Barbara All my roses are on own root. My Prairie Princess is in its 6th year and it wants to climb but I have her trained as a large shrub so I prune her down to about 3ft tall each winter and then she is back up to about 6ft, like she is now. Super hardy and is in the ground. My Beales roses are in their 2nd year and all are in containers. Colby School is in full sun about 7 hrs a day and Kitty's Rose and Rose Ball are in about 5 hrs of sun a day. I also have Happy Memories but she did starte to BS on me this spring and it will also in the sun for 7 hr a day. I spray with a natural product, Good Health Roses and started feeding this year with Peter Beales Natural Rose Care Program (starting with Good Morning Roses). I did have to use chemicals once because I came back from a business trip and found the spider mites had taken over. But otherwise I use just Good Health Roses and strong water streams. I prune Prairie Princess using the David Stone method of shrub pruning.

Well, I live in the Hampton Rds area. What is growing in my yard is 3 japanese maples (crimson queen), pachysandra, dwarf mungo pine, azaleas. Other plants, perhaps not considered in the Japanese Style are: different varities of hostas, japanese hollys, wintergreen boxwood, ivy, other ground covers, 3 river birch, impations, lilys, 1 dogwood tree, 2 fatasia, wax myrtles, crepe myrtle, japanese ligustrums-many and a few other evergreens. (I could be wrong about my last statement about what totally belongs, I am far from being an expert.) At any rate these are pretty much thriving here for me. I also spend a lot of time driving around the area looking for what does well in the neighboorhoods. I have a few books at home with some beautiful pics of Japanese Gardens with some descriptive info. If you are interested I can look for you and post what I have found in them.

Alright now! You guys are confusin me! Ive checked my books and Ive googled a bunch of pictures onlineand I dont know what it was that was here. The pic of the bird I posted is a little misleading. The bird I saw was WAY browner than it looks in the pics. I know, I knowdont go by the color! And its sitting on the branch with its back toward me. I was amazed that I was able to get a pic when it turned its head in my direction briefly a couple times. Heres the third pic I got where you can (kinda) see that its facing away from mebut its the worst quality pic. I figured out why the pictures from upstairs are distorted! Theyre taken thru the screenand the birds on the feeders in the backyard look even worse because of the "down" angle of the camera thru the screen. The BIG bird isnt quite as bad since the neighbors yard is higher than mine, so it was taken on somewhat more of the same level with me. In the second pic above the bird had turned a little bit more sideways, but its still sitting on the branch facing away from me. With all the pictures Ive looked at, I really dont know, now, what it was. I first saw it on top of the lattice at my back fence, which is only about 25' away from the windowI have a very shallow backyardand I sure didnt notice any black eye stripe or black and white head striping. Actually, I didnt notice any black or gray at all. It sat on that branch and I watched it for close to 10 minutes. Tho the pic doesnt show it, it was brown and tan. I guess I havent found any immature pics, cause all the ones Ive found are very much gray to dark gray. I think the tail pointing down so much in the pic was as much a balancing act as anything. The branch it was on was very long and pretty small for such a large bird (at least 15-18"), and it was moving around a lot. So I dont think the position of the tail is telling in this case. And then theres still the problem of what the first bird I saw wasthe purpose of this post. It was really VERY different. When I saw the second one the next day I assumed it was a pair since males and females can be quite different in size and colorand since a lot of birds do travel around in pairs, but the closest picture Ive found yet of the original bird is the first pic I linked of the Gray Hawkwhich we all agree is wasnt! But it was exactly like that picture, but lighteralmost whitewith very obvious, wide, dark banding on the tailwhich was very widely fanned when it flew away. Maybe I just need to concede thatunless one or both come back and I get better picturesIm never going to know for sure what they were. Whatever they were, Im glad I got to see them! Skybird (who is easily identifiable by the arms and legsand the uniform!) P.S. Digit, my pair of robins (that are here all winter) nest in my backyard every year, but that obviously has nothing to do with the feeders. I do think it might have to do with the constant water sourceand the easy access to worms in the worked soil in the veggie garden. And there was a nest in one of the neighbors cottonwoods that overhangs my yard, but I dont know what was in it! I only know it was there because its been falling into my backyard all fall and winter! Other than that I havent seen any other nests, but then I dont actually have any deciduous trees, and Ive never seen any nests in the two upright junipersand I dont have any bird houses out since I dont have anywhere to hang them. Wait! I've had a house sparrow nest in the Euonymous that grows up the side of my house right by the steps down off of the deck every year! Do they count as birds? They've been building it on top of the bend in the downspout where they were completely hidden by the foliage. But they won't be back! I've pulled almost all of the Euonymous down! It was growing up under the siding and the shingles!

It is so sad that this woman passed away. I visited this garden a few years ago and it seemed run down at the time also. Her prices were a little outrageous but we still bought some plants. Thanks for passing this on.