. . . and now it begins I had SPECIFICALLY insisted that the carpet be power stretched. It was written on my order. It was written on the installers' job sheet. So what do I find when I check on their progress? A stinger. Which punches holes in the carpet and is explicitly prohibited by the CRI. I took a picture of it and emailed it to Lowes, and told them that the installer had violated the Mohawk warranty requirements. And hopefully didn't take chunks out of my subfloor in the process, but probably did. The installation team manager called Mohawk to confirm what I told him, and they said yes, stingers are a no go. So, I told them they are going to have to do it all over again, with new fresh materials, and do it right. more fun.

There are different kinds of stoneware. The high fired kind never ever scratches. The kind common in less expensive dishes does. There's less variation in porcelain, but in less expensive dishes you can still get scratches. I don't care. :) I bought service for two dozen of cheap dreck but pretty porcelain (under $100 on closeout) for company. I think there's probably a scratch or two. People don't see them when there's food on the plate! They just see the beautiful table and ooh and ahh. I filled in with a couple of sets for eight of a complementary pattern that do seem to have a harder glaze...and cost almost twice as much :) With place settings for forty, I've never had to resort to kitchen dishes. :) I love lovely things, but I don't worry about my company dishes. If someone gets the table cloth caught in his belt and crashes the whole thing, it's making sure people aren't cut, and then seeing if the food was spared that are the issues, not the tableware. :) Not that it's happened. Not that the toddlers haven't had their chances at it. No chips or breaks so far (and ward off the evil eye!). Lots of peace of mind. Who needs more stress? If it's only enough company to fit the dining room table, I set finer dishes. They're not better looking, though, just better quality. :)

Thank you everyone, and especially those of you who have posted photos. I have been on a little hiatus because I had some minor surgery, and to be honest I forgot that I posted this! I truly understand what most of you mean when you say that you should not prune until the roses are about 3-4 years old, I know they need their energy stores, I know that they have awkward teenage stages (hey, who doesn't?). The thing is that most of the ones I am having troubles with are Austins, and just judging by how much growth they put on last year, if I went this whole year without pruning them I think by fall they might be gathering up mailmen and loose dogs that wonder on to my porch. I suppose I am of the same mindset as Lori_elf, to help inspire new growth I want to get rid of some of this awkward growth that will not support strong, large canes, even if they seem a little young for it. I always get a little confused when talking about the ages of some of my roses anyway, Munstead wood for example is going into it's second year in my garden, but I purchased it as a large (4' at time of purchase), grafted, 3 gallon plant from my local nursery, so it obviously spent at least a year with them, if not more, so would you consider him to be 3 years old at this point? or still just going on 2 because that is how long he has been with me? Not that it really matters all that much because when I judge them, I don't really consider their age as much as I consider their overall size and the vigor that I have witnessed under my own care. For example, I have two Jude the Obscure plants which I got last spring, both have been living in pots that are 12" across since their initial transplant. One plant was a band from from Heirloom and it was purchased earlier in the year, the other was a gallon sized plant purchased from Chamblees purchased a little later in the year. The band from Heirloom really took off and put on a lot of growth last year & is now about 3' tall, he is the one with the odd candelabra situation. Even though the Chamblees specimen was supposed to be a "gallon sized plant", he has grown much slower, but has retained more of a pleasantly round & even shape, it is a little over 1' tall. I feel comfortable pruning the Heirloom specimen because the largest cane is very thick & long, the plant is tall and seems very healthy. I would however not prune the Chamblees plant, it is still very small and looks very young at this point. I think this is due to the unusually small root ball it had upon arrival, both plants I bought from Chamblees did (the other being Molineux) which is why I probably won't be ordering from them again, they were puny as gallon sized plants and have been surpassed by every single band I purchased from Heirloom at this point. I did prune both the roses that I mentioned in the original post, but I did it gently, not removing the entire candelabra, just a few of the smaller branches here and there, or the most awkward growth on the cane in question, so that the new growth that they put on this spring will help them evolve into more balanced, rounded shrubs. I don't have many roses large enough to prune, so these two being some of my only decent sized shrubs (3-5ft tall) I really wanted them to be presentable, even if it sets them back a tiny bit, I need something pretty to look at while I'm waiting on my herd of 1 year old gallon sized babies to mature. I really don't think it will cause them much of a problem, because as I said, almost all of my Austins have grown very quickly and vigorously so far, and I already see Jude swelling into large buds in all the places I was hoping he would, so I think he will do great this year, still waiting on MW, but I think he will do great as well. I'll try to snap some photos today. Thanks again for all your responses! Jessica.

Another sad update, my cutting didn't make it :( We had a day where some rain blew under the verandah where they were and the soil must have gotten a touch too damp, because it started to go brown a few days later. All the other cuttings I had in the same spot were fine and are all leafing up nicely, such a shame! I'm actually about to move to NZ (long story...) and while I'm devastated to leave the roses here (especially my Teas), I'm sure there will be lots of rosy opportunities in NZ! I'm going to create another thread asking for recommendations for a slightly colder zone, as I have never had to deal with frost before! I can only hope that this Rookwood rose recovers from its brutal pruning and shoots again next year, perhaps I'll get some holiday time to come back and check on it!