Carol, I'll trying liking comments tomorrow. I see that some of us have a -1 likes. Ask Holly if she's read "The Girl Who Came Home". It's quite good and tells the story of a Titanic survivor. Irish author Hazel Gaynor has written this book and several other good ones....I hope you're feeling well tonight. Diane

Jim, I'm so sorry to hear about Lacey. Thank goodness all is going well with your girlfriend. That must be a great comfort. Does Gracie miss Cagney and Lacey?

Jim, I’m so very sorry for the loss of your furry friend. They add so much to our lives and leave such a hole behind

Jim, so sorry for the loss of Lacey. You took such good care of her. She was one lucky kitty.

Vapor, did you cancel me in retaliation? I see I'm a -1 up there. Ha.

Here's Olivia. Diane

@Diane Brakefield now I need Olivia! you've probably inspired more purchases than anyone else I know on here :p

Beautiful Olivia Diane! You know she is my darling but I just got in from prunning that beast. Geeze. so many canes all criss crossed and so many many canes. I showered her who's boss though and thankfully she isnt as thorny as her neighbor Munsted.

5 more roses done, 13 to go. Why oh why do I have so many roses ???

That is hilarious Diane! Sometimes I click to see who's liked a post or when you said you couldn't like I would like but I couldn't see that I liked so then I think I erased the like. I don't know if that makes any sense at all but who's was a bit kooky last night. I would press like and it wouldn't show for me but when I saw who like to post then I would see that I had liked it so who knows with all of the pressing I probably dislike many people and they all think I'm terrible! LOL! Please don't hate me! :-)

Vapor, I think it's funny. I had a couple of people I gave a -1 to. Cancel culture. Don't make me mad, or I might give you a -10.

Aaron, I'm sorry. Diane

Aaron, Diane gets a cut from the sellers!

Diane, what a beautiful Olivia. I didn't realise you had her. And your Orlaya is so pretty.

LOL!

Why Trish, thank you, and I wish it were true. I only had a little Orlaya from Lisa's seed, but it produced a lot of seed, which I gathered and it is going to be sown before long. Dara, the purple wild carrot, a Queen Anne's Lace, is the one that goes crazy reseeding. I didn't even bother to gather any seed of it, and I'll be pulling it out. But I still like the stuff. You have got me addicted--to Rosamund Pilcher. I just started reading Coming Home, a monster book, and I like it even better than September, though I really enjoyed reading the descriptions of the Scottish countryside in September. Coming Home is a big hardback, and I have never had such a beautifully made book with its antique flower illustrations at the beginning of each chapter and a beautiful, extra nice cover. The book itself is such a treat to hold as well as read.

Vapor, just how do we activate that negative like, anyway? Diane

Thanks, Kristine. My Olivia does have lots of canes, and she's about seven feet tall. All she wanted to do at the end of summer was grow instead of bloom. I'm going to give her a good pruning. Still, the big Julias are the worst to prune. Worse than Ascot or even Golden Celebration. Big Julias are channeling the real Julia Child and are very tough ladies with an incredible number of canes. You are so lucky to be getting this work done now. My flower beds are mud holes, and it's still quite cold. Diane

Diane - I sent her your question in Facebook. I'll tell you when she answers. :) Holey Moley!!! Your ORA is INCREDIBLE!!!! The bush shape is amazing and the flowers are magnetic...I can't stop looking at them!!! :) :)

My ankle is actually feeling a bit better today! It's been really painful since the beginning of December. Yay!!

Kristine - having so many roses can be challenging at times...but it keeps us young-ish...except that we feel old right after we do the work. LOL

I'm waiting anxiously for an order of streptocarpus to come in. I'm worried about ordering them in the winter...but I'm crossing my fingers. They're in Canada right now...no idea where...tracker just says Canada. I think I'll have 31 streps altogether when these come in. I told Don that I can't order anymore, because then I'd have to get a new plant stand and lights. Hold up your hand if you buy that one! LOL

Thanks for the laugh, Carol!

:) :)

Diane, I agree with you about Julia, I have gotten more pricks and snags from her than any other rose, including Munstead.

I have 3 planted in a hedge so while I am prunning one, her next door neighbor is busily grabbing sleeves, pants and even well covered body parts. At least Olivia isnt a thorny beast.

Desdamona is a pain as well, not because of thorns but because of the tangle of canes. Each cane puts out 3 more canes so they are all tangled together.

If I were to ever start all over I would only plant hybrid teas for ease of prunning. Like that is ever going to happen.

Last night my husband asked how many I have and I told him around 70, that doesn't count the new orders. Eekkk.

Diane thanks for the offer to keep me on the straight and narrow although probably much too late.

Diane, I’m glad you posted photos of your Olivia. I was having buyer’s remorse over ordering a non-fragrant rose but your photos made me feel better since your photos are so beautiful. I’ll trial her in the pot ghetto but I’m not going to put her in the main garden unless she proves herself.

Kristine - 70 doesn't sound like that many...until it's pruning time. LOL How many do you have coming this spring?

Carol, that Kristine's age--heehee. Oh, and her rose count, too.

Thank you, Noseo, I'll bet Olivia's lack of scent was disappointing to you, to say the least. For me, her color doesn't work in my hot, sunny summer garden. From even a slight distance, it's just meh. Do you have that problem with colors in your location? Speaking of scent, what do you think of boxwood in spring when the plants are covered with little boxwood blooms? The bees do love it. Diane

Hey, I hadn't thought about the number of roses being my age

I should have quit while I was ahead because I have 12 coming.

I put the blame on all of you enablers with your beautiful photos

Look who came to visit this morning.

They are all grown up now.

Wont be long before we see babies

Kristine, where did those turkeys stay over winter? And once they have babies, there will be a real herd of them. Soon, they will be like large quail. And on and on. I am a predictor of gloom and doom. Probably because it snowed again, and I'm supposed to be putting on Plant Tone around roses, hibiscus, peonies, and other favored plants. I can see now that I will be doing everything in March, which will be a killer. I am also concerned about certain species that have not been showing up here the last few years. First, it was the bumblebees, and then the red winged black birds have not been appearing, nor do their mournful songs echo out from the wetlands not far away. The wetlands are fine and protected, but where are the birds? Also, there is less variety of birdsong in the spring. I've said before that massive construction in the hills out here is destroying habitat. The big housing tracts (not part of this community) are the ugliest and worst I've seen, and people are paying a fortune for them....anyway, I'm longing for spring and the last of this snow. I hope all of you are having a nice, safe weekend, and your spring shows up soon. Diane

Come on spring! Photos above from last year. The daffodils are from antique bulbs, a passalong, as well as the violets and false forget me not. The tree is a red crabapple. Diane

Spring seems both close and far away. On the one hand, as stated in another thread, the red-winged blackbirds are singing here again and my bulbs are peeking their leaves up. On the other hand, we just got a foot of snow the other day that's still hanging around. And wow am I sore from all the shoveling! I wish I had some photos from last year to share (or to look at myself), but I deleted all but 2 😬 bah. I do remember that I saw my first flower in my garden last year on March 10th, I wonder if it will bloom as early again this year?

Diane, a few weeks ago I counted 30 turkeys strolling past. They go up the hill to a huge retirement community where they ha e plenty of space. They never linger very long at any one house.

My husband is on his way to the yard recycle/dump

He took 4 full bins of rose clippings and I still have tons more to recycle.

Azalea's aunt got me a huge vase filled with tulip bulbs to grow in water.

Look how pretty they turned out.

Kristine, those are lovely tulips--I love their delicate color. I've forced tulips before, but kept them on the patio covered in dirt and leaves until they spouted. By the time they were almost ready to bloom, I put them in a big container on the porch, so they bloomed early, but outside. How did you force your tulips in just water? That sounds like less work than the way I did it. I'd like to use the water method. We started out with snow this morning, which is melted. In a few days, it will be in the 60s--yay. And the work begins. I am so out of shape. You are lucky the turkeys don't hang around, which is the cause of quail trouble here. Next year, there will be 900 turkeys-ha. And you can start a turkey ranch to pay for your roses.

Magpie, that's a lot of snow. I think ours was maybe an inch. That's called an Idaho snow. But you've got your blackbirds, so that's a good sign. The antique daffodills come up in January or so, and just sit there, waiting for it to warm up a little before they open. They look so funny. I'd better go out and check on them. Other really early bloomers are Rock Cress, violets, and Brunnera. Here's Bluebells of Scotland, aka, Scottish Harebell, or Campanula rotundifolia. They are early, but not the first bloomers. Diane

last year

Yes, the daffodils are up and looking silly, waiting for the warm weather, which is almost here. Diane

It was a lot of snow! But it was "light" at least. It's going to be signicantly more work to shovel the April snows we'll get, they're so wet and heavy.

I have 2 brunnera "Silver Heart" and I so look forward to seeing it again. Right now there's not a single leaf of it in sight. I always thought Idaho had harsh winter weather. Right there where western Wyoming starts I've seen many feet of snow piled up beside the highway.

Magpie, April snow? Ye gods. What you see is the Eastern Idaho border, and it's much colder there. Several hundred miles away to the west is the banana belt, SW Idaho where I live in the foothills outside Boise, all of which is zone 7. Lots of agriculture in this area--not out here in the hills, but in the river valley areas. Everything, including our yard and garden, is irrigated because it's so dry. That means when I say it snowed it did a SW Idaho snow which is peanuts. Our rain is measured in hundredths of an inch. Didn't you say that you live in Colorado? I know there are extreme fluctuations in temps in a lot of CO because of the elevation. We have to go up the road about 20 miles for a complete change in weather and elevation. Please post photos of your Brunnera when it blooms and its leaves are on display. My brunnera is from a plant about 100 years old--a passalong. Half my peonies are ancient passalongs. And my daffodils, also passalongs, are species daffodils found outside an abandoned miner's cabin in mountain backwoods. I did some research, and it's very close to the species tulips found in the mountains of Spain where daffodils originally came from. Diane

Brunnera--false forget me not; Siberian Bugloss.

Yes that's right, I'm in Colorado and the weather can be wacky. Hot sun is shining one minute, giant hail storm the next so massive that the town has to send out the snow plows to clear the hail and water from the streets, and the sun is shining while they work as if nothing had happened! Haha. And the wind! Blew our trampoline right out of our yard one year, it mowed down one of our fences on its rampage. Finally slammed into a neighbor's garage and stopped. We get snow from October up to late April where I am. But really, it's just something you get used to here. My new roses better be tough!

Have you been to the raptor sanctuary? I believe it's near Boise and is home to golden eagles among many other incredible raptors.

And wow, I think it's incredible that so many of your plants have such a long history. That's amazing, you're so lucky to have them. And my brunerra looks nothing like that! The flowers are very similar but the leaves and habit of the plant, not at all. I'll definitely take pictures when it wakes up.

MM, I think I remember your trampoline story - or was it someone else's? It stuck in my mind, anyway! I don't envy you shoveling wet snow! And in April!

Kristine, love your tulips. So pretty. If I can get myself organised I want to grow some hyacinths in a pot in my bedroom this year.

Diane, what cheerful photos. I never knew daffs came from Spain. You're a mine of information.

I have spent quite a lot of time lately washing mould off leather furniture and skirting boards etc. I'm almost finished with the furniture, and looked up from where I was lying on the floor getting to the low bits, and noticed there's mould on the ceilings in the living and dining areas. Flugger the Blighs. This is what happens in a warm and humid climate, Diane! So now I'll have to wash them and paint them!

This came from Costco with the bulbs already in there and as you saw, they took right off . I think that I will try something else before I turn it in to a fish bowl

Kristine, I'll be darned. I didn't know such things existed. I know amaryllis and paper whites can be purchased ready to go, but tulips. That's good to know.

Trish, your job sounds awful. Not much mold grows around here, except in showers. You need a cleaning woman. I said so. Love your expression, Flugger the Blighs (whatever that means), and I'm stealing it. I spent a rough day reading Coming Home. I am so hooked on that book because of you. If you haven't read it, you must. It weighs about 10 pounds and should hold me for a few days. The only reason I knew about Spain being the original daffodil habitat was that I was researching where my old daffs might have come from. I was totally surprised about Spain. May the mold depart from your house, or flugger the mold. Diane

Diane - LOL about Kristine's age. Come to think of it...I have about as many roses as my age too!! That's weird. :) :) Holly messaged me about the book you suggested. Here's what she said:

Thanks for the book recommendation - I'll add it to my list! I looked it up and it says it's about 17-year-old Maggie Murphy, an Irish survivor. There was a Maggie Murphy from Ireland who survived but she was 25,]]

So I think it's probably based on her but not 100% in all the details (because it's fiction)

It looks really good!

Oh, yes, I have those Bluebells of Scotland!! They bloom all summer...I love them!! Is your beautiful False Forget Me Not a spring-only bloomer? It's gorgeous!!! :)

Kristine - do the turkeys stay year round? Thirty turkeys!! Wow!! And those are such cheerful tulips! And the container is really pretty too!

Maggie - wow! That's early for flowers!! I can only hope...but then that would be bad for the planet for it to be that warm here. We give up shoveling after February. Just on principle. LOL The wind BLEW YOUR TRAMPOLINE out of your yard?? Wow!! Now that's wind!

Trish - mold! That would never happen here...we're sooo dry!! Not as dry as where Diane lives...but dry. We're semi-arid.

Well, I took my small bag of dirt that I had put in my huge supply of rose seeds (three!) from my hybridizing attempt of Stainless Steel X John Davis, and put it on little aluminum pie plate with saran wrap over and put them in the sun by the window. I couldn't find the seeds in the dirt...so many they decomposed. But it doesn't hurt to see if they're still in there and will sprout.

Diane, I have read Coming Home. I thoroughly enjoyed it, except for the creep (bad memories). If you can bare to watch tele, do look at it on youtube when you finish the book. It's a very good rendition, though I did think Loveday's home was way grander than I expected. But maybe that was right.

Flugger the Blighs came from my husband. He used to say nanabas and ninepapples, and many other things similar. So much so that the children had trouble saying them the right way. We stayed once with some relatives in the country who had a small farm. The flies were a menace. This time the reversing wasn't exact, but their name was Bligh, so it seemed apt. They were actually lovely!

In the interview I watched with Rosamunde Pilcher, she was asked who was her favourite author, and she said Penelope Lively. I've since downloaded a free sample of one of her books, and shall get to it after I finish re-reading The Shell Seekers. I guess you've read Mary Stewart?

Flugger the Blighs. Hmmmm....if I can remember that phrase, I'll try it out tomorrow. :)

@rosecanadian Well that March 10th flower was just one single chionodoxa bulb that bloomed much earlier that the rest, I did not actually have a blooming garden at that point 😅

Yes I live on the plains just a bit away from the base of the Rockies, so we get all the wind coming from there, and there is nothing but open farmland behind my house so no windbreaks at all. Our property gets wind worse than any other in the neighborhood because of that, BUT our view is spectacular and i never tire of it.

@Diane Brakefield what genre of books do you like?

I just finished Coming Home by Karen kingsbury , totally different book.

Today is going to be sunny and upper 50s and I have 4 empty bins so it sounds like a great day to do more prunning and repotting of a couple of roses. Hurray for sunshine!

The Sabbath is a day of rest, Kristine. Don't take me seriously, please. You just make me feel guilty, though. I think there must be several books with the Coming Home title. I'll check yours out.

Magpie, I like to read everything. In college I changed majors with the winds, but in the process, I got a wonderful education in literature. I'll go into it, if you can stand me droning on about books, later today or maybe tomorrow, because I've got a lot to do soon, and it's getting late. Your location and the resulting wind sounds just like here. We are in low hills at the base of mountains all around, with no windbreak in back, just a sharp slope down the hill to a big gully. No neighbors in back or in front of us (hills), just neighbors to the left and right. The first year we were here, we had some of our new roof shingles blown off, and my New Dawn roses blown down.

Trish, that's so odd you bring up "the creep". I had a step dad with those inclinations, but I was a little older than Judith was. When the creep part of the book came up, I had to stop reading last night. I'll tackle it today with advance steeling of my nerve. Flugger the creeps. I will check out Penelope Lively. I don't have a favorite author, though I like Jane Harper and Amor Towles (a guy) very much. I really like the Mapp and Lucia series by EF Benson (a guy), as did my gardening friend to whom I loan books. I don't like my books too sappy and romantic, and his devastating wit was wonderful. Oh, yes--The Flavia series. As I wrote to Magpie, don't get me started right now.

Carol, I see you started a new thread, so many thanks, and I'll be posting there later. I hope Holly gives that book a try and maybe some of the author's other titles. I love that you grow Bluebells of Scotland. They seem to love it here, and it's not anything like Scotland. But I read that BBs like it dry. And yes, they bloom all season, while Brunnera only blooms in early spring. It does have a long bloom period though. Diane

I'll definitely listen to you go on about books, I'm always looking for new things to read and I don't have anyone to talk books with. Although since finding a new favorite series a few years ago, nothing yet has usurped their spot.

Diane - I'm sure she'll get that book...she has soooo many Titanic books/things. :) Yeah, BBs are tough...they look almost dead from drought every once in a while....but...they keep surviving.

Thank you everyone for commenting on the loss of my cat (Lacey) ....

Thank you! Love you all!

I'm going catch up on the NEW THREAD now...