Now, again tilting towards Condesa de Sastago...... Most pics of Talisman has more yellow in them.....

Now I'm adding to the problem identifying this mystery rose :-)

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.251385

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.256275

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.264754

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.244548

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.226125

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.218797

Jess: Now its becoming quite interesting. So let's line up the candidates.....

Candidate 1 - Condesa de Sastago http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.1285

Candidate 2 - Talisman http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.6177

Candidate 3 - Dick Clark http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.61776&tab=1

Candidate 4 - Bolshoi http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.18388.5

Candidate 5 - New Fashion http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.65220

Candidate 6 - Guitare http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.18139&tab=1

Who wins??

Roses in the rain...

It's raining since yesterday and many of my roses are developing buds..... would be blooming in week to ten days time. It was refreshing to see the green foliage in the rain.... few snaps.

Hope they all bloom well. Lots of buds forming up.

Thank you, Jess, for those gorgeous links of Dick Clark (more reddish tone).

Condesa is the only rose that starts out as gaudy orange (yellow reverse), then fades to pink, plus the petal-count is 50, TWICE more petals than Talisman (only 30 petals), and Dick Clark (only 30 petals).

When roses are young, or own-root, they tend to "appear" thornless, but once they get older: more thorns, and bigger thorns.

There are 2 forms of Talisman: the small one, and the climbing form. That "tree-like" Talisman is the climbing form.

Khalid: YOUR ROSES LOOK FANTASTIC in the rain, so strong and healthy. How did you feed them? Thanks.

I checked with your choices: three are strong-fragrant, except for medium-scent Condesa, and no-scent New Fashion and Dick Clark. The color of your rose (orange-in-bud) then pink as faded, best match with Condesa, and the many-petal count (50 to 55 listed in HMF) best match with Condesa.

Roses have less thorns when they are young, and become more thorny as they get older.

Straw: I also think that Talisman is too yellow which this rose is not and strongly fragrant, which again this rose is not. I think it is Condesa de Sastago. Isn't it strange that both of them were bred almost the same time.

Thanks a lot for all the help. And you know CdS was you first guess, ie, start point of this discussion and after a long journey, we have come back to the start point (but I think learnt a lot in the process, at least I did).

As for the lush green foliage, these have been fed with the home made compost (banana peels, guavas, tea bags, egg shells decomposed in river soil) and of course, regular application of wood ash in small amounts. Have also been using woodash vinegar tea (one spoon wood ash mixed with two spoons of cider vinegar, solution kept for few hrs than mixed in a liter of water and fed to the pots).

best regards

My Double Delight just didn't do well last year. Straw advised me to keep the soil a little towards basic side. I repotted the bush because it was in a plastic pot and secondly potting mix had lots of pine bark which is acidic. I removed all soil from roots and repotted it in a soil that carried lot of home made compost, rich in K and Ca and carrying wood ash and gave the bush a heavy pruning. Growth is superb and there are no diseases.

Today I topped up most of my pots that were filled with leaves with my home made compost which is K and Ca heavy. Now the three inches of leaf layer is under the soil. With time, it will decompose.....

Wow! That's the most healthy Double Delight I had ever seen !! Double Delight was the only one that bloomed when the temp. here was 100 F, or 38 C. .. and the rose park used alkaline-tap water with pH over 8.6.

Khalid: Thank you for the recipe of one spoon wood ash mixed with two spoons of cider vinegar, solution kept for few hrs than mixed in a liter of water and fed to the pots. Your roses are so healthy & lots of blooms .. same with my Mom's perennials when she used wood-ash. I will shop for an outdoor-wood-burner, since we have lots of branches.

Your roses look excellent Khalid. Please tell me, do you always prune before winter? do you see a difference between pruning then and pruning in late winter? I ask because our climates are almost the same....

I also added wood ash to my roses :-)

Straw: For woodash, please do look around in your neighbourhood as well. In winters few people still like to burn wood in traditional fireplaces or have a bonfire or something like that. I got a bag of woodash from a friends house whose mother still likes to burn wood in the traditional fireplace she has in the house so they had lot of wood ash. Might like to check it. As for making wood ash with branches, you will have to burn lot of them to produce reasonable quantity. I would recommend firewood chunks of slightly bigger size. You will be able to extract more ash out of them.

Jess: This year I pruned very late. Previously I used to prune by mid Dec. This year I pruned a rose when it asked to be pruned, ie, when the leaves started getting pale or it stopped growing. This is how I was able to enjoy colour by mid January whereas most of my neighbours had pruned their roses on traditional dates. In warm areas where temps don't go down too much, there is no natural requirement for the roses to hibernate. I guess pruning in warm areas is just giving a little rest to roses and trimming the unwanted branches. Based on my experience of this year, I would recommend pruning late in warm areas.

best regards

I looked again and again at the rain photo's Khalid... I love the strong new growth...it is stunning....what an exhilarating moment...

I remember this quote..

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

Anais Nin

Photos taken today....

Most of my roses are developing buds and I am expecting a flush in 10-15 days. Fragrant Cloud, Violette Parfumee, Scentimetal, French Lace, Whisky Mac, McCartney, Signature, Benjamin Britten, Sharifa Asma, William Morris, Princess Alexandra of Kent, Benjamin Britten, Gentle Harmionie, Black Prince, Gruss an Teplitz, Gold Medal, Evelyn May, Jasmina, Fragrant Charm, Fragrant Plum, Deep Secret, Blue Star, Golden Celebration, Tom Brown, Love Potion, Troika, Augusta Luise, Michelangelo, Crimson Glory, Julia Child, Double Delight, Condesa de Sastago, Burgundy Iceberg, La France all set to bloom in next 15 days. And then there are roses planted this year which might bloom in a months time or less. There are around 45 of them, many David Austins amongst them.

Khalid: high soil pH will cause that color in Rhapsody in Blue. William Shakespeare 2000 is purplish when I gave it acid-fertilizer with sulfur, but in my alkaline clay, the color is crimson-red, like in below bouquet. Frederic Mistral is the right-pink-bloom. Orange Bloom is Sweet Promise. Too much calcium fade out the bloom, so the color is "chalky", rather than intense. Jess has acidic red-clay. Will dig out the purplish pic. later.

Below is from University of Illinois on what cause blue vs. pink in flowers:

"The hydrangeas directly affected by the pH are Bigleaf Hydrangeas – Hydrangea macrophylla. Aluminum is what causes the flowers to turn blue and typically there is enough aluminum in the soil, but the pH can lock up the aluminum particles in the soil making them unavailable to the plant. If you wish change the color of your Bigleaf Hydrangea, you can do so by applying aluminum sulfate or sulfur to lower soil pH or limestone to raise pH . Sulfur is a safer bet when trying to lower pH as sulfur reduces the chance of aluminum toxicity that can occur from using aluminum sulfate.

Some basic recommended guidelines are 1/2 cup of wettable sulfur (lower pH) or 1 cup of lime (raise pH) per 10 square feet."

http://web.extension.illinois.edu/state/newsdetail.cfm?NewsID=29303

If you have a meter stick, draw a square 1 meter by 1 meter. That is very close to 10 square feet. Jess uses sulfate of potash (with 21% sulfur, NPK 0-0-50, high in potassium), plus gypsum (with 17% sulfur). More tips on producing blue color, besides using sulfur, from below link:

" The choice of fertilzer will also affect the color change. A fertilizer low in phosphorus and high in potassium is helpful in producing a good blue color(25/5/30 is good. Potassium is the last number). Superphosphates and bone meal should be avoided when trying to produce blue."

Here's what produce pink color: "Add dolomitic lime several times a year. This will help to raise the pH. Shoot for a pH of about 6.0 to 6.2 (If it goes above 6.4 hydrangeas may experience an iron deficiency). Since hydrangeas take up aluminum best at lower pH levels, raising the pH will help to keep the bluing effect of aluminum out of the hydrangea's system.
Use a fertilizer with high levels of phosphorus. Phosphorus helps to prevent aluminum from creeping into the system of the hydrangea. Choose a fertilizer close to the ratio of 25/10/10 (Phosphorus is the middle number)."

http://hydrangeashydrangeas.com/colorchange.html

Great info Straw. Thanks a lot.

I think there have been lot of rains since last week and that would have lowered the pH significantly. Then, just before the rains I sprinkled gypsym mixed with sulphate of potash (three parts gypsym, one part potash) in my beds and pots. As you know my pots and beds are still covered with a 1-3 inch layer of dry leaves. Much of the gypsum has stayed on top of the leaf layer and has sort of hardened (like plaster of paris). Using gypsum first time.... is it normal?

best regards

After the rain, we had a nice sun today...

Straw wrote: "Khalid: Thank you for the recipe of one spoon wood ash mixed with two spoons of cider vinegar, solution kept for few hrs than mixed in a liter of water and fed to the pots. Your roses are so healthy & lots of blooms .. same with my Mom's perennials when she used wood-ash."

Straw: I wrongly wrote a liter of water. Actually my measure is a bucket of mine that takes 15 liters of water. I take 6 spoons of wood ash and mix 12 spoons of cider vinegar in at. Make a paste of it and let it stay for an hour or so. Then I mix this paste in the bucket that contains 15 liters. So the correct proportion should be 1 table spoon wood ash, 2 table spoons cider vinegar in 3 liters of water. I know it gets diluted quite a bit in this much quantity of water but this is how I have been doing it and the results are not bad. But please do remember that the potting soil is river soil which is rich in minerals plus I have my homemade compost also in the potting mix. So in my view it is the accumulative affect of all these things, not just wood ash and vinegar.

Khalid: Your condesa rose is a masterpiece, such rich orange color. violet freesia compliments Condesa' color. I have those deep red and yellow lilies, and zero scent. Thanks for the recipe of wood-ash: So the correct proportion should be 1 table spoon wood ash, 2 table spoons cider vinegar in 3 liters of water. Easy to remember 1:2:3. Three liter is a bit less than 1 gallon.

You wrote: "just before the rains I sprinkled gypsum mixed with sulphate of potash (three parts gypsum, one part potash) in my beds and pots." Gypsum gunk up on top like plastic of Paris is actually a good sign, means it's slow-released & harmless like my 1st year of the more expensive gypsum.

The year after I switched to tiny-pellets gypsum and it dissolved completely after rain, PLUS LOWERED pH drastically to the point of roses breaking out in blackspots from the sulfur. The best ratio for plants is TWICE MORE POTASSIUM than calcium. Calcium stay put, doesn't leach out with rain like potassium. So before heavy rain, I SPRINKLED TWICE MORE SULFATE OF POTASH THAN GYPSUM. Like 2 teaspoon potash around a small rose bush (12" tall or 30 cm tall). If you still have gypsum gunking on top, then stop using that until it's dissolved completely. If it rains more than 4 hours, that's enough to leach out 1 teaspoon of potash.

For hot & dry weather, using alkaline tap water (pH near 9), I use twice more gypsum than potash, since gypsum has low salt-index of 8, versus higher salt-index for sulfate of potash at 43. That's 2 teaspoon (tiny) of gypsum and 1 teaspoon (tiny) of sulfate of potash once a week, per medium-bucket of water (1 gallon or 3.8 liter).

Straw: That's very comprehensive. Now I understand it much better.... thanks for a continuous guidance Straw. I will let this hardened gypsum on top of the leaves and it will slowly become a part of the soil when I do tilling. I will make no deliberate effort to grind it into a powder, which can be done by hand. I will let it become a part of the soil slowly, at natural pace.

Gypsum is very easily available in Pakistan. It's very cheap too, like 20 cents (PkR 200) for a bag of 20 kg. Potash is expensive, like 5 $ (PkR 500) for a 1 kg bag. It's 50 times more expensive. But now I understand that I have already used enough wood ash, gypsum and potash and for the time being, I just need to let my roses grow at their own. There is enough organic matter in the form in the pots and beds already....so I need to control my desires of feeding my roses with something spectacular.

Thanks for the guidance.... Straw

Potash is expensive, since just a tiny bit is enough to produce more blooms. Pots need to be fertilized more than in-ground ... since nutrients are leached out. More rain, more requirement for fertilizer. One year I got expensive potting soil (composted pine), zero fertilizer, and it gave me only one bloom of Paul Neyron in 3 months !!

It takes a variety of minerals to produce such thick petals, many petals, and complex colors & scents in rose. Red clay like Jess, or rich canal river soil like yours will always have more nutrients than empty potting soil with zero nutrients: just peat moss & lime, wood chips, chemicals.

Khalid, your roses are so well-formed, so many petals, rich colors & scent .. that's a move-up from your previous location in hotter Pakistan. To neutralize pro-longed acidic rain, I switched from lime to pea-gravel (from the bottom of river), and the scent is magnified, due to richer composition of minerals.

My bumper crop of tomato .. enough to share with 5 neighbors, plus my husband's entire office .. was when I put 2 cups of slow-released ORGANIC tomato-tone in the planting hole, NPK 4-6-6 with feather meal, alfalfa meal, bone meal, chicken manure, and sulfate of potash. The next year, I didn't put any fertilize in the planting hole, and got 1/4 of the yield. And the hole with 1/2 cow manure was worst, 1/10 of normal yield.

Straw wrote: "Pots need to be fertilized more than in-ground ... since nutrients are leached out. More rain, more requirement for fertilizer."

Absolutely true. Thanks for the advise.

I love your shade of R. in blue: more like glowing purple/lavender (my fav. color). What's the name of that red rose? Your Mary Rose looks perfect: so many petals. I don't see any diseases on your roses !! That what happened when I used MINERALS in pots: no pests, no disease (blood meal, sulfate of potash, and gypsum, plus pea-gravels for trace-elements).

Straw: The red rose is Deep Secret. If you click the photo you will be able to read the name.... I always try to name my photos. It has lovely fragrance and a very dark but lively kind of red. The outer petals are very deep maroon and the inner ones bright scarlet

Straw: I mentioned earlier that the maroon and yellow Lilium are non fragrant. Well it was raining then and I was too quick to make a judgement. They are nicely fragrant. I wont call it a super strong fragrance but it is good. The white one was much stronger fragrance that one could smell from a distance but these are good too, speicially in the evening and night, they smell good.

Khalid: you are the only one with perfect foliage in pots .. I think the breathable clay pots help, plus the canal soil is ideal !! I wish I could smell Deep Secret.

how lovely your roses are Khalid! and I see your Rhapsody in Blue is starting to become more blue-purple now... I'm sorry I can't be here as often as I would like to, due to back problems...have to stay of this chair behind my computer for a while...but I just needed to check in and see your roses! they really cheered me up...I've been missing out on such a lot!

Straw wrote: "Khalid: you are the only one with perfect foliage in pots .. I think the breathable clay pots help, plus the canal soil is ideal !! I wish I could smell Deep Secret."

Straw, after the unsuccessful experience with plastic pots last year, I learnt my lesson. One has to set a priority... convenience or health of roses. Plastic pots are of course more convenient to handle. A terracotta pot of the same size would way at least 6-7 times more. It's hard to move and prone to breakage, however, it will keep the roses healthy, specially during monsoon season which is the worst season for roses in Islamabad. Almost all my roses in pots suffered considerably during last monsoon. Most of my cuttings in the so called convenient plastic pots just didn't survive.

Jess: All my prayers for your speedy recovery. A friend of mine who had a back problem used to work in his office while standing, most of the time. There was a kind of chest drawer which was around 4.5 ft high. He could easily place his elbows on the drawer and work on the lap top or write on the files while standing. That is what I suggested in another thread. You may ask your doctor and it might just work.

best regards

I think this thread is too long now and I need to open a new thread. Will do so.....

Meanwhile, there is one odd bloom on few more roses though the bulk flush is still week to fortnight away. Couldn't help taking a few snaps.... Hardy always accompanies me when I am doing daily inspection of roses..... first thing I do after coming back from work. I think he is quite interested in roses as well as photography.....

This bloom is from the other bush. It's much darker.... almost deep scarlet. Fragrance on this bush is much better... like 6/10. But still it is nowhere close to the usual fragrance of GaT in Islamabad which is normally like 7.5 or 8/10

Stay tuned....

This is how it looked last year.... Jasmina

Violette Parfumee.... all set to bloom.

And here is the most fragrant plant in my house....

I have three bushes of Brunsfelia in medium size pots (10 inch). They are enough to perfume the entire veranda and lawn.... Lovely fragrance that travels a long distance. As the weather will get hot.... fragrance of Brunsfelia will enhance. when I have a house with enough space.... I intend planted at least 20 bushes of this wonderful bush. Blooms whole year and keeps the house perfumed...

I have decided that all flowers in my houses will be fragrant.... a tough ask but I can at least desire for it.

Khalid: I'm amazed at how thick & shiny the foliage of Augusta Luise, very pretty. Gruss an Teplitz has a bit of spice & old rose fragrance. Gruss is variable in fragrance for me too, not sure why. I enjoy seeing all your healthy roses every time I load this thread !!

Straw: Do you have Brunfelsia there. It's tropical so I don't think you would be able to grow it outside. But the fragrance is superb. If you have it inside you house, it will perfume the entire house...

I don't have that Brunfelsia, such a pretty blue !! 1st time learning of such fragrant plant. Your Jasmina is so pretty and healthy, Violette perfume is a new rose, so pretty !! Bajazzo is a new rose I never know about .. too bad on the little scent, I would give up too. I NEVER REGRET KILLING the roses I don't like. I have limited space and limited water.

I like to grow more herbs, and less roses. Herbs attract beneficial insects just as well as fragrant roses. Bees really go after the fragrant roses, but don't care for the no-scent.

Straw: Brunfelsia is a wonderful bush. I have 3 of them in pots. It keeps flowering most time of the year till the time it is warm. Flowers are tiny... open up medium violet, turn into light shade of violet next day and in to pure white from there on. So every bush will have flowers in three colours. The perfume is super strong and one large size bush is enough to perfume around 15 ft of area around it. I have placed my three pots in a manner that our who veranda and living room (though windows opening in veranda) are perfumed. As it will get warmer, intensity of fragrance will increase.

More roses have started opening up....

Khalid: Your Black Prince is sumptuous .... so rich dark red ... I hope my Munstead Wood (coming this May) can be just as pretty !!

Your Violette Perfume has the best purple color ever !! Fragrant Plum looks redder than the fragrant plum in HMF. I am so lucky to have your flowers to enjoy .. it snowed heavily a few days ago .. last night I had to use 4 blankets .. freezing cold in my room. I wish I could smell that Black Prince .. really love the many petals.

Straw: Just consumed the tea made of one of the Black Prince blooms shown in the photos above. Very nice...

Sunday Morning Clicks....

Few more clicks... just before sunset

Khalid: what's the name of that bi-color (apricot & red-stripes) mix ... that first pics with tens of buds ... I can't see the name too well. Thanks.

Golden Celebration is INTENSELY fruity yummy fragrance. Your yellow-Austin rose looks exactly like Port Sunlight (I have Austin catalog in front of me right now). People rave on how pretty Port Sunlight is, but no one rave on its fragrance like with GC.

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.43499

Maybe yellow charles austin or Teasing Georgia? My GC doesn't fade or ever look that peachy. Either way gorgeous rose! Thanks for sharing.

Straw: Thanks for the help again. The salmon and pink striped rose is The Painter, also called Michelangelo. Its a very nice rose, tons of blooms whole year and moderate honey fruity fragrance.

Thanks for pointing out Port Sunlight. HMF says it has no fragrance whereas this one has moderate fragrance which is always noticeable, even during warm hours of the day. However, I wouldn't call it strong by any means.... If I give Sharifa Asma 7.5/10 than this one is 5/10 at best. Secondly Port Sunlight shade is a little darker, more towards apricot side and also the buds of Port Sunlight are a little pointed and more red whereas the buds of the rose that I have are round, yellow with red tones, more like Golden Celebration.

I think we can see it for a few more days....

Kelly: Thanks for mentioning Charles Austin and Teasing Georgia. I will study their photos in detail. And yes, whatever it is, it's a gorgeous rose.

best regards

I think the yellow rose named Golden Celebration resembles Teasing Georgia a lot. Thanks for the hint Kelly Tregaskis Collova

Khalid: Your Michelangelo is stunning & gorgeous color-blend. LOVE THAT !!

Port Sunlight (deep orange) and Molineux (yellow/orange) are known to be LOW in thorns & smaller & compact bush with little scent. Golden Celebration is wider-spaced large thorns.

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.225184

If it has very large thorns but wider-spaced apart, and vigorous & big bush, it could be Crown Princess Mag. (medium fruity scent large climber with thick stem). Below is cluster of Crown Princess Mag. in June, I used sulfate of potash, resulting in cluster-blooming. Crown Princess starts deep orange-yellow, but fades to lighter yellow.

But when I compare my CPM leaves to your "Golden Celebration", My CPM' leaf is bigger & darker & more elongated, versus roundish & smaller Golden Celebration or Teasing Georgia leaves.

Bloom color changes, with high-phosphorus fertilizer or compost, blooms shift to the red-zone, resulting in apricot/orange, rather than yellow. Since I used sulfate of potash (high potassium) my CPM is yellowish, rather than deep orange.

CAUTION: sulfate of potash, anything high in potassium tend to BLEACH blooms. One fall I put too much sulfate of potash on W.S. 2000 and the blooms became whitish, rather than deep red/purple. UP the potassium, you'll lower phosphorus (needed to shift bloom to red-zone).

Below bouquet shows the difference in blooms of Golden Celebration (looser & softer petals) top bloom versus CPM bloom (stiffer &more upright petals) in the middle. Kelly is right that yellow color of Golden Celebration DOES NOT FADE to whitish.

Khalid: Re-post bush-shot of your "Golden Celebration" rose.

At first I thought yours is Teasing Georgia, but after seeing how Teasing Georgia fades to almost white ... I think yours is still Golden Celebration .. my Golden Celebration fragrance is gone after heavy rain (pH of rain is 5.6), and the fruity scent is STRONGEST in my alkaline clay, pH near 8. Below is bush-shot of Teasing Georgia from the internet, it fades WORSE than my CPM to whitish blooms:

Straw: Thanks for information on Teasing Georgia. The old photo that I posted earlier is an almost non fragrant rose that I purchased in a bargain. It is still an un-identified rose.

Straw wrote: "Kelly is right that yellow color of Golden Celebration DOES NOT FADE to whitish."

Very right. The edges of this rose along with outer most petals have become light cream / off white in shade while the inner petals (the smaller ones) are still amber yellow. That is unlike Golden Celebration. Secondly, the fragrance is has always been moderate mostly which is again unlike Golden Celebration. I know a GC would be strong most of the time though at times it may be mild which any strongly fragrant rose could be...

Can we also consider Graham Thomas.... the leave shape and blooms resemble Graham Thomas too. In Islamabad, Graham Thomas is generally a moderately fragrant rose and not a strong fragrance as mentioned in David Austin site and HMF. May be in cooler areas GT has strong fragrance...

However, GT seems to have an upright growth as seen in most pics. This bush that I have has a spreading growth.... becoming wider and not gaining much height. Leaves resemble Teasing Georgia quite a lot.

Tomorrow I will post shot of these bushes, giving you a clearer idea about the shape and size

best regards

Could the light yellow rose be 'The Pilgrim'?

The Pilgrim is right at the bottom of this site - above)

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/pl.php?n=2490&tab=36

http://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/the-pilgrim-climbing-rose

I always adore the Pilgrim. Jess, thanks for that gorgeous pic.

Jess. Thanks for posting the links. Yes The Pilgrim is another contender and I thought about it too. I had a Pilgrim bush few years back. It is a pure yellow with white edges and it grows tall. The rose that I have is a deep yellow with apricot shading. Fragrance is moderate tea fragrance. Bush gets more wide than tall with long shoots going laterally. Has clusters of flowers with reddish ting on the roundish buds. It looks to me that this all resembles Teasing Georgia more than the other roses that we have considered so far.

Thanks a lot for the help, as always, Jess and Straw.

PS: I just scrolled up and saw another post by Straw with a photo of Golden Celebration compared with my photo of suspected Golden Celebration / Teasing Georgia and where Straw talks about the effect of high Potassium. Last time I logged in I did see Straw's post with a bouquet but I don't remember seeing the other post with colours getting bleached due to Potash at all. It was such an important post and there was no way I could have missed it. There is something quite weird with this forum I don't know.

I agree Khalid, I have started scrolling up and down every time I open a thread, to make sure I haven't missed any posts, and many times I did...but it is still a great forum with great people :-)

Oh yes... indeed it is. It is the best forum I have ever been to. However, it becomes frustrating at times when a post is not visible to other members. I don't know why it happens so..