My experience with 'High Hopes' is that it grows very long canes. We grow it as horizontally as we can persuade it to grow; usually by bending it slowly at intervals so the canes don't break. The "lateral" canes, from which the bloom will appear are also very long requiring some tying to keep them from breaking. The one advantage to the long lateral canes is that it's great for cutting long stems of either sprays or single blooms which are especially nice for arrangements or vases. It's a beauty, but can be a little tricky to keep neat and tidy. I think that 'High Hopes' could be grown on a pillar, but the long lateral canes would require constant attention to keep them from breaking. I know other rose growers who have this rose and our plant is not unique in the fact that the lateral canes are very long.

Thetman, don't beat yourself up over this. You did the right thing, and as for staking, the truth is that we never really know if staking will be needed or not, until after the fact. Tree establishment can be faster without staking, but this might be a case of splitting hairs. You've secured the trees, and they should be okay. Some tree loss at planting happens to the best of us, and while we may speculate as to why, the truth is that, in most cases, we just don't know. Going forward, just do the proper things, with water mgt. being the biggest issue. That doesn't mean that you will be doing much watering necessarily. It will all depend on what the weather brings. And keep in mind, moist is moist. If rainfall has been sufficient, there is no advantage to adding still more water. But I think you know this. Do watch that the balls themselves are being wet adequately, whether by weather or by you. +oM

Thought I'd update. Got Windows installed without a hitch, Dell talked me through it. I debated whether to put Win 7 in since I was starting from scratch but worried some of my software might not work Everything went well except I couldn't find drivers for some things such as my wireless adapter so couldn't get on line. Called Linksys and they spent over an hour trying to get the driver in and finally did. That was the best part, finally getting on line and getting hit with a zillion MS updates. I have misplaced or lost some software. We moved here in March and I could not locate my Office disk, wireless mouse/keyboard software and a few other things, might have gotten lost in the move. I'm most concerned about Office 07. I paid for it. Dell says they can't help and I could try contacting MS and see if they would do anything. I haven't moved any of my files back yet. Otherwise, I feel like the computer runs better than when it was new. Things seem different, have to fool with fonts and views, but I'm amazed how effortlessly the machine runs. This computer always seemed to have a few 'glitches' but I was used to it. Now it seems so fast and smooth (of course there isn't much running on it yet.) I don't know how to thank everyone for all the support and help I received. You are the best friends anyone could ever ask for. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks! Thanks from the bottom of my heart... Jane

Does anyone comprehend this complete patio space yet? I don't. I only see two barely overlapping pictures, a third picture in which the camera changed position so it can't be part of the scene set, and a 4th picture that doesn't connect to any of the other pictures. Jdobbswood, all pictures must overlap and the camera must remain at ONE position for all of them (of a single scene.) Now that we see a bit more, I think you should have set one camera viewpoint as the left corner of the patio. And there should be another camera position opposite it from outside the brick wall, for a completely separate scene ... another set of pictures. It would also be helpful if you draw a to-scale base plan that includes the house wall, patio slab and brick wall.