Hello, I have buck roses to trade. I am especially looking for cuttings from old garden roses. I will email you a list of my bucks. Thanks, Sue

Vettin: This is an incredible list. It's way too big for only 10. I'll give you some items that stand out to me as either easy or special favorites of mine. Buddleia--butterfly bush--large fragrant clusters of small blooms. Can get to be large. I love mine. Campanula--if I lived where you do, I would definitly try some of these. The kind of fizzle in the heat here but I think they could work for you. Called "bellflower", they are beautiful plants. Clematis--I have several. look into these and take your garden vertically. They look great with climbing roses or beautiful by themselves. Coreopsis--called "tickseed", they look a lot like daisies. They are easy to grow and bloom very well. A great group of plants. Delphinium--I love these but can't grow them because they don't like my heat. I've heard of others in N. VA who do well with them. GET SOME OF THESE! Dianthus--carnations are in this family. They bloom well and smell great. The ones I grow are rather low growing and great in the garden. Digitalis (foxglove)--Nice tall plant with really pretty bell shaped flowers. They are tall and narrow and add a differnt look and texture to a garden. Edgeworthia--This plant blooms in winter with incredibly fragrant blooms that look a lot like Daphne. The Atlanta Bontanical Gardens have several. They are unique looking and well worth the garden space for the winter blooms. Helleborus--another winter bloomer. EASY plants that take no care and can spread so you can share with your friends. Hosta--a VERY low care EASY plant for a shady area. The clump gets larger and had to be "thinned" every few years but that means you can spread them around. Several of these varieties are nice. Hydrangea--look at the two arborescens. I like these. Beautiful huge clusters of white blooms. Iris--a great EASY plant. Don't plant them deeply at all--almost on the surface or they won't bloom or worse, will rot. I recognize two Iris germanica (bearded irs) as being rebloomers--they bloom in the spring AND fall--Lo How Sliver (white) and Sugar Blues (blue and fragrant). Get at least one of each of these and look up the others to see what they are. Lithodora--a very low growing plant with bright blue star shaped flowers. The foliage is dark green. I really like this plant. Osmanthus fragrans--I did not realize that this plant was hardy in N. VA. If it is, GET AT LEAST ONE! It's evergreen, slow growing, can get 15 feet tall but will tolerate pruning. I keep mine at about 6 feet. Mine bloom in the spring and fall with scattered bloom in the summer. The blooms are tiny and you don't really notice them until you SMELL them. The fragrance carries across the yard and it's incredible. This is one of my favorite plants (and it's not even a rose). Philidelphus--mock orange. Beautiful white blooms in the late spring for me. The frangrance is wonderful. Phlox--there are several different kinds listed. All are great plants in my garden. They give a good selections of colors and they are easy plants. Rudbeckia--black eyed susans--nice sunny cheerful plant easy and blooms for a long time. Salvia--good plants--easy and pretty Scabiosa--pincushion flower--I have butterfly blue and it is one of the best blooming plants I own. The little blue/lavender blooms--about 1 1/2 in. across come from early spring to frost. Easy, easy plant. It's kind of low growing with stems that stick up with the bloom on top. A very nice plant. Hope this helps. Remember, this is just my opinion and I am not in your zone. I also looked at the list quickly and may have missed something wonderful. Enjoy the sale. Take a lot of $ and a truck to carry everything home. Let us know what you end up getting.

Pinching off the buds seems to matter more for those of us in cold zones, since we need more than anything to have a strong root system established before winter. Second to that is a strong cane or two, and blooms are not necessary in the first year except to establish that you have the right rose. People in warmer zones don't necessarily have to pinch off buds since they have a much longer growing season and a less harsh winter, unless they want to pinch buds to build strength to survive the hot periods. In zone 6, it will help your roses build strong roots if you pinch off the buds, but for stronger cultivars well suited to your zone it may not matter as much. Basically my philosophy has become to pinch off buds of anything that looks weak or is less than knee high with several branches, even if it's a year or two old. I can stand to do that because I have a lot of roses. Once the rose wants to bloom faster than I can pinch off the blooms (like Southern Peach or most of the Easy Elegance roses this year), I don't bother pinching and figure it's already strong enough. Bottom line is it's not necessary but it can make a difference in relatively marginal or small roses in your climate. Cynthia

The issue is that their house is being tented and certain plants right up against the house make securing the tent down either impossible or very difficult. I can't imagine the plants would cope well with being exposed to whatever chemicals are involved either as they would be enclosed in that environment if nothing is done. I was surprised by this policy as well, but it seems to be somewhat standard from what I've found. My mom is certainly invested in the plants at risk and has voiced her concerns to the company. I'll be there this weekend if it's determined any need to come out. A few camellias are close enough that they may be at risk as well, but I think they should be fine. The company does advise watering any plants near the home very thoroughly before fumigation both because you won't have access to them for several days and because it apparently helps limit the effects of any chemicals leaching into the soil...or something like that. I couldn't tell you exactly why, but that will be happening. They've had a lot of work done on the house of late including painting, so last weekend I took all the climbers off ties to the house and tarped them to make painting easier and to expedite the cutting back or potting up process if necessary. I may find out this weekend that everything is fine, but it's best to have a plan if anything does need to be removed. Several are varieties I've gifted so I would hate to see them killed. If anything OUTSIDE of the immediate edge of the house is damaged in the process I imagine my mom will be upset. Jay This post was edited by ArbutusOmnedo on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 2:30