Judy, you know full well that you are among fellow addicts when it comes to buying plants. And I so love the English roses...just be sure to give them plenty of room. They will need it. Vel, it is a record for me, that is for sure. It was one I got in the fall from Bill Maryott, but no way was able to resist taking pictures of those three together. Thanks Cindy, all of my early clematis are covered in buds. They are hapopy with the strange weather. Rebecca is a true red in my garden...same color as my monitor, and the blooms are large. It is close to my favorite...then I see another one and oh I love that one. You know how it is. Thany you Linda. As I've already said, I love Rebecca! kay

Another bloom on SARATOGA SPRINGTIME yesterday. I din't even bother to take a picture of it as it was down on the ground on the worlds shortest scape, just like the other shot. I also had a bloom on COUNT IT ALL JOY which is one of the 2009 intros of Karol Emmerich. Its one of these sort of counts scapes as the scape was there but much smaller of course when it arrived. That one I did take a picture of but my pictures from yesterday are not downloaded yet.

Thanks all, it sure was exciting to have such a nice first bloom. The name is rather disturbing, but Celeste said it best that it is a brooding color!!Thanks for the suggestion Rita, I already put in a couple of ferns that you had already suggested awhile ago. mmmm, I love the idea of asiatic lilies, and i will look for shorter ones, Im happy to know that the marigolds will do OK in part shade. The other cats are doing well, and yes I have the orange kitten named Babe, he is a real sweetheart and is doing very well. He loves to hang out with Whiskey. Here are the two of them sleeping in the garden room on top of some burlap. It is a nice, cool place to sleep during the hot days. I did lose Rags, the black and white kitty that showed up at my door, I took care of him, got him fixed, shots and the works, then one day he was just gone :( I don't know what happened and I can't figure it out. Perhaps he went back to where he had come from. I can rest easy knowing I helped him get back into good health before he went on his way. Whiskey is doing well, he still has to get shots every 6 months or so. The vet said he has asthma. But I want him to be comfortable, so he gets his meds. !!I'm happy I took him back. Here is Whiskey and Babe!

Oh Masha.... I HATE the trees. I wish I could afford to cut down the pines. They're like 80ft tall tho. It's expensive and precarious to cut them without ruining the rose beds, so that makes it even more expensive! Ingrid, I don't know how well the chasmanthe would do down there. But if you can find any bulbs or potted ones, it would be worth it to try them. They bloom early in the season, and only for a short time, but the grassy leaves remain until fall. Jean, I don't have any angel trumpets, but I think they're pretty. I don't know how well they would do here. Iris gal, it's funny you mention the yellow with purples. I actually have it planted in a bed at the corner of this raised area by the driveway, and it's all yellow and purple roses and irises, and yellow lilies in there too. Unfortunately, not many of the different plants seem to bloom all at the same time. And they're all beginning to crowd the roses!! Florence, yours'll be blooming before ya know it!! Thanks Carol. Henrik, I'll be looking forward to seeing what you've got blooming! What I've seen so far, you certainly have a beautiful garden and beautiful roses!! Becky, soon we will all be bombarding the gallery with our pics! It's gonna be a good spring I think!! Harold, I usually have a pretty fair amount of blooms from Dec to March too. This yr I didn't! And I didn't even get the deadheading done. I think we just had a colder-than-normal winter. I'm all done with it tho. I am sooo ready for it to be spring and have sunshine and warmth and lots of roses blooming!!!