Thank you Kathy, just finished putting cables and pins in an olive tree. The tree lost an 18 in. diameter branch and had to be trimmed. The cables will help prevent damage in the future. There is a hummer nest with two babies in the tree and it was fun watching the parents feed the kids. Was very careful not to disturb them. A small to medium size bird, black/gray with a small crest was hopping around catching bugs. Friendly little guy, would land three feet from me and look around for more yummy critters. The quote is spot on, we need to take care of the things that take care of us. It is all connected, that needs to be taught.

Greetings, Neighbor. Sorry to be so late to the party ... I just saw this. Your order now stands at 2 Reve d'Or 2 Cl. Eden 1 Cl. Pinkie Abraham Darby Carefree Beauty Double Delight am I right? I grow all of these except Cl. Eden. Reve d'Or is a baby now, and is going to be planted on the south wall of my house where it can get some heat. My friend in Lake of the Woods grows Reve d'Or brilliantly. (that's one plant) I am trying to contain Cl. Pinkie on an 8' arch. I think it would be happier, and show better, if planted on a fence where it could sprawl a bit. I love the foliage, and the thornless nature, and the flowers make me smile. Abraham Darby wants to get tall and it's self supporting. The one Olga grows in her yard is the best I've ever seen. I thought I had a photo of it, but I don't. Carefree Beauty is a large, lax, self supporting shrub. Double Delight grows like a typical modern hybrid tea, thick canes, straight up. I grow 800 roses, and I spray fungicide every two weeks. Bayer Advanced Disease Control (available at Lowes or specialty garden centers) is my choice. I do not spray insecticide in the garden! I let the birds and the good bugs strike a balance with the bad bugs, and it works for me. Make plans to come visit. I'm planning an Open House, and all GW friends are always welcome. Connie

I like vampire stuff too, most ghost stories as well, especially real old ones. I read some Anne Rice, but I felt that she could never top The Vampire Lestat, and I really didn't read much of her stuff past that one. One of my favorite vampire stories is "Carmilla" - not really a short story, more like a novella, written by Sheridan LeFanu. The story centered around a female vampire and her female victim, which I think caused a bit of a scandal in it's time. The author died in 1873, so the story must have been written before Dracula. ...sorry all, vampires and hoyas do not mix....though actually some hoyas only have a strong scent AT NIGHT and might even be pollinated by moths and SMALL BATS...so maybe there IS a connection between vampires and hoyas.... Those little white hanging pots are great, though - only 5" and that isn't so much bigger than what you are using now...and they are great "trainers" for little plants that aren't ready for the "big" 6" baskets. I am all out of them, I have one left, I need to order some but I would like to try to find them in dark green.

No big leaves on mine this year either. I did have anthracnose, though, and pretty bad for awhile: I had the tree inside a round plastic greenhouse and leaving the door open during the daytime was not enough. There were I think eight velcroed openings above but I'm too short to reach them. I think my 6'8" husband's almost too short: you have to lean over the curve of the thing and the velcro was so strong that the one time we tried, the handle you pull on for it tore off. To be fair, it was a few years old then. The problem was that water condensed on the inside of it enough to soak towels as I wiped it down every day, and the tree took a hit in that humidity. And yet you had to water it in winter because rain didn't make it in. The door tore and the company replaced the whole thing but then the pandemic hit; the whole reason for buying it was so I could go off and visit my small grandkids, but since we weren't going anywhere we took it down and I went back to my old method of multiple layers of frost covers on cold nights. So those were the drawbacks of that greenhouse--and yet. It made it so we could travel and not worry about losing fruit or the tree itself to the cold while we were gone. It's across the yard from the house, so, no radiant heat to help out there, and incandescent Christmas lights help a lot but you have to hold that heat in. The tree gradually recovered. We still have the unopened replacement greenhouse at the ready.