Ken - yeah, lawn-moving is not a big chore here :-) DH uses a reel mower and it takes 15-20 minutes or so - mainly because of the ditch in the front yard and slopes at the sides adjoining the neighbours' driveways slows him down a bit :-) We've pretty much gardened every available inch! Even the remaining grass is part of the garden by being shaped grassy paths, and the ditch has spring bulbs in the grass. We grow veggies in pots on the driveway so the driveway is part of the garden too.... This is a view of the house from the road in early August last year: This one shows the 'moat bed' (narrow bed along the top of the ditch) at its showiest at the end of May 2013. Sadly, the brutal winter just past killed off the wisteria flowerbuds so no spring display this year :-( The clematis 'Henryi' that grows into the Chinese wisteria is doing well though - once it blooms we will cut the Chinese wisteria back a bit to remove deadwood and encourage a good secondary summer bloom. We miss the wisteria display! Rouge - it's going to be a year or two before we can tell if the haskap experiment will be successful but I'm sure I'll have something to say about it whatever happens! And you're right, making changes in established plantings is exciting. I've been making smaller changes and will continue to do that, but removing the BB is the first really obvious big one - a lot of neighbours have noticed and asked about it!

Ah, milkmen....now there's a tradition lost on most of America. I really need a milkman. My son drinks nothing but milk and is capable of going through a gallon a day if left unchecked. Unfortunately, city code says I can't have my own cow in the backyard. On a side note, we watched "Up" last night with the kids, and it's priceless for the dog humor alone. I think our pup may be mellowing in her old age. This past week we left her unattended inside the house because of bad storms rolling through, and I'm happy to report that all curtains, carpet, pillows, and garbage cans were intact and undisturbed. When we first moved to our house 2 years ago, we had problems with puppy digging holes in the yard. She would take her morning cookie (milk bone biscuit) outside, and promptly bury it. We curbed the bad habit by only allowing cookies after she came back inside at night. Disturbingly, the dig holes didn't stop. We couldn't figure out what was causing her to continue to dig. One day when I was on vacation & working outside, I paused to chat to the passing mail carrier, whom Midnight loved to terrorize with her "go away" bark. I told the mail carrier our puppy's name and explained that she's truly harmless. The mail carrier said, "No worries---she's my best friend now that I toss her a Milk Bone every day!"

I agree with Sandy, like with many others on this forum you are no slouch when it comes to leps either. My comment was only to state why I didn't feed her with every shred of data because I know she is a very capable field researcher that prefers to discover on her own. Everybody has to approach this field at the level they are comfortable with, why many only explore their back yard while others brave the wilds. Nothing wrong with either if that's all they want. For those of us on the down slide in health and not capable of the field work anymore, we simply have to live that part through others. To maybe satisfy your need to know a little more Susanlynne... Among many others, I asked her to look for the Parnassius (3 sp/ssp) at one site in particular because at over 10,000' some of the females can be almost entirely black, not usually seen except very high at places you normally have to make long and step hikes to. Colias gigantea harroweri is one I'd also like her to see. Even on the BTP it usually takes long and steep hikes to get to, so I gave Sandy a possible short side trip out of Grand Teton Nat'l Park to a place where she can almost drive to them. A couple more that will be easy Colias for her to look for are C. meadii medii that are everywhere up high, and the very rare this far south C. meadii ellis and C. pelidne skinneri. Also Lycaena phlaeas arctodon because the race up there is almost red and simply gorgeous, and L. cupreus snowii and atremisia to go with it since she likes the coppers. There are over 50 Nymphalids up there... but I pointed her to the 14 sp/ssp of Speyeria and 8 of Boloria mostly. Also to Euphydryas editha hutchinsi alt fm montanus because it is the smallest from this genus and was named for its discovery on the BTP. Boloria eunomia ursadentis is the rarest resident lep on the BTP at least as far as how many have ever seen it, but it takes knowing exactly what to look for, how to recognize what you see and often long hikes to find it's small colony. Took me most of two summers to find them, and I knew almost exactly where to look. And over the second and third summer I learned that the colony moves through out the season and can be displaced at least 3+ miles during the season. Sandy won't have time and won't be able to make what could be a long hike this trip to hunt for them. But at one site I recommended it is possible she could see a stray blown by the wind from the small colony. I also pointed her to some of the Satyriidae, specifically Oeneis melissa beani because it will be easy at one site instead of the long/step climbs normal to see them, and O. taygete edwardsi only because they have two forms that are biennial at the same site. Hope that somewhat satisfies your appetite Susanlynne. I'm as excited as you are to see how her trip goes because I know she will find many new species of both leps and plants on it to add to her life list. The vistas up there are second to none, so I'm sure she will get a lot of pictures of them as well. If I still had custody of all my pictures from my extensive lep travels I certainly would have posted them on this forum long ago, and those from three summers up on the BTP would have been among my favorites. Larry

It looks as if you have rootstock here -- Rosa Canina, to be exact. I had the same thing happen last year to my Constance Spry. The graft declined, and I kept getting matte, bluish suckers from the roots. Turned out to be the white version, Rosa canina 'Laxa', in my case. Just out of curiousity, where did you get your rose? Connie Here is a link that might be useful: Rosa Canina on HMF