Hi, Rosefan, and welcome to the forum! Sounds like you've got the bug, lol! Don't worry, we all do. For your yellow one, you can cut out dead wood at any time. So just take out any black canes. Otherwise just keep it weeded, watered and fertilized and just dead head the spent blooms just below the hips. That will give it a chance to grow out where it wants to and you'll get a better Idea of how it grows naturally. Tess is a beauty! If you wish to you can spray for the rust but I can't suggest anything because I don't know what would be available in Ireland. Ask at a nursery for a good fungicide that works for rust. As for not blooming I'm not sure. Lack of sun will slow down rebloom. Is it putting on ANY new growth at all? Maybe since it's very new it's concentrating on the root ball? Rambling Rector is a BIG one so I hope you gave it lots of room. Sorry about your little one's disappointment. It's not uncommon for the cheapie bagged roses to be mislabeled. You can move it to another spot and replace it with a good healthy Zephy in the same spot. There does seem to be a bigger problem with replant syndrome in Europe than there is here in the States but since you just planted that other one so recently I don't think it would be any problem. I would check with some good local nurseries or online to find a Zephy you can trust to be the correct rose. Standards will depend on your winters. Because the grafts are at the top of a tall trunk, and the graft is the part that needs winter protection, you may not be able to winter them there in the ground successfully. Not knowing anything about how bad your winters are I couldn't say for sure. To do some kind of pillars you would need structures for them to grow on. That could be quite pretty though. I hope I answered some of your questions but, please, don't hesitate to ask more!

Ferguson's Fragrant Nursery is in St. Paul, Southwest of Portland Heirloom Old Garden Roses is also in St. Paul. They both have display gardens. Nice to visit even if you don't buy anything. Schreiner's Iris Gardens are in full bloom, they are North of Keizer, South of Portland right off I5. They have a nice display garden with many perennials mixed with the Iris. Portland Nursery, two locations in SE Portland is a very large general garden center, as is Al's which is in Sherwood. I like Shorty's Garden Center on Mill Plain in Vancouver.

""One is greenhouse growing specialty tender plants like poinsetta." Not true. There is precious little money in a poinsettia crop" I know, I was surprised to learn they were doing this too. They must have found a higher paying market for them- maybe interior landscaping? I don't know more details, just that they are keeping that part of the business but looking to sell the retail store. They are growing other crops as well though, again, I don't have all the details. I dont' agree with the same comment about lily market, at least not daylily. The data I've seen is that there are perhaps 5 companies that are in the $10-20M annual revenue and literally hundreds below that. There are also quite a number in the $1-5M range. The majority are 58k varieties registered to date) for collectors and hobbyists. New intros are in the $100-400 range per single fan. Then the prices drop year by year until they range from $20-$4 for 2 fans on older cultivars that are still highly collected. Also, I agree that quality is a big concern and this limits the types of plants that are doing well. They tend to be sturdy plants that either go dormant or that are strong enough to tolerate digging, root cleaning, shipping well. There are state regulations on shipping that impact how they must be packaged and treated. Similar situation with Iris and Hosta. "I think this is a very important aspect of staying solvent and profitable in this industry. You have to really, really know your production costs and plot them against the returns. You cannot be all things to all people, and you need to define where your market with the highest return lays and not be sentimental about what isn't paying its way." Absolutely, I could not agree more! And you are correct, owning land is a major factor. In fact it also is a major barrier to those companies who are trying to sell their business because their land value is so high that they have a huge asking price for the business and it's tough to find buyers in that high range for a business that isn't turning enough profit to cover huge property loans. nwnatural, There are several Iris growers in my area which started me looking at this type of business. They aren't often "dig your own" as much as buyer walks the display bed and chooses what they want, then the owners or their workers dig the order from the increase beds. In the case of iris the order is usually held then dug & shipped in the fall once the plants have gone dormant. I've done a lot of internet research into what the companies are offering. I also use the ResearchUSA small business database available through my local library. That database allows you to search privately held companies by name, location, SIC codes and will give ballpark revenue along with some other details of the business. It's hard to tell how current the data is and there are many more companies in existence that have not made it into the database but it's a good place to get rough idea of a market and target business. I've added to that some interviews with insiders. Much more research to do before I would jump in though.

I have a 2 1/2 year-old son and we also struggle with working in the yard at times. IT is better this year here are some things I have done... Let them water your containers or play with water. Drexler now tells me the flowers are crying because they are thirsty. I then give him the hose and let him have at it...last night he was right. One of my pansies was thirsty! Get excited about things. Right now EVERY DAY when I get home from work my son asks to go pick the strawberries. We go out and usually a new one is ripe (can't wait a few more weeks). He is still working on not picking the green ones, but he'll learn. Teach them what is yummy. Last year we planted carrots in a container and he would go out and pick a carrot out, wipe it off and eat it. Clean soil, no chemicals and hey he was eating carrots. Teach them to love flowers. How does it smell? How does it taste. Have them help you pick out what ones to pick. Drexler and I will do this together, go into the house and put them in vases and then talk about how pretty they are. I have a small vase by my bed that he empties out every day and replaces the water in...and then the flowers. A bit of a pain, but he is learning to appreciate my yard. Don't freak when they step on a plant, but do teach them to be nice to your plants. I have a large yard and Drex has hurt some of my plants, but we talk about how to treat them. Teach them to watch for bugs and to be interested in them. Ants can keep a kid busy for at least fifteen minutes. Tell yourself you will most likely not get a lot accomplished with your helpers so when you do accomplish something it feels good. Make them an area that is all theirs.