I remember Mr Whipple and I'm not that old! lol I think the actor that played him recently died. Linda all my Tootsie buds dropped but it was infested with Broad Mites. I treated it with Forbid and the mites are gone and I have new buds. We'll see if these hold. If you want to look up their skirts just give them little patent leather shoes ; ) Karyn

Technod: Got a camera, but don't know how to computerize photos or how to send. Have been using Windows 95! Just upgraded to Windows XP ... Trying hard to join the 21st century! Will keep reading the directions lol. Gloria

wow cool. In the morning. you can spray it with aerated compost tea. and spray with seaweed foliar feed. as long as the leaves stay dry. It looks really healthy. And you can mix up a batch of fermented alfalfa compost tea to get gangbusters blooms. Hope we can see more pictures.

Here's a fairly large Double Knock Out in the front yard--in the divider between my property and the neighbor's. Haven't had time to anything with it yet this year, so its looking a bit wild and woolley--and maybe lop-sided. I'll try to get some pruning done before the season is over. : ) Light blue irises came with the property when I bought my house thirty something years ago--don't know their name, but they bloom forever (for an iris). Another iris--name unknown. Sure is lovely. Here's a terrific fully packed white peony called Festiva Maxima--love that blood-red like marking in the middle of the blooms. I read somewhere once that this old classic is a good choice for more southerly gardeners, but I don't remember why. I have 4 of them. BIG blooms. Its getting so exciting now that things are nearly ready to bloom--can't believe the buds all over the yard--have never seen so many. Oddly, however, my hybrid teas are not taking over the show like they usually do. I thought with the mild winter we had, they would do terrifically well, but it seems the shrubs and floribundas are the ones doing best. But maybe that will all change in the next few weeks. This is about 3 weeks early for my roses--any of them--to be blooming. Kate