We grew "Lundy Lane" and I found it to be a very lovely mostly-yellow Pernetiana. Its' foliage is a very light-medium green, and very attractive. One caveat: of all the Pernetiana roses I've grown it suffered the most badly from blackspot. I have an organic rose garden and never sprayed it with anything other than Cornell. It continued to bloom c. 3 weeks later in Autumn than my other Pernetiana roses, which also endeared it to me. For comparison, these are healthier Pernetiana roses for our area, near Oakland, California. I never needed to spray theses with anything: "Duquesa de Penaranda" the healthiest of all Pernetiana roses in our area. The climbing form is fantastic!!! "Soliel d'Or" "President Herbert Hoover" the most fragrant of the Pernetiana roses to my nose. "Gruss an Coberg" "Mari Dot" a fabulous Dot rose but very small on her own roots, I'd love it on rootstock. Luxrosa

I've grown Acalypha wilkesiana since I arived in Florida 25 years ago. They take full sun to 1/2 day shade. And yes, they can freeze back in tempatures that dip around 32 degrees. In south Florida, they can reach upwards of 15 foot. but here in St Pete, 6 foot is more like. I have several around my yard. My big red one - "Louisiana Red" stops traffic. The white one named "Java white" always gets an Wow! And don't forget about the chenille plant, it's in the same family, too. I think they're very easy to grow. If you can grow a hibiscus, you will not have any trouble growing one of these. Does anyone know the name of this one? http://community.webshots.com/photo/85749816/102335439FbLFIe Here is a link that might be useful: Louisana Red

LOVE the idea of painting it light blue (check out BM polar ice #1660) was just looking at this color for a dresser I'm redoing. I got the inspiration from a pic another GW-er sent me, isnt this color divine, and I know these would look fab this way too. I'm going today to get this paint. Patty, can you tell me more about the best way to do the stain/antique technique, is it just a brush on and wipe off method that would work best?

This made me wonder about secret compartments in general. Found a fascinating article on it. Even for expert's it's tricky finding the. I can't direct link, will have to copy paste this: http://www.basic-antiques.com/furniture-secret-drawers.htm Today, sensible people keep their current funds in banks and their stocks and bonds and the like in safe-deposit boxes. But these have been in existence only since the turn of the nineteenth century...Before that, the man of property secured his movable possessions against thieves as best he could in strongboxes and cleverly concealed places of hiding in furniture and behind secret panels that, like the modern safe combination, baffled the outsider. I'm not going off on a tangent ;) The reason I posted all that is because since Linda C keeps asking I've been staring at the center. DH is a hobby woodworker and has made some furniture pieces so I've been able to see the process from the ground up. That is a funky situation there. If there is nothing in the space between the top and bottom, it's just a dead pocket of air that would really serve no purpose. (It doesn't make sense that it would be put there for support.) So maybe there is something hidden in there!