I can attest to the East Lowes mark down's thanks to being son's taxi service.....anyone see those AWESOME Bolero pansies?? They're not marked down,but considering how bored I am of normal pansies. these are incredible. and not bad for 98c a pot......there were a few succulents and cacti left at the East Lowes, and whole racks of normal pansies marked down to anywhere from 50c a six pack to a DIME a six pack, and huge pots of mums on a pallet display with a sign that said $1.00, some mums were labled a dime!!!! for that price, you can plant them and if they don't show back up next year, compost! madgardener up on the ridge, back in Fairy HOller where the leaves are now half off the georgous trees, the day was absolutely phenominal and blustery and tomorrow holds mysteries of elusive rains and more normal temperatures in the mid sixties and I HAVE to move those tropicals and cacti and succulents inside that I have , overlooking a colorful quilt of English Mountain in Dandridge, zone 7, Sunset zone 36

I know this lady who works at one of our local garden centers and she told me that people often shy away from white roses. She ask me if I know why as I love growing roses. When I think about it, I rarely buy white roses either. I prefer roses that are lightly coloured and eventually turn to white in the later stages. I guess I only envisioned white flowers in a white and green themed or night garden. White flowers in general would get lost in my garden as it is multi-coloured themed. I also feel that white coloured flowers in the heat doesn't do anything for me. However, I know that white colours do stand out in shady areas or in the evening.

Beth, I got on the bare root 'bandwagon,' when they became ascendant in the rose trade some years back. I bought the sales pitch about all the assets of own root over grafted. Of my current 60 odd rose bushes, only 3 are grafted. These three are two Pope John Paul II, and Parade Day....all pretty new. I would prefer own roots simply because I can get liners (slowly becoming less and less available these days...have you noticed?), so inexpensively. But as I am slowly finding out, not all bare root roses thrive and perform at their best in colder zones like mine, especially hybrid teas. Therefore, I plan to exercise better judgement in the future, and shoot for grafted, preferably on multiflora, instead of own root. This shift will take time, going over to grafted hybrid teas....which class I am 'stuck on,' today. I am still putting in own root roses, but if I find a variety I like that struggles here own root, I plan to replace it with a grafted version. The first candidates are my own root Julia Childs. They do reasonably well, but the 'freckle canker,' moderate/mild, yearly winter damage that the white pithed, green, after pruning canes have, I know holds them back from performing better. This phenomenon, switching to hybrid teas mostly, is quite surprising, especially to me, since up until about 10 yrs. ago I considered hybrid teas ho-hum, clones of each other, just in different colors. Even a troglodyte like me can change. Moses

Most of my bargain babies for this year consisted of being delighted with my good luck in both selection and performance of “body bag roses” at the beginning of the year. :) Found ‘Rosie the Riveter,’ ‘Mr. Lincoln,’ and ‘Westerland’ at Aldi’s for $6 apiece. All have bloomed, are true to name, and have done beautifully! I especially like Rosie the Riveter. (Not the best pic, but anyway...) Also found ‘Zephirine Drouhin’ at walmart $5, ‘Gilded Sun’ at Home Depot $7, ‘the Fairy’ and ‘Belinda’s Dream’ at Menards $4. All of them have done so much better than expected, and look amazing!! My husband bought me a ‘Summer Romance’ on clearance for $8. It’s very large, and super healthy! Can’t wait to see what it does next year! I got one bloom this year, and it was so very beautiful. also innumerable companion plants, mostly for $1. ‘Little adder’ agastache, salvia ‘Black and Bloom,’ ‘Giles van Hees’ and ‘Dark Blue Moody Blues’ speedwell, ‘Blue Balloon’ caryopteris $6, and way too many more for me husband to be too happy with! Lol. It’s been a good bargain year. :)