Hi Guys And Gals!! Things have been busy around my house lately and work is never ending. Sorry for my late response.. Jesse.. It is a prolific bloomer and I'm so stoked with this tree. Thank you for your kind comments!! i did have few cuttings grafted at Florida Colors and they all took. As far as costs.... I gave them to my good friends. They are all at great homes and I hope they grow and become beauties like their mother tree. The smiles on their faces is more than dollars to me and the feeling I get is priceless. I tried water rooting before and I have better success with my own way.. I know James loves rooting this way and has great success. Wendi did as well.. I'll share some more pictures of the latest blooms for you!!! Thank you .. The pool area is finally finished and I'm so glad .. Here is a picture from this weekend.. Hi Wendi!! Thank you so much.. It truly made me so excited because of it being so difficult. It just shows that you should never give up! I even have a nasty mid cut from when I made the cuttings to send down to Florida that is rooting. It has taken a long time, but it's working its magic. I almost threw it away.. Sheesh! I'm so glad I potted it up and tried to forget about it!! I hope you are doing well!! Xo Hi Mike!!! Thank you so much!! I'm so glad you are having a good season.. Pretty hot eh? It's been un bearable in our area... Stay cool!! Hi Tom!! I think you totally understand my feelings.. It was such a huge challenge for me and finally.. I'm so thankful! Your kind comments are spot on!! Mahalo!! The rooting mix I used was more of a mix of fir bark, perlite and peat based product. Fox Farm Ocean Forest. ( 5-1-1 basically) it looks dark because I just watered the container....I had used this mixture before along with the gritty mix for rooting and they both work great. I had this already made and I have used this mixture on the Kapalua cuttings before with no success... So I don't think it was the mix, but the variety . Diana's Compulation even list it as a difficult rooter. ( I can agree with that statement!!!). All of my other cuttings are rooting and I was just thinking at the last minute when I was packing up the cuttings to FC. I thought I'm going to try one more time. So I kept this one aside to try... This was really bothering me because it just wouldn't root and I have tried so hard and a few other times on this variety. Same with the nasty mid section ( knobby) cutting. It was close to being tossed, but I just grabbed a cup and thought.. Let's try. That little guy is trying and is giving me hope too! Im ready to take the two tipped cutting and pot up into its own container ... It is like my own trophy.. I'll cherish this tree forever as well as the mother tree that was gifted to me years ago. It's the true Aloha!! You are in Huntington Beach right? FB? Please pm me if you are on... Thanks again for all of the kind comments!!! Laura

Thanks, Chris, for your insight. To clarify -- the rabbit nibbles on MA would have happened in January -- but I didn't see any evidence of nibbles on that one (I did on a couple of other rose bushes, so I had put little fences around them -- looks very strange! I was just being careful with MA because it was so small and vulnerable looking. Both MA and DD when purchased last year were tiny. I know Otto & S. have a great reputation -- but my experience has not been ideal, frankly. When I first called them 2 years ago, they were emphatic that they do not sell bare root roses. So you buy a 5-gal rose and you pay for a 5-gal rose. So when I purchased non Kordes roses from them 2 years ago, I was super annoyed when I turned the pot upside down, and all the dirt came out, leaving me with a... wait for it ... bare root rose! Which I then planted. But because it was not rooted out and got planted past bare root season, it really suffered when the heat came. It is only now starting to look good (Black Cherry Floribunda). Then last year I got these tiny little rose bushes, MA and DD, but since MA put out some nice blooms, of course she got another year. The DD just never thrived. I've been growing roses for about 25 years, so I'm not a total beginner. I think I've had one bare-root rose just die on me. I had some little bands die on me several years ago, but that was because the person who was supposed to water for me when I was gone for a month had different ideas about what that meant. All this to say -- the DD & MA have been protected this year from the voracious rabbits -- and they both look healthy -- but they are both teeny tiny. The new DD (just planted a month ago) has new growth -- but not very upright. They are somewhat near each other - sharing a bed with three David Austins, a floribunda, and a grandiflora. No, they're not too close together. There are annuals around, but I've carefully kept them away from MA & DD so that they are not shaded by the annuals. I will keep them this year to see what they do. Maybe they're just late starters. Maybe Otto & Sons sold them too early. Maybe they don't like my climate (Santa Barbara in the hills, about 2 miles as crow files from ocean - lots of oaks nearby, but none in the area the roses are planted in). Have you heard anything about how they do on the central coast of CA? You're right - the DD definitely had not filled the pot with roots, though I don't think one month would have made a huge difference. Carol - they get one year. If they've not done anything by January of 2019, they'll be given to someone else. And watch -- they'll probably turn into spectacular roses elsewhere!!! Chris - where are you these days? I seem to recall that you used to be the N. America rep for Kordes, but then another company stepped in? Or am I hallucinating? P.s. I don't want to say bad things about Otto & Sons. I love their rose fields, and the DA I bought last month (Thomas a Becket) is looking gorgeous and is full of buds...

YOU dare to pretend your not working with Caroline......yes Caroline the most beautiful woman to ever walk the earth but under her beauty lays a million broken and useless wooden spoons, weeping their loss and dripping their forever memories of a time when they stirred the pot, their laughter at others expense dimming more each day as the seeds of their future shrivel and die.....Go ahead..... (((delete))) me.

"What have we gotten ourselves into?" Home ownership. I really think you should relax and enjoy your new home. None of the issues you are currently concerned about is a serious issue. I understand that everything is not exactly how you wanted it to be, but... It does sound like you should have spent a bit more time checking things out. Wood look tile really doesn't look (or sound) like hardwood, so, I don't think it's a case of them trying to fool potential buyers or anything and travertine really doesn't look like marble. I'm sure your home is beautiful, though. There's nothing wrong with wood look tile or travertine and these materials can cost quite a bit, so I wouldn't categorize them as inherently cheap or somehow lacking. They can be lower maintenance than marble or hardwood and can actually be better choices in many situations. Be really glad you aren't finding out that there's something like an electrical or plumbing problem that was not apparent in your inspections, or something else that would be really expensive. It could be a lot worse. It really could. I think you should enjoy your new home. If there are things you don't like about how it is now, just change them over time. Stuff like that is just part of owning a home, imo. Fwiw, I've never bought a house and planned to keep the flooring or the landscaping.