mandolls, Sunrise Sunset does have some scent, and My Girl has a little. However when they are in full bloom like now the scent is very noticeable. What I have found is that most roses that are bred for hardiness seldom have much scent. I have been very pleased with the Easy Elegance roses that I grow. For me scent is secondary to hardiness. GGG, they hold up quite well. We do get a lot of heat and humidity in late June and July and they keep on blooming. now they don't look quite so nice as we got 1.98 inches of rain within 1-2 hours this morning. It got extremely dark and poured and poured... Hard on the bushes when they are so loaded with blooms. mantis_oh, I emailed that picture to my sister and she told me I "boobooed" as my red shirt did not go with the pink roses! We have had that pump somewhere in the garden for the past 10 years. It was a nice dark burgundy color, but has faded and desperately needs repainting! Kathy, I hesitated to post that picture as I don't usually put myself "out there", but when I have posted these roses in the past it was mentioned that it would be nice to have something for comparison (to determine the true size of the bushes.) No, not too many holes in these, but there are paint spatters/wipes as these are also some of my painting clothes! roselee, thank you. I have many more roses in the yard, but didn't want to overdo the picture posting. Also still getting used to the new software and it is taking me a little bit to get the hang of resizing. Somewhat different than the old program. schoolhouse, yes there have been some drive bys the past few days. Slow down, stop, go, stop, etc. Kind of fun to watch. DH noticed 2 yesterday. Kay, I was actually only watering last night, so stayed fairly clean, if a little wet. Usually much grubbier! One pair of painting/gardening jeans are so full of holes and paint that it is hard to tell they are blue jeans! Thanks again everyone! It is fun to share with other gardeners. None of my friends are really into flower gardening. Most think it is way to much work! Will post more pictures after I have time to get a better handle on resizing.

I agree with Dorothy and George that you can grow almost any vegetable there if it gets sun from sunup until around noon. I especially like to plant tomatoes and peppers in morning sun/afternoon shade because the afternoon shade helps lessen heat stress on the plants and also helps prevent sunscald on the fruit. If the area you're referring to gets only 2 to 4 hours, you still could plant anything leafy there, like spinach, lettuce, collards, kale, endive, arugula, or swiss chard. You also could grow any leafy herb in those conditions. If the area gets 3 to 5 hours of sun, you most likely would have success with broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, onions (if the soil is good), peas, brussels sprouts (fall only) or beans. I have been surprised how well beans produce when grown on the fence on the west and northwest sides of the garden where they are shaded from noon onward. With full morning sun or with light dappled shade all day long, you can grow all the above, plus eggplant, winter or summer squash, rhubarb and potatoes. In our climate, a lot of veggies produce just fine in morning sun/afternoon shade, but your success may vary depending on whether the area has full sun in the a.m. or part shade or if you have mostly dappled shade in the morning followed by full shade in the afternoon. The best thing to do the first year is to plant a little of everything and see for yourself which ones produce best in that location. Dawn

There is also Garden Voices, but I am not sure who handles that GW section where can link to your blog and put in a feed to it. Use the "contact us" link that's at the bottom of every GW page and ask them how to go about getting your blog onto Garden Voices. Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Voices

barb- I agree with sleevedog, there aren't any dumb questions. It's something you haven't experienced that you need/want to know, and this is a handy outlet for information from people you trust. BTW - I do use powdered stevia, and even grow stevia in my herb garden and use it in whole dried leaf, powder, and extract. Which one I use depends on what I'm adding it to. I get the liquid flavored stevia from Amazon or iHerb (there are probably many other sources for the same brands so look for best price and special offers). The brands I have on hand are NOW and SweetLeaf. I saw a display of Harvest Snaps at Wal-Mart and I thought how clever marketing was to place it in the produce section of the store to make you think you were eating healthy produce. If memory serves me, the one I looked at was green pea and was made from 70% whole peas. The good news, there weren't very many ingredients in the list - peas, rice, oil, citric acid, and maybe something else - a chemical preservative. At least it came in under 5-ingredients, which is one of my personal "food rules" when it comes to processed foods. Michael Pollen said it best in one of his books - eat all the junk food you want --- as long as you make it yourself. I make sweet potato chips at home in the microwave when we want the occasional chip to go along with a lettuce wrap, or cut some corn tortillas into wedges and bake them when I make guacamole or salsa. I make high-protein "crackers" with the pulp remaining from making nut milk and dehydrate them. Dehydrated apple slices and a few nuts or peanuts has always been a snack food available in our home. Believe me, if you have to do more then rip a bag open, you'll have and consume a lot less snacks (LOL). -Grainlady