Mona, it has been a long time since someone said to me what you did a few days ago...thank you...I am truly touched :-) Jen, oh yeah, I sniffed! LOL Nebel's has a beautiful, sweet classic frangipani fragrance. In all ways, it's one of the most outstanding cultivars IMO, hands down...sorta wondering why I gave mine to Michael! hahaha it's a bit of a shame that it has that tendency to be fussy...although I'm so happy to hear that yours rooted despite the black tip! Heed this warning, all who love the Nebel's: keep it far, far away from winter chill. This beauty gets black tip if you look at it wrong, mmkay. But when it blooms...oh boy...heaven... BTW, if I understand it correctly, Nebel's Rainbow IS indeed aka Lei Rainbow, but there's ANOTHER Lei Rainbow as well that is distinct...Jeez, those old-time plumie cultivators out in Hawaii really should have pulled their thumbs outta their a**es beofre they started assigning names to flowers, right?? LOL Laura: big smile to you!!! I would love to meet your son...I have no doubt that you raised a young man of the highest quality. Tally: thanks, and...LOL we're totally cut from the same cloth. I grew up in Pennsylvania, and remember being 8 or 9 years old and huddling under my mom's "sit-down" hair dryer in the wintertime, 'cause I was always freezing! South Florida was my destiny, for sure! Last but not least: Nicole! I freely admit that I giggle with glee every single time you tell me how many trees I've caused you to buy! LOLOL LOVE that ;-) Thank you for your compliments...I do love taking photos of the plumies and trying my best to capture their most flattering angles...and I think you're right about our dear Madame Poni--this gal will only get better with age! (If only I could be so lucky! LOL) G

You're both so welcome! Susan...I'm a research fiend and tend to over analyze every single product that we put into our home (we just finished building our own house). I call it being persnickety...DH calls it anal. LOL Hosta...I'm a major bargain hunter. :o) I picked out the washer & dryer that I wanted and then started searching for better deals. I actually purchased the pair on eBay for $1100 which included shipping (no tax either!). They were dealer overstock. Everything was brand new in the unopened manufacturer's shipping crates/boxes and was delivered on pallets. I also got the pedestals that go with them from another seller in Canada for $55 each. I did have to pay about $70 to have them delivered, but the cost still came out to less than half of what I would have spent at Lowe's. :o)

There's nothing wrong with the machine or this brand. ALL these machines have hidden functions programmed into the software that is activated sometimes by a certain sequence of buttons. These finds are not documented anywhere and most times the manufacturer don't even know they exist. Many times the same control unit is used across several models with different features implemented in different ways for different models. It's about cost, and rather than engineering and manufacturing 5 different control units for 5 different models, one core unit is developed and features are implemended via software, or different logic lines on the LED control panel. A series of specs is developed and bid out for manufacture and design. Whirlpool does not produce their own in house electronics.

@Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR I definitely enjoy my other roses. It's just that MIP has befuddled me this year. It was in a small pot for two years and did quite well and bloomed fine. Then I planted it in a larger pot last summer (in the same location, huge pot--3' tall by 2' wide) and she grew well. This summer she bloomed a LOT. The branches in my pics above (@KittyNYz6) don't show it, but they were completely covered in blooms. I just didn't get a photo because our dog died at the exact same time so I was not snapping photos. But yeah, they were covered in dozens and dozens of gorgeous blooms that then promptly fried in a heatwave in the 90s. Then it has sat for over two months with no new growth of any kind, and the darker blue gray leaves are a celery green color, so I know something isn't right. I just can't figure out what. Except that it is on a south wall of a house that is painted dark grey and just gets too much radiant heat? Not sure. In any case, I'm not losing any sleep over it, just was curious. And I know from others that MIP is not a regular re-bloomer so I wasn't even concerned about that. But I'm used to a lot of new growth by now and have had zilch. So it's intriguing. I assume it's resting, which is fine, but I've not seen a rose rest to the point where absolutely nothing is happening since its spring bloom. @Kristine LeGault 8a pnw 100% I have no issues with the shovel either haha. In my tiny garden, things have to really perform for me to put up with it. I recently got rid of Laguna (monster), Caroline Victoria (bland), and Joan Fontaine. Not everything I like does well in my garden, and sometimes I have to try it out first to see and learn, if that makes sense. :)