Thank you everyone for all the compliments. Since my earlier posts I have moved with my family to Williamsburg, Va and have had to leave my garden. :( (sniff...sniff...) The reason for the trim was that it was crowding the drive and was difficult to mow around. Also, the squirrels were continually "planting" little pecan and oak nuts that would grow through the rose and look sloppy. You cannot see it, but there is a brick edge around the flower bed that holds the Chestnut Rose and several other roses. It did look beautiful before the trim, but it was also beautiful afterward -- and you could see some of the lovely, peeling bark on the trunk, as well as the brick edging. I will try to post another photo of it. I do not know what the new owners will do with my old garden. I try not to think of it as I fear that they are more of the "mow 'n blow" gardener variety. If anyone is in the area, it is 411 West Michigan Street in Poplarville, MS. Less than 10 minutes off I59 on your way to New Orleans. :) Easy to see from the street. Hope it fares well under the new regime. I am super-anxious to start my new garden in Virginia, and I will certainly put in the Chestnut Rose. :)

With our weather here in Virginia, I have no hesitation when it comes to planting POTTED roses in fall. These little guys have been growing in my yard the whole time, and they almost always do beautifully when planted. I'm careful not to disturb the roots, and I slip them into their new home. I'd rather take the chance of losing them in the ground (which is very, very rare) than worry about whether the pot will freeze and kill the plant (which has been much more common for me.) The last of my roses that I sold last fall were to a man from MD in November. He planted them in his garden and they were fine. I will not plant bare root roses here in fall again. None of the ones I ordered from Palatine and Pickering last fall actually died, but New Zealand, Mrs. Oakley Fisher, and Sonia have struggled ... having lost every bit of cane that stuck out above their hill of soil. Give me spring planting for bare roots from now on. As far as moving roses, it's happening here at a pretty furious pace. New Dawn and Awakening will be moving to their new home in a few days. I'm moving them to a new fence to make way for some tweaking of the Barbier Rambler fence. There were some holes to be filled in the Rose Field, and I'm almost finished with that. I wish I had some more ground prepared, because I would love to get more of the potted roses into the ground before cold weather comes. Just my two cents, Connie

Mary Jane I think that is the place we go to look at the alligators on the way to Lousiana. I love that place. I need to bring some kind of long stick or net with me next time to swipe some water hyacinth. None of mine came back. Yes I know they are illegal but they are not hardy here and I don't let them loose so don't care. I love them and they are good filters. The dogs love eating them almost as much as my lotus. I am afraid they have killed my sunflower one. I moved a chunk of it to another area they can't get to. I hope its viable. It didn't have any growth tips on it but not sure. I broke BB from messing with it last year now this year Lucy Lou just will not leave it alone. It must taste good to her. I have tried everything to keep her out of it. Now I have a mud hole instead of a lotus pot. Boohoo. I have a different one up front but that one was special.

Oh dear. I am a shame to the Brug-Loving community! I love shaping my plants. I even use florist's wire to shape my Nandinas and my Christmas Tree for gosh sakes! So you can imagine my shock at reading this post. All those years of pruning my Precious Brug, whacking off long branches that I felt didn't 'belong', branches that didn't shoot off in the right direction. Pulled down branches and set them with wire so that they would shade my Kalanchoe plants. If one of the thinner branches were touching the Kalanchoe, it got whacked off. Hard, wood branches! And what have I been doing with a total of a ton of branches all these years? The Recycle Bin and out on the curb on Thursday night for pick-up on Friday morning! ACK ACK ACK! Now that I think back, I've probably put thousands of dollars worth of brug cuttings on the curb...ACK ACK ACK! ::sigh::