Hi Proud Grandma, I did look at your site and what a nice area you have there! I also have a Deutzia Nikko. It is an okay shrub and if you need a ground cover it is that. Mine does not grow tall either. It does root where the stems touch ground. The bloom time for me is short and the rest of the time it is just a mound of plain green foliage. I have to say that honestly, I had regrets after my purchase. Just didn't give me as much as I was looking for. On the other hand I haven't had it long so I am hoping it will grow into something more interesting. One suggestion I might make is Nepeta Walker's Low or Little Wonder. LONG bloom season, neat plant. Easy care, fragrant foliage. Seems to be a popular plant to combine with roses. On the rose question. I have had a few roses over the years. Not a lot. I have always been very reluctant to do roses because of their reputation for the need for a lot of attention. So I was always looking for an easy care rose. I heard many raves about one rose or another and even tried to do a search. I have not had a rose that I have been that happy with in that respect. The closest I came was Penelope which was easy, vigorous, nice foliage and a one time bloom for me for a few years, but last year, I had mildew on it which was a big disappointment. I still have it because we love the fragrance and I am keeping my fingers crossed it won't get mildew every year now. I also have bought rugosas and they were ok. No foliage problems, good fragrance, but I am not that big a fan of that style of rose in a main area, it is very casual and I do think they sucker. After the main flush of bloom not much rebloom. It died out one winter to my shock, since I thought they were bulletproof. I bought a Knock Out Rose two years ago and I can't stop raving about it. I am going to buy two more this year. It is a great plant. Blooms it's head off, is a vigorous grower, is the last thing blooming in the fall, the foliage is attractive and no disease or pests so far. There is a slight fragrance. The foliage turns a nice color in the fall. True, it is not exactly the 'rose' I've been looking for, but for non stop flowering, easy care shrub, can't see how you can beat it. No not easy care, care free. Also grew quickly to a nice size. There is a reason they are for sale everywhere. :-) I still missed a 'real' rose. And wanted more fragrance, so last year I researched and bought three roses that were supposed to be easy care and disease resistant etc. All three of them had problems right out of the gate. Insects, foliage diseases...etc. Hardly any bloom their first year. They did come back this year, but some of the stems died back to the ground which I had to prune out. None of these problems with the KO rose. So I am giving the 'real' roses another try this year, but in a new area where I am wanting non stop color, I am putting in the KO roses. If the real roses have problems again this year, they are coming out and I am going with Knock Outs there too. I just don't have the time to baby roses and I just hate looking at insect eaten and mildewed leaves on any plant in my yard. If the real roses do really well this year, then I will happily post that here. I gave them a nice layer of composted manure last year so I will be very happy if they surprise me. I would love to grow real roses and I am sure if you spend the time and keep trying, you can find something that is worth it, but I just don't have the time and don't want the frustration. You can imagine how I felt after doing the research, asking for recommendations etc, to have those problems right away. On top of which, if you have once bloomers you may want to have more than one that bloom at different times and I don't have the room. Not enough sun. Limited time, limited space. Oh...I think I turned this into a 'rose' rant. I didn't mean too, I am sorry!! I love roses, really, for a landscape shrub, Knock Out roses are hard to beat is all I was trying to say. :-) pm2

Memo, thanks for asking. Remarkably, she's still here. I was afraid for her for a few days. She got very quiet and only stayed on the sofa. She is a funny kitty and gets her feelings hurt so easily. I think she was PO-ed that my DH's parents came but went out with him and didn't spend the day here. She loves them! So this morning I picked her up (she usually hates that) and told her it was either back to normal or I let the doctor know we had quality of life issues. Wouldn't you know, she gets up, eats and goes to the toilet. Then drinks. I went out, came home and here she is again, eating and drinking, sitting beside me and interested in the birds outside. She was just in Boo Boo funk! Today I'll go and get some more lobster and clam dinner - her favorite!

Roses and irises and peonies! Oh my! With all that eye candy my eyes would burp if they knew how... The Zephirine Drouhin roses continue to grow up on the porch. They smell wonderful and have almost no thorns (important on a porch). This shot of irises was from a week ago. I like the change in levels - the siberian iris on top of the stone wall and Beverly Sills bearded iris on the bottom, with cotoneaster carpeting the wall. This morning I opened the shades and saw a hummingbird sitting on the Rugosa Yankee Lady. It didn't seem to be getting nectar from the rose, but the feeder is right next to it and the hummingbird was probably resting between snacks. Also in bloom: Dicentras one hellebore geraniums Biokovo and Macrorhizum one daylily Alchemilla Kalmia Leucothoe ajuga (ending) As for what's happening, I had to stake up a Carefree Beauty rose. The rose was stuffed between two big New England asters last year and refused to bloom, so I moved the asters a month or so ago. So now the rose decided to bloom, but to flop all over the irises. I made a tripod out of three 6 ft bamboo poles (on sale for 79c each at Ocean State Job Lot) and tied them together with twine. I then used a cable tie on top of the twine to make it more permanent. (Mindy might be interested). The poles are shoved into the ground a little bit which helps with stability. I don't know how well it will last, but the rose seems happy now. The tripod is lopsided, but I was working in the middle of a planting bed with a panicky rose flailing around (with thorns). Claire

What are they thinking putting these shows on the air anyway? Ratings and that is all they care about, It is the same everywhere, not much different from when we were kids, EXCEPT most of us were taught morals, manners and respect for EVERYONE. Kids today learn from what they see and I am afraid it won't get better, just worse. If anyone likes home reno shows and had ever watched Love it or List it you can see one very good example. Those people are plain nasty and outright ignorant. Who died and made them royalty? I loved to see just what could be done with some of the homes but I can not even stand to see the start of the show come on anymore..the homeowners don't appreciate what is being done they have to act like ...don't get me started ..it would be embarrassing to even have a next door neighbor like that. I realize it is only a reality show..as are most that are on now because that is what makes the ratings. All the talk about this child, that is fat as stated by some posters is just sad. That child (if they are her parents) didn't or should I say doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell-o of being any different than she is. Hopefully someone will step into her life and steer her in the right direction. But there is a chance of someone in your own families that may come along and be "fat" either from a medical condition or the bad choices that their parents make when raising him or her. What do we do? Reject all these kids and ridicule them, what a boost to their self esteem, because of course we are perfect to begin with? I think not, mirrors show the outsides not what you are inside and we all have faults. To anyone that has never had to deal with a weight problem they will never know what nasty comments and and jeers can do to a person. Then again, start watching all the bullying that has lead to teen suicides all it took was a comment. One that made them feel so bad about themselves that they didn't know how to cope at that young age so the problems kept getting bigger and bigger with the bullies taunting and name calling ...only to escalate to higher degrees of torture. Name calling is just what I did in my post by calling those people nasty and ignorant. In my opinion they were degrading to others but in Honey Boo's case she just doesn't know any better, in social skills nor in her actions and being the youngest in the family probably didn't help matters any.