Viola

Well! I checked out the Plant World website (took about half a day! What a range!), then I checked out the Aussie import/customs laws, and I *think* I can have flower seeds by cultivar sent to Australia without paying an inspection fee. I will have to contact our customs people to confirm, as the website is irritatingly vague. If so.. I'm in heaven! Thank you so much Camps! I can finally have a humble geranium! Hahaha. I am deliriously happy about this. Some (non-garden-y types) may say disproportionately so. I bite my thumb at those people! I have not been to the southwest of England since I was 4, visiting grandparents in Devon. That was Christmas time, and I remember a lot of snow and wearing mittens. Mostly I was concerned that Father Christmas wouldn't know where to bring my presents. So I couldn't really comment on the climatic similarities, but I will take your word for it. I don't know what my soil pH is, but I know it's acidic because the hydrangeas are all blue. I will do a soil test one day soon, my blueberries are outgrowing their pots and I suspect I will have to fiddle with pH when I get around to planting them in a hedge-y type configuration. I'm having a crack at this winter sowing caper this year, so yes, it's about time I got my act together. This post was edited by muscovyduckling on Fri, May 30, 14 at 9:10

They really sound like whitefly. Aphids don't do that. If that's what they are, they aren't colonizing roses, but you will find thier nest clusters and the webbing under the leaves of other sorts of plants. (See photo, below) Look for plants like fibrous begonias. We see them on begonias, plumerias and brugmansias, but I'm sure they do other sorts of things. If that's what they are, DO NOT use insecticides. That will only kill beneficials, and make things far worse. When we sprayed, we had a lot of trouble with them. The infestation shown below was very bad, but localized. I removed the worst-affected leaves, and rubbed some of it off with my fingers, and blasted the whole thing with high-pressure water. Jeri

A wee bit off topic but twice Queen of the Praries was mentioned. Can anyone confirm what the leaves look like? Pot plants by chance? A client gave me some the other day but called it Queen of the plains. I googled of course and came up with nothing. She also called it Randyplay. Or that was how the English accent made it sound. A friend of hers brought a root back many years ago from France. she did show me a picture. Tall fluffy pink plume of flowers. My very technical perennial book does not use common names (nor pernunciation!) and it is the closest I can find to the match the picture If anyone can confirm that the leaves follow this description then I will know if I identified it correctly. I could also snap a pic. Tall fluffy plants: Plume poppy. Dana