There is an alternative to genetic studies for determining ancestry of a puzzling cross. I'm interested in hardy citrus, and I keep finding parallels between citrus and roses. Both include tropical, subtropical, and temperate species that have been crossed all kinds of ways. The example I have in mind is the Yuzu, a tart citrus fruit prized by Japanese cooks with a loose sweet edible skin. It is much hardier than most citrus. A number of crosses have been made between Citrus inchangensis and Satsuma resulting each time in something remarkably like Yuzu. It's true that when you make a cross so wide that the result is ovule sterile, as seems the case with Banshee, that you seem to get a lot of sports. We have assumed that the variations in Banshee are sports, but what if some of them are the same cross repeated? What could we try crossing to see if we can get Banshee again? The candidates I would consider would be our various native species and damasks, centifolias, gallicas. When you are out in your garden in spring, if you want an excuse to spend a bit more time there, you might want to do some deliberate pollination by one of these species onto one of the others that you know makes hips. Mark the blossom stem in case it makes a hip. If it does, be sure to include what the pollen was if you are doing several crosses. Experts go through a lot of trouble to keep the bees away and to get ripe pollen, but I think this is a fine job for some of us worthless lackadaisical wannabees to do our stuff. All we want is some seed from one plant that makes seedlings that look nothing like the parent. If you don't mind sowing some virginiana seed in hopes that you'll find one extremely different seedling, it won't matter all that much if the bees got to the flower too. (Although it might be better if the flower can't find anything except the weird foreign pollen you added.) If a couple of years from now someone on this forum says hey, I crossed this and that and one of the seedlings is looking a lot like Banshee, we will all sit up and take notice. Then others will try the same cross and maybe we'll prove, us simple amateurs, something that has had us wondering for a long time. One or two of the big name rose people who pay attention to something besides HT's will eventually write it up in a book and we'll all have to find some other mystery to solve.

this was fun reading through your notes I have not bought so much, it seems this spring I seem to have so much already Did buy some colourful annuals I bring several large pots either into my solarium room or into the garage Depending what is in them Surprisingly I have found that if I put the pots, large pots, of chrysanthemums into the garage, not cutting them back at all they seem to survive and this year I left geraniums in the large pots, even the Martha washington ones and they all survived As well I have tropical stuff in the pots. I am down south for the entire winter and do not bring the pots out until I get back home early May I do put them out then just to get them out of the house and put some plastic over them as the weather can yet be cold So I always have lots of stuff awaiting revival. I stick in a few annuals into the pots some of the pots. One of the best places to get good deals on plants are the horticultural society plant sales Most often they are mature plants. but I missed two of them last weekend attending a family reunion out of town I am looking for more Japanese Tree peonies The flower does not last long but the plant stays good looking all season They tolerate cold and drought and neglect which makes them ideal as they none the less are stunning

Murial, your beans will be fine. We have electric at the shelter. Cornbread or corn muffins sounds wonderful. I just wanted to post a note about Door Prizes. Anyone who is interested in bringing a Door Prize will be included in the Door Prize drawing. When I posted the original updated info regarding the Plant Swap, I wasn't sure we were going to do Door Prizes but after talking to Cathy about it, we are going to do them again this year. I always try to paint something for my contribution to the DP's and this year, I will be bringing a hand painted (cover), leather Gardener's Journal. Let me know if you have any questions. Can't wait until Saturday to see everyone! Linda

hi caroline! i just saw your note on my blog. i didn't respond earlier because ours chairs are very different and when i first saw this posting, i was still nervous with my chair guts all over the floor. :) your chairs are beautiful, and i know nothing! i've done one upholstery job in my life, so please take that into account! the right way to do it would be to add that jute webbing stuff and sadly I know nothing about that type of upholstery work! since you said it's comfy with a blanket rolled up, here's what i'm thinking... our springs do look very similar, but my chair has sides that cover up all the craziness inside. on top of my springs i have a thick layer of dacron batting stapled to the lower part of the frame around the outside. then on top of that it's just thin drapery lining fabric - (it was closest to the fabric cutting counter and i was in a huge hurry!) i stitched that drapery lining fabric (solid white) to the patterned fabric that gets stapled to the footboard on the front. then i pulled the drapery lining under the arms and stapled to the sides of the frame. that all gets covered up by the fabric on the arms. and i have a box cushion on top of all that. so the construction of my upholstery doesn't work for you exactly, but you could probably adapt it if you're willing to try putting staples in those beautiful frames... my chair was a $20 goodwill special! IF you really wanted to do it somewhat permanently... here's a diagram to help explain what i'm about to say: i would try a thick layer of dacron batting cut a little wider than the frame of the chair to wrap around the top of the seat frame. i'd staple on each side JUST below the top of the frames along all 4 sides. (blue marks where i'd staple this layer) then i'd put another layer of that thick batting cut to the inside size of the frame and i'd just lay it on top of the first layer and not staple it anywhere. that'll give you a little extra padding just on the "seat" area. then i'd lay some muslin cut to just larger than the frame and staple all around just below where you stapled the batting. (yellow marks where i'd staple this layer) trim off all the excess fabric. then i'd lay your fabric of choice, staple it at the very bottom of the frame all the way around. (red marks where i'd staple) cover the staples with double welt or buy a coordinating trim or nailhead, but nail head trim has challenges of its own too! haha making the double welt SUCKS because i'm no good with a sewing machine, but it really does finish the project nicely. here's a pic of the stage of my chair where i had just the batting on top of the springs... here's after adding the white drapery lining fabric over the batting... an alternative is to ignore the springs that are there, and have a piece of wood cut to fit the top of the wood frame, then just add some batting and fabric, staple to the bottom of that board and set your board on your frame. you could screw in from the bottom if you wanted it attached permanently. i'm not sure if this helps or confuses you more, but i wish you lots of luck. the chair frames are so pretty!