At least I'm not the only one hating the new format. I emailed them to find out if I'd managed to screw up my settings--I miss the ability to skip to the "next" and "previous" image. They may be adding it later. I much prefer the old format--it's faster to use and the images seemed larger. I'll probably be using it less unless some changes are made. susan4952, if you click on the "My HMF Account" button (it's orange and towards the upper right on my display) about 2 rows down you'll see your HMF identity, your email address, and your membership status.

I just checked it out, and it looks a lot better than yesterday. I must have looked at it before they were complete, or maybe the monitor I was on was not set right. Yea, I like seeing the picture out to the right like that and all the info to the left. Yesterday the pic was huge, and there was a big gap between the picture and the data.

Cass, I didn't take it as criticism - I was not very clear in saying that even professional photography sometimes can add another whole layer of obfuscation. It is actually important and useful to us that you view the 'established' collections with a critical eye. It is also worth remembering that gardens such as Mottisfont and l'Hay are committed to holding the collections of their founders - Graham Thomas and Jules Graveraux - with the knowledge they had in their time of the roses. Subsequent research and later discoveries around the world which were not available to them give us a problem - do we replace their rose with the newer contender? That's a question for curators, but they would have to be very sure. These gardens, as opposed to botanical collections, are also maintaining a philosophy of gardening - the arts of displaying the rose. I know in GST's case that this was primary, and his intention was to preserve the best roses of each class for garden use, rather than collect every rose. Perhaps, like HMF, the gardens should be seen for what they are - 'warts and all', and we should accept that there are questions behind a great number of the Old Roses. I find that is part of the charm and intrigue. One thing that is most instructive is to read back through Rose Annuals to the beginning of the last century and find exactly the same questions and opinions being expressed generation after generation! Best wishes Jon

Actually Pembroke, If you go to your webpage on HMF, the link to the page should appear in your location bar. Copy and paste that link to your gardenweb rose forum thread here, where it says: "Optional LINK URL:" Then, the next bar down, says "Name of the link:" Type whatever you wish in that bar that applies to your link. Hope this helps.