Hi - We sell some old roses at the Sacramento Historic Rose Garden (Old City Cemetery) open garden every April - this year will be Apr 18th. Our usual college greenhouse hasn't been available so everybody's propagating at home (even Jeri is doing some for us) and our selection will be a bit random - lots of some varieties and not any of others. Hoffman von Fallersleben is one of our favorites and we usually have had it, since it's not widely in commerce, but this year I don't think anybody took cuttings of it. It would be great if you could come up for our open house, Masha, so long as you got home in time to get the guys into bed. We start at 9:30. You could bring the boys along - but they might get smeared with chocolate up here, because we usually have cookies and a very soft spot for little ones.(Daun's daughter had a cookie or two this year, I'm pretty sure.) Jeri's right about taking cuttings - it's just plain rude to do it in somebody else's garden without asking, whether or not it's public. We have roses that are diseased, or that we don't want cut for a variety of reasons. Very few of our roses are under patent, so that's not an issue, but it certainly would be at the Heritage or other public gardens. We also want people to use sterile pruners. And, we want to encourage people to buy from commercial vendors if roses are readily available. Our policy usually is that people who come help can take cuttings, but otherwise, it's on a case-by-case basis. Anita

Guten Morgen, Bennie. I agree with Moccasin, Jon and all the others... your hostas are beautifully grown... sehr schoene Pflanzen. I envy your Blue Umbrellas, mine doesn't look as blue or tall, having been planted in 2007... darn those tree roots. Your Autumn Frost as well is taller than mine, which is still hugging the ground in its third year. Ich muss auch sagen, dass Ihr Englisch ausgezeichnet ist. Wir lieben Ihre Bilder hier und hoffen, dass Sie oefter zurueckkommen. My German is rusty, I used a dictionnary and compensated with an "e" because my keyboard has no umlaut. Auf Wiedersehn! Just saying,Bennie, we appreciate your effort and hope you come back often with more pictures of your beautiful hostas.

Laura, thanks, my camera is actually an older model Sony-for-Doofuses, auto-everything: DSC T700. I just keep half-pressing the shutter until it auto-focuses on exactly what I want to capture. I got it to replace a big bulky Sony when my baby came along and I needed a small one I could slip into a pocket and chase him around with. Still no word on the PSA site about the sale. Last year's was on July 31st in Merrill Center at Katy, Texas. Will let you know as soon as I see any more info. Bill, what is that last hibiscus, the gold and orange? It is SPECTACULAR! Sunseeker, those gorgeous hibiscus I have are in 3-gallon pots on my deck. I found them, two to a pot, at Lowe's for $7! If I overwinter them in the garage I'll easily get several years enjoyment from them, so I think they're great value and a lot of color in a small space. If you put them in the ground where the temps don't go below 30 they should come back year after year, but they'll also get pretty big. Keep them in a container and pruned and they'll be nice and compact and still bloom prolifically if you feed them frequently. They also only need part sun in most of the southern half of the country.

All so lovely. Very nice. I think Penelope was the show stopper for me though. That and Lyda Rose which I also grow. That's where my mind is more this year though with single and old fashioned roses. As well I really enjoyed George Burns. I have to re read the thread and see if the quality of re bloom is mentioned. Thanks for those. Kate