I have noticed that the Vintage bands have a gravelly like composition to the bands when they arrive. Wonder if that could be the shale Lou is talking about? I have found that intead of rushing to pot the bands up in one gallon pots the minute they arrive, they seem to do better if I let them climitize about a week. I keep them out of them wind and protected from cold weather, put them on wire shelves in dappled sunlight. The ones I got from Rogue Valley are now just bursting out of their bands, ready to be potted [tomorrow]. Our weather is in the 50's at night, it got up to 81 today. I am seeing lots of new growth on the bands, but they are still looking like babies at this point - unlike the ones I got in November - those are getting really big, a few have buds [as do a couple of these newest bands - [by the way - I call them 'bands' even tho they are repotted into larger containers] This is why I want to be so careful in what I give them - do not even want to chance burning their young roots. And I definitely water well the day before fertilizing. I have several that are quite slow - still look like sticks with new leaves - I am really going to be careful with those.......not even sure if these should be fertilized or not?? Judith

Sherry, I have always enjoyed your posts even though I don't respond too much anymore. We had two horrid summers in a row, and my only goal has been to keep my roses alive. I am quiet in a way, yet I have no problem teaching in a large high school. I simply need to have a common ground with people. Our rose society meets at 1:00 or 2:00 on a Sunday afternoon. There are so many older people who have trouble driving at night that this is the best time for them. That time slot is when I am deep into gardening. The member in our rose society are very friendly, and interested in anyone who attends, but they do not grow the roses that I love. Their guest speakers are experts in spraying, exhibiting, propogating, etc. A leader in the society knows about old roses, but promotes more modern ones. I am automatically an outcast. I have even suggested that we form an organization within an organization for those who grow older roses, and do not care to spray. The subject meets a friendly nod --- period. I love it here. This forum is so large, but has such a great collection of rose lovers. Even if we have disagreements, we know how to back off, and still remain involved in what is important. I really appreciate your contribution and that of everyone else. I have belonged here for many many years, and just love it. I do hope that this year I will be able to grow roses instead of just saving them. Sammy

Hello Violet Lovers: As President and Webmaster of The American Violet Society http://americanvioletsociety.org, I have been supporting the continued existence of our society's website, largely at my own expense, over the past several years. Not a big deal, as the site gets a free ride on my personally contracted web server. The site has been stale over the last couple of years, prior to Tom's efforts in providing the material for New Cultivars. That can be seen at the link below. We are in the need of self starting and finishing people, to take responsible positions in the society. I am competent as an organizer and organizational lead, but I am totally incompetent in almost any area of responsibility. In particular, I am not a treasurer nor do I consider myself an extensive violet expert, beyond some level of expertise in rudimentary taxonomy. As a result, we are currently in a situation, where even when we receive donations, we have no way to accept them or process them. We don't even have a bank account! Even more important than money, WE NEED NEW MATERIAL for the web site. That brings me to another issue. I have noticed that not only is The American Violet Society largely dormant, but that it appears that "the other society" The Violet Society at: http://www.sweetviolets.com/SWEETVIOLETS/index.html is in an even more comatose state. In particular, it appears that their entire, very valuable Violet Journal, is no longer on the web. That is very sad. Over the years, I have approached members of The Violet Society, to try to get them to collaborate and pool resources, to extend the reach of both societies, but alas, I was continually rebuffed. Now, upon discovering the loss of their journal, I have tried every email address listed in their remaining site, but received error messages back from all of them. If anyone knows how to contact any of their remaining administration, please let me know. For those of you wishing to contact me, the addresses shown elsewhere in this forum are all out of date, due to excessive pornographic spam. You can reach me at: presidentXXXXXXX@amerianvioletsociety.org where the Xs should be replaced with the letters of my family's name. Alternately, continue to exchange with Tom, as most of you "know" him already. I am hoping to hold another Violet Field Event in the spring of 2009. If we find enough interest. That's all for now. I will try to stay more in touch Sweet Violets To All Gary W. Sherwin, President, Webmaster The American Violet Society http://americanvioletsociety.org Here is a link that might be useful: New Viola Cultivars

Got curious about compost tea. This is the second time I checked. Early this summer time I spent 1 hour researching but was disappointed. Here's one link from United Kingdom on compost tea (unbiased, NOT sponsored by compost-tea industry): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningadvice/11121288/Compost-tea-does-it-really-work.html " What did they find? In a glasshouse study on lavender and choisya, none of the compost teas had any effect on growth or on susceptibility to botrytis (grey mould) or spider mites. Sometimes plants treated with compost tea were taller, sometimes they were shorter, sometimes there was no difference. Sometimes plants treated with compost tea were of higher quality, but often they weren’t, and treated choisya plants at one nursery were significantly worse. In short, the effects of compost teas were “extremely inconsistent”. Other links from U.S.A: http://www.walterreeves.com/landscaping/compost-tea-does-it-work/ From University of New Hampshire: https://extension.unh.edu/articles/Does-compost-tea-really-work From University of Vermont: http://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/factsheets/composttea.html Excerpt from above link: " It’s not clear whether it’s necessary to aerate during compost tea production. Aeration can speed up the production time, but it may also add to equipment cost and complexity. There are claims that aeration helps kill off the organisms that can cause illness. Very few studies have compared aerated and non-aerated compost teas. Some recent research. A 2-year study by the Rodale Institute and Pennsylvania State University evaluated the use of aerated compost tea for disease suppression and crop stimulation in grapes, potatoes, and pumpkins. During year one, approximately 50% suppression of powdery mildew was observed in the compost tea treated grape plots. A slight reduction of gray mold, along with an INCREASE in the level of downy mildew, was observed in the compost tea treated plot during the first year at one of the vineyards. Compost tea failed to suppress powdery mildew on Howden pumpkins in year one, but reduced the number and size of pathogen colonies in year two. Compost tea did not reduce severity of late blight on Superior potatoes when disease was present in year two. " http://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/factsheets/composttea.html *** From Straw: FOR ROSES, just spraying with alkaline tap water alone is enough to suppress mildew, as testified by Roseseek (Kim Rupert) in CA and rosarian Dave Boyd in HMF. For mildew, just plain tap-water spray (alkaline pH over 8) is enough to contain mildew, as rosarian Dave Boyd in a dry climate (only 13" of moisture per year) testified in HMF: http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=3.4748