Marg, you will love BEAUTIFUL EDGINGS. I just planted her last spring (2 or 3 fans) and this year she has 7 fans and put up 5 scapes. The flowers this year are much larger than last year. I truly love this flower. Rita, do you grow SANTAS LITTLE HELPER? I think you would love it. It's supposed to frequentlly have proliferations, but so far I havent' detected any. I would love to proliferate this daylily around my yard, and the way it increases this looks like a sure thing. The color is riveting. Kay, CIMARRON ROSE makes a real statement. Today was cloudy and the large deep rose blooms were beautiful all day. Debra, yes they're all opening now, we've have a few days of 'normal' June weather which may be helping. Thank you all for commenting. Christine

* Posted by lynxe z6B/PA (My Page) on Wed, Dec 12, 07 at 11:21 "Most people don't like Tall and Small, they want a plant that is tailored." Seriously, they have role in the garden IMO, holding up their part of the backs of borders. To my eyes, the small flowers on their tall scapes are charming and graceful. They are not dramatic, and you won't go running across a lawn yelling, "Wow! What's THAT blooming over there!" If you're a hybridizer looking to produce 10" spiders or something like that, they won't be your cup of tea. But they are pretty, and they can add a different look to a daylily collection. +++ Dear Lynxe, Great comments you made above! I meant to comment when you posted, but the last 2 days have been horridly hectic. I am one of those hybridizers breeding for the 10 inch spider/UFs, but I do love and appreciate the tall and small daylilies. Afterall, tall and small is how natural selection designed tall daylilies! H. altissima and H vespertina (a form of altissima) are the two tallest daylily species, and they have small (maybe 3 to 3.5 inch) "tailored"? blossoms on well branched scapes. They look perfectly natural and in balance to me. Although some people freak out if a small flower is on a tall scape, it looks natural to me, untold eons of natural selection can't be "wrong". :-) One very interesting thing about H. altissima's scapes and one reason why have not used it directly in my tall lines (though it is behind some of Stout's plants that I used, like 'Challenger')is this: if you follow the scape of H altissima down into the clump and pull it out (after it has dried in the fall) you will see that it narrows down to a flat segment like a piece of strapping tape. And, after the seedpods mature that scape will rotate on this natural hinge and the seeds will scatter 60 inches from the parent clump. This is a perfectly adapted reproductive strategy to scatter the seeds far from the parent clump. However, that hinged scape will give those of us fits who are trying to put huge flowers on it (not the 3 inch ones it was "designed" for). The base of an H. citrina scape has a triangular shape. This is a stable, upright form. Also, H citrina's flowers are quite a bit larger than H altissima. In my breeding program citrina has given larger flowers, and sturdier scapes than H altissima, and that is why I have used citrina so extensively. As I mentioned above, H altissima is behind some of the Stout cultivars I used as foundation stock: 'Challenger', 'Autumn Minaret', 'Statuesque'etc. Stout had already selected against the willowy and hinged scape traits, so they did not bother me. Can you explain the adjective "tailored" to me? I have always read that, and it never really made sense to me. Does it mean without a lot of extraneous ruffles etc.? Clean lines? For those of you who like the tall and small look, and like fragrant, nocturnals please look into H. citrina vespertina. This is a lovely, lovely plant blooms very similar to H altissima, but the height is maybe 30-36 inches, however it is amazingly branched and budded, the scapes are beautifully upright and delicate and have a very "twiggy" look. This plant is radically fertile (pollinate at dusk), fragrant and has given good seedlings. best to all, Brian

T.fortunei cv Tesan do really exist in China and it is a new variety that has been introduced recently into the market by us.Based on our abudant years of experience with T.fortunei and some other palms in China, there are several kinds of trachycarpus varieties native to China such as the already known ones T.fortunei, T.princeps, T.nanus, but only those with knowledge about palms can tell it . Tesan is one of them with short petiol and better cold hardiness . Normally, when we talk about T.fortunei in China, we refer to the most common one that are commonly seen with thin trunk and long petiols. While Tesan has short petiol and good trunk, we can tell the difference from their thicker and sufficient hair and trunk. It has nothing to do with the growing condition because these two varieties are different from each other and apparent to tell . Though fortunei can be found in the good fertile condition or in the same place with Tesan in China, still they are not as strong as the latter. In addition, I would like to share another T.fortunei variety from China whose leave segment form a full 100% round shape as compared to the 1/2 or 3/4 round,it is more elegant than its counterparts. Here is a link that might be useful: full segmented trachcyarpus variety

noticed in a few places mention of a tomato called costoluto catanese an obviosly sicilian heirloom supposedly dating back to the 1600's. **** I hadn't heard of it until I googled it and found that Redwood Seeds in CA was offering it and it isn't the 1600 hundreds it's the 16th century which means the 1500's. Doubting Carolyn wonders about that b'c in the 16th century tomatoes didn't have names like that at all. Since the word costoluto simply means ribbed a ribbed one from Sicily seems reasonable just as Costoluto Genovese is from Genoa and Costoluto Fiorentino is from Florence. Both pretty much the same as I've grown them. Flat (oblate) ribbed red fruits. Carolyn