I have found this to be the case in today's home and garden shows. Keep watching Cady, Michael and I explain the design process as well as give detailed information as to why we prepare the soil a certain way, we discuss different methods, plants and decor options. Not to make excuses, but last night's episode, "Attack of the Sago Palms" was our most extensive and labor intensive design. There was so much going on that it was difficult to include detailed information about anything in particular. The other episodes are not so hectic! Thats one of the reasons that I set up my web site to include lots of photos and relevant garden info for those who didn't "catch it all" while watching. In my marketing research I have found that there are the "real gardeners," (folks like us) and then there are the "consumer gardeners," or people who are not neccessarily interested in gardening, they just want to "decorate an outdoor living space" much like they would their interiors. They either get ideas from television or magazines or hire a professional to do it. They are not interested in the beauty and joy of the gardening process. My viewers are a mix. I get tons of email from gardeners looking for creative ideas and consumer gardeners as well. Next week on Garden Police, we create an English garden, complete with tea patio. We try to get as much design info and plant info in as we can in 30 minutes. I hope you will watch and then check my web site after the show for detailed photos and plant list! I look forward to making lots of friends on GardenWeb! Shirley Bovshow www.ShirleyBovshow.com

Re the transmission in the 14SE/SB I just got given one for free, and was not too impressed but then I noticed the Kawasaki engine (wow!) and decided that it was worth fixing. My 14 SE had a completely seized up transmission and 3 broken cables. Only the blade clutch cable was working...but it's really the only one you need. The throttle mech still works fine with no cables. You can just remove and throw away the speed control and throttle control, cut off the belt drive, remove and discard the transmission and still have a very nice, MUCH easier to push commercial mower when you are done. About an hour's work in all. Pull off the electric starter too while you are at it and then you have a nice lightweight, uncomplicated commercial mower that has far fewer parts to maintain.

The only plant genre I can think of with more creative names than roses is the daylily world, and there are tons with science fiction names. The clearest series to come to mind is the "Spacecoast" series, such as Spacecoast Jedi Knight. Most of the colors look decidedly alien as well. As for roses, there is a Space Invader listed by Carruth on HMF, but no US vendors. Armstrong and several others have the mini Space Odyssey. There is a Vulcan rose, but it's not available in the US. Over a dozen roses use the word "Fantasy", many of whom are available in the US, including a pink Fantasy (Jackson & Perkins) and a red Flame of Fantasy available several places. Sounds like a fun plan! Cynthia

I think some people are missing the entire point of my dissent. Refer back to the post wherein the scenario of the "traveling combine repairman" was described. This person has a legal right to travel across the country to where ever he is wanted (somebody requested that he "come repair my combine please"). Of course the local John Deere dealer might be a bit ticked off that the person who owns the combine didn't call HIS service department requesting that THEY come out and do the service. But it is not against the law to call whoever you want to work on your machine. And so this traveling combine repair man inspects the machine and makes a list of parts he needs and contacts the John Deere dealer in his hometown 400 mile away and arranges for the parts to be shipped directly to the farm address where that machine is domiciled. So what! This scenario is just an example of exercising the freedom to choose who you want to do repairs to your machine and the freedom to buy from who you want. If John Deere corporate was trying to encourage a customer to patronize a dealer other than the dealer nearest to his home, then the local dealer could say "NOT FAIR", "YOU ARE HURTING MY BUSINESS BY SENDING IT TO THAT OTHER DEALER." But when the CONSUMER chooses to trade with a dealer other than the nearest local dealer (in this case "consumer" would be both the owner of the combine and the traveling combine repair man) it should not bother John Deere corporate at all, because THEY did not initiate or instigate the action. Any attempts or gestures aimed at controlling who you can do business with looks and smells kind of like organized crime lords fighting over turf. As far as placing restrictions on how dealers can solicit business from the consuming public, I would be OK with corporate level telling the local dealerships not to send any of their sales or service reps to try and lure a particular customer to stop trading with a certain dealer and come do business with them instead (because here the restrictions are placed on personnel employed by the respective dealerships). When corporate tells a dealership they can't trade with a customer who voluntarily shows up at their establishment requesting parts and/or service......that is wrong. The customer should have the right to choose where he spends his money and the dealership should not be bound from engaging in trade with customers who come to them, no matter where they are from. Are we to believe that monopolies and racketeering should be condoned if they are disguised as something benign?? I am done now.