Hi Stephen! Nice to meet you again! :o) Yes, that's me! When I write "Monsieur Tillier ex Beales" I intend the Rose which have been re-introduced in commerce by Peter Beales Roses as "Monsieur Tillier". I think it came directly from Mr Wyatt Teas collection. This kind of naming help us (me and those who are trying to understand something on the subject - thanks a lot to them!) to understand where a rose came from, and to trace better the history, both of the Rose and her mistaken name. Sometimes It's easy to trace back, in Europe, the history of a mistaken name, since we can achieve the original source of the Rose. You know, there are many, many mix-ups, especially with Teas and Chinas, as those heat-lovers have been grown -and preserved- for longtime only in the cooler parts of Europe. Very often, there's something which ties togheter the history of the rose in different nurseries, and that's interesting, too. But you definitely know the story much better than me... ;o) I've received a few Teas from Beales past year, and more than a half was mislabelled! I've asked directly Peter Beales Roses, questioning (Peter himself say "challenging") these and many other Teas (but not only) in their catalogue. I'm happy to say that finally Mrs Limmer have been given the task of ascertaining the authenticity of the roses we have "questioned". So, we are in touch with her. Thanks to Jocelen Janon help, 'Monsieur Tillier' has already been correct as 'Marie Nabonnand' in PB Catalogue! Ciao! Maurizio

Susan, I love growing in containers. Even in a non-drought year I get more consistent production from plants in containers because it is easier to keep them well-watered and as long as the soil-less mix drains properly, they won't get won't get waterlogged like plants in the ground can. That's why I have so many containers. This spring I expect to have about 150 containers, and they range in size from 2 gallon pots to a 4'-diameter metal stock tank to similarly-sized (though not as deept) wading pools (I have three of them). I am toying with the idea of growing lettuce in a cattle feed trough that sits up high on legs. That might solve my problem with small critters like baby bunnies, field mice and voles nibbling at greens in the spring. Baby bunnies are very tiny and can get into my garden either through the fence or by squeezing under the gate. It is hard to get mad at a baby bunny because they are just so cute, but I don't like having them eating the lettuce and their othr two favorite plants--pea seedlings and bean seedlings. The current La Nina did not affect our place the way it normally does in summer/fall, so I'm not sure we'll have the usual La Nina drought in 2011. That's sort of irrelevant, though, because we always have long drought periods in summer in southern OK even when it is fairly rainy elsewhere in the state. Even this summer had lots of drought periods although a brief rainy spell in July and then again in September kept the garden going pretty well, although I had to water very heavily in between those two rainy spells. About the only veggie I can think of that is really difficult in containers is medium- to large-sized pumpkins. While it is easy to grow the very small pumpkins or the bush pumpkins in containers, to get nice, big pumpkins you have to have a very large container because large pumpkins have massive root systems, and you have to water heavily daily because the plants guzzle water as the pumpkins get bigger and bigger. I'd love to have my entire garden in containers because it cuts weeding time down to nothing, but with all that I grow, that's never going to happen. Another problem with containers in drought is that the non-stop heat and sunshine heat up the containers and the soil. I get around that by lining up all the containers close together and then piling hay around them as insulation to help keep them cool. And one wonderful advantage of containers is that they can help you get a head start in spring. I usually put my first tomato plants into containers in mid-February and am harvesting tomatoes from those plants by the end of April. Having those first few plants setting fruit helps me stay patient and not transplant my main crop into the ground too early. You also can carry a few plants into fall/winter if you can get the containers into a warm spot at night. Today or tomorrow, I'll be harvesting a couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes, one bell pepper and a handful of hot peppers from the five big containers I drag into the garage every night. That means I'll have harvested tomatoes and peppers in every month of 2010 from April through December, and that's not too bad. I also grow strawberries in containers. In the ground, strawberries don't stand a chance here because there's too many wild critters who want to eat them, including the ever-present sow bugs and pill bugs. In containers, though, they're easy. I grow them in wading pools, and it is surprising how many strawberries you get from those container-grown plants. I still have trouble with snakes....they like to hang out in the shade of the containers and sometimes in the containers themselves, but in our very rural, very wild part of the state, that's unlikely to change no matter what we do. Dawn

Good job! Memories of when I first started growing in containers! Watch out, it's addictive... A couple of points for next year. If your soil get saturated in the rain, consider using 5-1-1 mix from the container forum. My plants get tons of rain at times, but never get saturated from it, and in fact, seem to thrive after a long spell of rain. You may be able to leave your plants out of the greenhouse more, which will give them more sunlight. I never worry about leaving them out in the rain. I too have a greenhouse, but only use it in spring and fall for warmth and hardening off. Also, epsom salts is something you should only have to use once or twice a year, not constantly. If you have a properly made soil, it likely has lime in it, and also if your water is pH 8.5, it likely has lots of magnesium in it. Good to correct the pH though when it's that high. All in all though, great to see you succeed!

Had gorgeous Carrara marble in our last house for several years with our two year old, lived normally with them and didn’t baby them, and they still looked dreamy and gorgeous when we sold the house. Everyone loved the counters. So did I. You’ll even run your hand down them and they feel velvety soft, cool, expensive even though they’re not, and just downright perfect.