Kudos of what you've accomplished so far. You could either give the carb a more thorough cleaning or add and ounce of Seafoam to your fuel. With it running , it may very well smooth out your running. I assume that the air filter is good and the fuel is fresh. Changing the spark plug is a good thing to do automatically if you have runability concerns.

Since my climate is a bit similar to UK, it seems that with teas a problem is not that much caused by our winters or lack of heat in the summer, but rather late spring freezes and temperature fluctuations in early spring. Overhere we can get very warm February (up to +15C) and some roses break dormancy, just to get zapped by late frosts in March/April. It is my constant cause of frustration with hydrangeas, since if the new growth freezes, it is whole season of meh. It seems that you have to winter protect teas and chinas here at least for the first years to get some of the more woody canes, when settled they have way less problems with the climate. Own root probably would be a better option as well, since even if it is not cane hardy, it can grow back. I know somebody attempting to grow Lady Hilingdon climber 50 miles more inland from here and apparently it comes through the winter undamaged, but late spring, especially when wet, often is what kills it to the ground. It grows back and blooms though with no problem, so you get some sort of perennial rose. I am going to try a few chinas/more tender noisettes this season, so will see if it is possible to grow it here, although I am going to wrap them into agricultural fleece for the winter. I will go for own roots, but if to get it grafted I would vote for getting it from Trevor White, although Beales ones did for me almost as good. ;)

Congrats, Midnight. Growing a clivia to blooming size from seed is a great accomplishment. I hope you'll start a separate thread with pics once the blooms are open. Great plants! Socks, Disneyland and I have a lot in common, heh heh, and no, not because I'm "goofy"! I like a lot of the plants they use, and how they create such cheerful/jarring combinations. I just planted a bare root 'Disneyland' rose, which, while not jarring, is certainly perky like the many they have planted there. I've been gardening since I was five years old and have reached the point where I just plant what I enjoy and what makes me smile, so "tastemakers" be damned, lol. The brighter, taller, and stinkier, the more I like my orange marigolds. I actually struggle to find non-dumpy dwarf types. Usually I get them from Select Seeds or Seeds of Change...what about you? Take care, Grant

When I was a kid, we had a special gizmo for warming up bagels. It was a brushed-aluminum, almost-spherical pot/lid combo, a little flattened on the bottom so it could sit on a burner. Made by Rival or Proctor-Silex or one of those companies. The lower part had an inset with small holes in it. As I recall, you'd put water in the main pan--there was only room for a very small amount--and then put the bagels in the inset, plunk on the lid, and warm them up over low heat. The printing on the lid said "bun warmer," but in our house it was always used for bagels. And usually to revive ones that were starting to go stale, but I bet it would work to thaw frozen ones, too. I guess it was basically a steamer, but the bagels always came out of it tasting fabulous. I've got to check and see if my mother still has that thing.