When I lived in Winter Haven, It was a 20 minute ride over to Florida Southern. I was just starting to get really interested in growing good roses. I remember when things started to get fired up at the school. Dr. Manners had about 32 Double Delight's planted in 25 gal. pots in a long row just outside the Gym doors. Each bush was injected with different types of virus's and different amounts. It was a great start to a life long project. The school colors are red and white, so the Double Delight's were a big hit. Back in the 80's the school had a great basketball program and packed the gym every home game. They were a big hit with everyone. I learned a LOT about soil and what it actually does from Dr. Manners. It didn't take long before the "big boys" learned about what was happening at the school and his work became well known. I feel very humbled to have watched this program come out of the ground.

I'm still experimenting with potting medium! Where I am in Canada, we can't easily find pine bark fines. We do have pine bark, but the pieces are too big, and it is rather expensive. So when I find a bag of pine bark, I have to remove the larger pieces first. Having said that, 511 is a good potting mix, and I have used it. At present, I am experimenting with something like---50% pine bark, 40% potting soil and 10%-15% perlite. I am also trying an overwintering experiment this year. I am going to put some of my pots in a homemade greenhouse that is attached to the brick of our house. I haven't used this space for winter storage of plants because it is south facing. So during the winter it would be fine. But come early spring it would heat up too much. So my plan is to put in some hosta pots insulated with cedar bark mulch. I have found something equivalent to a white tarp which I will use to protect the greenhouse from direct sun exposure.

The Vintage Gardens newsletter gets better every time I see it! Well worth reading, always. I have one copy of their old catalogue, which I treasure and consult more often than other books - the "growth habit" info for all types of roses is especially valuable. Melissa - your comments about your DH modifying the pergola "according to his own, eccentric ideas" made me laugh! Here in our garden we are still re-planting old roses we had to take off the house into our new deer fenced garden because of fire hazard. Right behind that garden is a very old pergola, with Fortune's Double Yellow on it. Next to that was a 60 ft tall "volunteer" privet tree. It was providing shade for an ancient (inherited from the ancestors) rhododendron. Well, the tree was also, I discovered, providing way too much shade for my new garden. So, last month we had the tree shortened to about 35 feet, which removed the huge bushy part at the top. It will grow back, I am sure, because privets grow like weeds around here, and are impossible to kill - I have tried. Anyway, we also just re-planted Belle Portugaise behind the new garden, between the old pergola and a new one we just installed nearby, so it can climb on both of them. However, now the old rhododendron is getting very unhappy, as it has lost most of its shade from the tree. On the other hand, the Fortune's Double Yellow has put out 5 new basal sprouts (it was previously a one cane wonder, so I am very glad about that), each now over 3 feet tall and still going up like elevators. I has also sprouted new growth all over itself. The point of this too long story is that yesterday I noticed my DH busily building things, and erecting something in that area. I went to look, and what he was doing was extending the old pergola FDY is growing on towards the trunk of the privet tree, and out towards the new pergola we just installed, so that the now exploding FDY can continue to extend its empire at the same level, and also provide some shade for the rhododendron. I actually think that will work out, although the only reason I noticed what he was doing was because he was using noisy tools to create ornamental caps for the new corners of the extension of the pergola. Jackie

I have waited a couple weeks for a reply from the editor of the AHS e-newsletter, and have not received the courtesy of a reply to explain this MAJOR oversight. I know that many (or all?) of these people are volunteers, but that doesn't change the responsibility for what they produce. I am glad I am no longer a member of the American Hosta Society. This is no way to uphold the integrity and importance of what once was once a very informative place to learn about Hostas, and insure their propagation. Sadly, -Babka