SORRY. I've had the Fiskars, and have had several that are similar to the Barnels that show in the link you provided. Felco #2's beat everything, hands down. If there was one tool, accessory, whatever - I would recommend to a rose grower - it would be the Felco's, hands down. There's just no comparison to anything else. I wish the US made something like them, but I'm willing to face facts: Felco's are the Mercedes (Ferrari's?) of rose pruners.

bestyears, I am with you on the intense need to plan. My older DS always knew what he wanted to do careerwise, knew he wanted a small liberal arts college, and knew he wanted to be in New England. That narrowed down our search very nicely so it was easy to make "the list." Fast forward, he dropped out freshman year, but that's another story, which some of you already know. Second DS, who is now a junior like your DD, has changed his mind several times about what he thinks he'd like to do. He has also changed his mind about location -- first it was "no way am I staying in Boston" (where we live) and now it's "I really like Northeastern." To make matters more interesting, this is the year where he has somewhat dropped the ball academically, bringing his GPA down several points thank you very much. This is my super-conscientious child who until this year, never got a grade below a B with maybe one exception. So our "list" keeps changing. He says he is bringing his GPA back up this semester. Let's hope. He also is now saying going to school in Boston would not be a bad idea, because he really doesn't like to fly (he was, actually still is, looking at a few schools in Chicago and DC). Six months ago, he only wanted to look at big schools in big cities. Now he wants to look at smaller schools in Maine. He is all over the place! We did the Johnson O'Conner aptitude testing last year. Link is below. We did it with our older DS too. We all found it fascinating, actually, and DH and I have both said we'd love to take it ourselves. However, up until that time, DS wanted to be a teacher. He has worked at an elementary afterschool program since 6th grade (first as volunteer, now as a paid teacher). He just has a knack for working with kids. When we met with the guy who did the testing, he told my son he would not enjoy teaching, he'd be bored, etc. Even though we told DS he should follow his heart and do what he loves, he soon after decided that teaching wasn't for him and that he wanted to major in business (which actually was not one of the top few career choices for him, though I think management was on the list somewhere). So right now, he's still saying business/market research, and every once in a while I say "...but you should look at schools that have education programs just in case." Anyway, I guess my point is that I am pretty sure my DS really has no idea what he wants to do. and we are basically looking at mostly larger schools that have a lot of options! Also, I think another good way to explore possibilities is through some kind of summer program. My DS worked at a music summer camp last summer and LOVED it (of course, because he is meant to be a teacher). But this summer he wants to explore the other side, so he will be an intern at an investment firm. I think for him, this is a fantastic idea, because he will see if working in that atmosphere is actually appealing to him or not. I have now been through this twice (one more to go) and I think junior year is the worst stage of parenting! Here is a link that might be useful: testing

Wow, some of those places give a lot of info for under $300. I guess it depends on how easily you can part with the money. I'd feel more comfortable buying something if I could see pictures of the designer's prior work. You do get a lot of opinions on some threads here, but people do not hesitate to express opposite opinions. This should keep any "off" suggestions in check. When you talk to one designer, you get one opinion and have only your own opinion to "check" what you have been told. I think the greatest value of getting help here, is that you get so many opinions and when a substantial number of people agree on a point, you should be comfortable that the issue they are agreeing on is important to the outcome of the room. I think that whether you use a pro or not, nothing beats getting as many opinions as possible! Thanks for sharing that article, I may consider some of those sources myself!

For a couple of years now, I've noticed these online. I thought they would look nice grown intermingling with my Otts. Any info experience with these would be appreciated. Thanks.