I understand your disappointment - it could have been quite and adventure, not to mention the cost to order roses from Holland delivered to Thailand. Be patient, however, half a year is not a time in a life of a rose; they need to get established first, grow good roots to be able to sustain huge canes and plenty of flowers later on. I do not grow Spirit of Freedom but my Colette bloomed only once (maybe twice) in the first year. Pierre de Ronsard is also slow and it starts repeating well from year 3. Geoff Hamilton is a giant and usually refuses to bloom till reaches 6'-7' tall; but after that I got very decent repeat from him. In your climate you may need to fertilize roses more often - try to use a good seaweed foliar feed or Miracle grow (high in potassium which is the third number listed on a jar or bag). Good luck and wish you plenty of blooms.

There's not a gallery for miniatures because honestly there's just not enough people posting pictures of them. Some people do post them here though and some post them on the regular rose gallery. You may want to go there and request pictures of minis. For some reason it drives me crazy when I don't know the names of my minis. I have been able to I.D. some of them through this website: http://www.kordes-rosen.com/englisch/index.html Sometime they will put the name of the rose on the inside or outside of the pot that it comes in so check before you throw the pot away. The bigger minis are called Mini-floras. I don't have any recent pictures right now but as soon as mine start blooming again I'll post some. Laurie

Hi there. I'm kind of a minimalist anyway but here's my two cents. I have a bad back so a changing pad on top of a dresser was a must for me. I repainted a dresser from the second hand store... so cute! and topped it with a contoured changing pad with a terry cloth cover. There's enough room on the dresser to store wipes and wipe solution (I use homemade), and some other baby items. (I registered for the pad and two terry covers and got them at my shower.) I actually liked my boppy a lot. I'm tall, and to hold my baby up to my breast to nurse was uncomfortable, pillows slipped out from beneath my arms. Someone gave me a boppy and it saved my back. Now that Jake's bigger, I don't need it any more, he sits in my lap and reclines back to nurse. but we prop him up in the boppy for play time on the floor. You don't NEED it, but I liked it. I like my bouncy chair I was given. I registered online at babysrus (they have product reviews you can read). It's a handy place for him to sit when I'm in the shower. When he gets older and we start solids I may use it as his high chair. I ordered a clip on chair from ebay for 8 bucks, I really like those and don't care for the big bulky high chairs. (We have very limited space.) A sling!!!!!!!! I have a nojo sling which you can get at babiesrus for 30$ or so (but I bought mine off ebay for 6.30). It takes a while to get the hang of it, but once you do, it's soooo great! DS loves his and it's so much handier to take him into the store instead of lugging the heavy infant seat. If they are sleeping, you can just slip out of the sling yourself and lay baby in his car seat or on your bed or whatever... I can't say enough, they're great! I haven't used my stroller yet b/c of the sling, so I don't know if that's an immediate neccesary, I'll probably use it when he gets toddler age. That's about it, we cosleep so we gave back the borrowed bassinet and his crib isn't even set up :) I should probably sell his crib sheets on ebay or something. :-b Oh, he likes his baby bathtub too, but he's getting to big for it so I bathe him in the sink or jump in the tub with him myself... (that's so fun!) Diaper Genies... I used two when I was a nanny, hated 'em. And the fillers are expensive 5-6 dollars a pop. If you want a no-smell pail get the Diaper Champ, we got given one and it's great, uses regular kitchen sized garbage bags. Now that we've switched to cloth diapers we line it with a laundry bag and still use it for the cloth dipes. No smell! But still... they're unneccesary if you're on a budget. Oh yeah, we got enough disposable diapers to last through his second month. Got a ton of newborn packages as well as size one. BUT, we've switched to cloth dipes... they are so easy now with the waterproof fabrics all in one, they work just like 'sposies 'cept ya wash 'em. We're saving about 60 dollars a month using cloth. I've made some too. Check out http://www.diapersewing.com/ if you sew... they are really easy and you don't need a serger. Also, check out the diaper auctions at WAHMall.com even if you don't plan to cloth diaper, you'll be amazed at what they look like now! I thought all cloth diapers were like the ones I wore as a baby, prefolds with a messy plastic pant. :-P Okay, I'm rambling now, I'll stop! :) HTH! Jae

Kristine, it is wet out, yes. I did go ahead with in ground planting day before yesterday of Bubble Bath and Cramoisi Superieur from ARE. Yesterday I planted Dakota Redwing from RVR because it was in a protected alcove and raring to go so out/ in it went. Today I planted Abe Darby and Evelyn from Heirloom. I put 6 Tea roses from ARE in 5 gal pots, since everyone boosts them that way. These are Adam, Baronne Henrietta de Snoy, Maman Cochet, Mlle Franziska Kruger, Mrs. Dudley Cross and William R. Smith. These plants look great and probably could have gone directly in the ground, but this way I'll have more planning time too. All my Tea roses from last January 2016 look like they wintered very well. I don't see any that look damaged. Most of the foliage is still on. There were three small branch breaks when it snowed on buds/flowers but not consequential ones. I worried about drainage here and clay soil at first 2 years ago wondering if it was adequate. I concluded so far that the roses like water and can do fine. My alcove still has Jesse Hildreth #2, Atmore Lamarque, Etoile d Lyon, and Arcadia Louisiana Tea from rosepetals. I am waiting to plant these for another month for Atmore to several months for the Teas. This way I can see how things look and where they would fit in best. My, this summer should be fun!