hi @strawchicago z5, thanks a lot for your detailed response and explanation about sand.

( I will move your answer into a summary for the new thread, but for some follow up questions. can i ask it here?)

For own root post first-bloom in pots, if i use the following route, do i still use sulfate of potash & gypsum when i water the roses? do i need any mulch/top in the pots?

Soil - mix 1 cup of Tomato-Tone per 2 gallon of potting soil

Fertilize - MG Nature's Care Natural Soluble Plant Food NPK 10-6-3 (use if no thrips problem, otherwise use blood meanl NPK 12-0-0) Question here - do i need to switch to a different fertilizer without Nitrogen after spring?

For roses grafted on Dr.Huey in pots, if gypsum is not needed, would you still recommend water with sulfate of potash? what about fertilizer?

Claire Li: I did red cabbage test to test the soil pH of my MOST VIGOROUS 15 year old rose (grafted on Dr.Huey), versus other wimpy roses. I'm waiting for the result (need at least a few hours soak) to read the pH correctly.

Mulch on top of pots helps with less watering. More watering = more nutrients leach out.

Pots leach out nitrogen constantly regardless of spring, summer, or fall. For pots, a SLOW-RELEASED nitrogen like Nature's Care NPK 10-6-3 is best.

But if a rose gets too tall or stingy in a pot, then switch to SOLUBLE Master Blend NPK 4-18-38 and super high in trace-elements to force blooming. Masterblend is sold on Amazon and at Walmart.

If your soil is NOT rock-hard dense, then no need for gypsum with Dr.Huey-rootstock. But if your clay clumps up (the size of grapefruit), then gypsum helps to make clay fluffier, so Dr.Huey'-roostock can branch out. Roses on Dr.Huey are prone to mildew, so high-potassium fertilizer helps.

For high-rain PNW and with Dr.Huey-rootstock, a rose-nursery owner Frank Gatto recommends 1/2 cup chemical fertilizer NPK 10-10-10, plus 1/2 cup organic-fertilizer every 3 weeks. With less-rain CA, I would skip the 1/2 cup chemical fertilizer .. that will burn roses in hot & dry ... but 1/2 cup organic fertilizer (like Tomato-Tone NPK 3-4-6) every 3 weeks is OK with less burning. Dr.Huey can take more organic fertilizer than tiny own-roots.

With tiny own-roots, SOLUBLE fertilizer like MG-nature's care, or MasterBlend is best. I burnt tiny own-roots with chicken manure NPK 2-4-3 despite tons of rain and cooler weather.

Slow released Osmocote PLUS NPK 15-7-12 is cheap and induces blooms fast even for tiny rootings thanks to its trace-elements. Slow-released Osmocote doesn't burn like chicken-manure.

Everyone: you are welcomed in the next discussion below & continuation of this thread.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6212123/your-new-year-goals-health-news-and-recipes#n=8

Straw - I don't scrimp on the cheese...but I do in the milk...I use skim milk with about 1 tbsp of cream. That's got to be lighter than whole milk??? :) :)

Carol: Glad to hear from you, how are your daughters doing? They are both smart in their own ways (medicine vs. art). Agree that skim milk plus 1 TBS of cream is lighter than whole milk. I made quiche with half-half cream and it was TOO RICH, I prefer quiche with 1/2 cup of chopped tomatoes instead of cream to cut through the fatty crust.

My daughter hates the quiche I made, but husband likes it. Instead of spinach, I use collard greens in quiche for more fiber. Thank God my teenager daughter likes pizza. Recently we switched from frozen Digiorno pizza to Brew Pub pizza (well-known in the Midwest). Brew Pub pizza is much lower in salt with softer crust.

I don't feel guilty having frozen pizza twice a week if eaten with a huge RAW salad. Sometimes I bake kale for 5 min. at 350 F to add more fiber to pizza. I stayed away from cookies & sweet this Christmas and keep my weight at steady 116 lb., which is way better than last Christmas 2020 at 122 lb. Can't wait until I get a new crown for my molar, that way I can munch on RAW carrots.

I hate to admit this, but it was homegrown bell pepper that broke the filling off my molar, resulting in root-canal & need for a crown and post. That bell pepper was super firm and crunchy, thanks to my mixing in 4 cups of pelletized lime with a bag of compost, soil was dense & very alkaline resulting in FIRM peppers. Roses in alkaline & hard clay soil also have hard stems & thick leaves which are resistant to fungal infection and pests.

Previous years of using acidic gypsum and high-organic fluffy soil resulted in mushy peppers with black-blossom-end rot .. I got more bell peppers back then, but poor quality. Below are the SUPER-CRUNCHY bell peppers that broke the filling from my molar, pic. taken when plants were babies:

Straw - my kids are doing well! Holly is still here, but Kedra has gone home to Saskatoon. We had so much fun together! :) :) Our favorite game to play together is Pictionary...I laugh until I'm coughing uncontrollably. LOL

Really? You damaged your tooth on a pepper?? That is really strange. Now I imagine you must be nervous biting into anything if a pepper can do that. Dang. Yes, I hope you get your crown soon.

Pictionary is a fun game .. I used to play with my daughter & her friends in grade school.

Homegrown pepper with pelletized lime & compost is ROCK-HARD, and my tomatoes are much firmer with pelletized lime (pH 9) in the planting hole to offset acidic grass clippings.

I got down to 115.5 lb. today Dec. 30 thanks to taking more time to eat .. I copy cat my slender daughter who takes at least 1 hr. to eat her dinner. She's 19, and I'm 60 so I really need to eat slower.

It's about moderation: I squeeze a few TBS of sweet orange juice to tame the tartness of lemon juice, so I can take in more vitamin C. I put 1/2 TBS of brown sugar in my fresh tomato soup with veggies to tame the tartness. I allow myself 1 inch. square of high-fiber & low sugar brownie, but takes at least 15 min. to enjoy that treat.

With inflation food prices are outrageous, and the best way to lose weight is to take in less food, but twice more time to enjoy food. I see sugar and salt as "spices" to enhance healthy foods, rather than eating a block of salt or a gob of sugar.

I'm more strict on salt than sugar: 1/4 teaspoon of salt is enough to UP blood-pressure, and if I UP my salt intake by 1/4 teaspoon, it takes me 1 week to lose that weight. With sugar, even if I allow myself 1 TBS of sugar per day, it's only 49 calories, versus 119 calories per 1 TBS of oil.

1 TBS of sugar is good to offset the acidity of vinegar salad-dressing or freshly-squeezed lemon juice. Here's the recipe for low-sugar & high-fiber brownie, I eat 1 inch. square per day and still at 115.5 lb. today.

HI-PROTEN & HI-FIBER & LOW-SUGAR BROWNIE

In a HUGE plastic bowl, mix by hand the below:

One box of Duncan Hines Milk Chocolate Brownie (this box has lowest salt), 99 cents box

1 1/2 cup of quick-oatmeal (grind in a coffee-grinder if you want fluffy brownie)

1 cup of Bob's Mill golden flax meal

1 cup of buckwheat flour (for high magnesium & fiber)

1 1/2 cup of ground coconut (use coffee grinder to grind, I use the no preservative & no sugar coconut flake from Walmart)

2 1/2 cups of crushed & RAW walnuts

3 teaspoons of baking powder

1 bag of Toll House Dark chocolate chips (lowest sugar)

1 cup of Hershey Cocoa powder (special dark). A must for flavor

In a KitchenAid big mixer-bowl, beat 9 eggs plus 1 TBS vanilla, add 1 large carton of full-fat sour cream (2 1/2 cups), I use Daisy brand of sour cream since it has zero preservative. Plus 1 cup of flax milk. Plus 1 stick of melted butter (I melt it on low heat on the stove for 1 min), then add 1/3 cup of light-olive oil. IT'S IMPORTANT TO MIX THE DRY INGREDIENTS INTO LIQUID by hand first, since the high-speed mixer beat too fast and scatters the dry ingredients to the floor. The batter should drip slowly, add more milk if it can't drip.

The above makes 3 large 9" round pan (I use silicon baking pan). I bake in 350 for 45 min or less if batter is thicker. If a knife inserted 2 inch. away from the edge comes out clean & dry, then it's done.

No need to add sugar to balance the bitterness of 1 cup cocoa powder, since the dark-chocolate-chips are already sweet. Milk is also sweet so it balances out the sourness of sour-cream.

Sounds like a great recipe, Straw! Thanks for typing it all out. :)

Really? A pepper that is rock hard. I had no idea. Ouch!

Carol: the above brownie recipe lasts 1 month for 3 people (I cut into tiny squares and freeze them). Since I allow myself 1 TBS of sugar per day, I'm NOT crazy about sweets. It's deprivation that cause excess. But if I allow myself a tiny amount of spices (sugar, salt, etc) I don't go bonkers when deprived. During pear season I was too busy eating 10+ sweet pears from my 2 pear trees so I didn't care about brownie.

Now winter fruits are sour, so I need 1 tiny square of barely sweet brownie per day, so far no weight gain, still at 115.5 lb. at 60 year-old The brownie recipe above is on the same rank of sweetness as store-bought whole-wheat bread.

Most whole-wheat bread is too sweet for me, so I eat Ezekiel bread with sprouted grains & zero added sugar.

Oh, I love pears!! I wish I could have a pear tree (skip the partridge, though LOL).

Carol: I love pears too ... Red Anjou pear is better tasting than the green Anjou. Just saw the tips in Google News that people who lost weight swore by: 1) more veggies & fruits 2) Moderation 3) enough sleep 4) make it a lifestyle rather than than a goal. 5) enough protein 6) keep moving.

I agree on moderation, if I tell myself I can't have sugar, then I want it more. But if I tell myself, "I'm allowed 1 TBS of sugar, 49 calories per day." then I'm NOT thrilled about sugar. I don't want to add 1 TBS of stickiness on my belly, so I postpone that allotment.

I agree with keep moving rather than strenuous exercise. My 69-year old neighbor lost 150 lbs. to become slender through ZERO EXERCISE .. but he spends lots of time preparing veggies and weighing his foods on a scale.

I see losing weight as a life style rather than a goal .. it's a life-long style of restraining the portion-size of food to restrain one's size. Also a life style of chewing tons of RAW veggies and fruits. My Mom lost all her teeth in her old age, but she managed to be under 105 lb. by using a hand-grater to grate apples into bits to chew on with her gum (she rarely wore her dentures). She lived to 93 year-old.

I agree with more protein, my 69-year-old neighbor lost weight with 3 eggs for breakfast, plus high-fiber oatmeal. He had meat for lunch & big steak for dinner but ate tons of RAW veggies with that. He spent more time preparing food and chewing foods than when he was 150 lb. heavier. Same here, I spend more time preparing foods and chewing foods at normal weight than when I was overweight with eating fast food and drinking juice rather than chewing on apples.

The keep moving part of the equation has been difficult for me. We even have a huge weight system set up in the basement...but when I use it, I get a migraine or vertigo. But I just bought an exercise DVD for older people...lots of movement, but not too strenuous. My legs are finally good enough to start walking again too. I hear you about the raw veggies/fruits. I need to step up on that.

Happy to hear that your legs are OK and you are back to walking. Walking is the best exercise .. there's a 80 year-old neighbor with 2 hip surgeries and she walked 2 to 3 miles per day with her tiny dog. She's very slender and looks like a teenager from a distance. I actually do more exercise when I go slow on my treadmill (less injuries that way).

My goal this year is to maintain my eyesight, since I love to read books, esp. the Bible. The trick of allowing myself 1 TBS of sugar per day actually works to eat less sugar. If I can have it, then I don't want it !! I'm too busy getting nutrients for my eyes (greens and Omega-3) that I have no room for junk food. At 60, I'm more concerned about getting nutrients to prevent old-age ailments, rather than appeasing my taste buds.

The right nutrients are more powerful than any exercise. Take my next door neighbor who lost 150 lb. at 69-year-old with ZERO EXERCISE (due to bad knees), but with perfect diet: he brought his cholesterol down to 180 plus low triglycerides. In contrast, my 63-year-old skinny husband has high cholesterol and triglycerides. Husband runs 6 miles per day plus 11 miles on Sat. Husband eats for his taste-buds: daily ice-cream, pop, cookies, processed and fast foods, and not much veggies nor fruits.

My 70-year-old sister alerted me recently that she has macular pucker: macular pucker is the result of an injury or a medical condition, such as diabetes, that affects the eye. Epiretinal membranes can sometimes form after eye surgery, including cataract surgery.

Info. from below link: "The American Society of Retina Specialists reports that 2% of adults aged 50 and over show signs of macular pucker. Approximately 20% of adults aged 75 and older show signs of Macular pucker:

• The ability to see fine details when one is looking directly at an object, no matter how close or far away it is, starts to decline.
• Vision changes so that straight lines look wavy or broken.

When these symptoms are caused by macular pucker, they will sometimes affect both eyes, but are usually worse in one eye."

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/14207-macular-pucker

Well, it's too cold now to walk, and I dropped out of the YMCA because OMICRON is too contagious. Waiting for the weather to change. Next week the weather will be MUCH better. We've been having weather warnings due to cold.

Something I got my husband for Christmas is a ping pong net that clamps onto tables/counters, etc. We've been playing ping pong almost every day on our island...it's so much fun. After 30 minutes I'm tired, yet it doesn't hurt my Achilles.

Ping pong is a fantastic & very active game. Used to have a ping-pong table down the basement decades ago. We have upstairs (2nd floor) as well as downstairs (basement) .. I climb the stairways at least 8 times per day .. my large freezer is down the basement, and the bedrooms are upstairs.

The basement is where all our exercise machines: bowflex (for weight-lifting), a treadmill and an elliptical machine. I like my elliptical the most, it's more like a gentle stretching exercise for the entire body, rather than constant pounding on the feet like treadmill.

Even when husband had a running injury, he still can use the elliptical machine with zero problems. I set up the bowflex machine so it's like a cross between rowing and weight-lifting for the winter.

I was at 122 lb. on last Jan 2020. This Jan, 2021, I lost weight down to 115.5, despite broken molar & root-canal & waiting for a crown. Since I can't chew on tough RAW veggies like before, I make Kimchi (pickled veggies).

It takes less than 10 min. to make pickled radish to soften it (I can't chew on RAW crunchy radish): Chop radishes into pieces, use 3/4 teas. salt per 1 cup of water. Immerse radish in salt-water in a glass jar. Fill a plastic sandwich bag with salt-water, zip-loc it, then push this bag on top to make sure veggies are immersed completely below water. Seal the top. It takes 1 week for veggies to become sour. Fermentation UP vitamins in veggies, esp. vitamin C.

An excerpt from below link:

"Twenty-two overweight and obese patients with body mass indexes greater than 25 kg/m(2) were randomly assigned to two 4-week diet phases. During each diet phase, the subjects consumed either fresh or fermented kimchi. Data showed significant decreases in body weight, body mass index, and body fat in both groups, and the fermented kimchi group showed a significant decrease in the waist-hip ratio and fasting blood glucose."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21745625/

Above pic. is from below link on how to make kimchi:

https://solerany.com/how-long-to-ferment-kimchi-at-room-temperature.html

Straw - I bought an elliptical a few years ago...couldn't use it, got dizzy. Darn. I got my workout for seniors videotape today...going to try it tomorrow as it's still too cold for a walk. With wind chill -33C/-27F...not as bad as yesterday -40C/-40F with windchill. Yes, walking up and down the stairs...that sounds like a lot of exercise. :) :) I would like to try a rowing machine...but I know that would give me a migraine. Wish me luck with my exercising...warm weather is just a few days away, and I don't want to wreck myself. :)

I made turkey vegetable soup today (bones from Christmas turkey carcass). Really satisfying for the taste buds...don't need anything sugary or fattening to go with it.

My most favorite exercise machine: an exercise bike, less than $300. But we are out of space in the basement. That won't give anyone vertigo since the entire upper body is stable.

My neighbor and her daughter (a nurse) reported ringing in their ears after flu-shot. I should had listened to them. Several people report ringing in their ears and Meniere’s disease with COVID booster shots.

My daughter had life-long vertigo problem, like dropping out of gymnastic at 3-year old since she got so dizzy doing roll-over. She had a flu-shot at 1-year-old and that messed up her ears. My ears were messed up badly with 2015 flu-shot with onset of horrible vertigo. Now I have to rinse my ears monthly with 1/2 vinegar & 1/2 alcohol to prevent vertigo. I still have partial hearing-loss on my left ear after it bled with flu-shot.

The best thing I did for daughter was to buy her a $40 large bottle with spray-nozzle to rinse her ears (similar to what the doc used). Amazon sells it as "ear irrigation spray bottle". It works wonder to remove ear-wax.

I rinsed her ears prior to her going on a school's field trip with roller-coaster rides. She went up those rides WITHOUT being dizzy. Ear-wax accumulation, esp. from calcium deposit from our hard-well water, or accumulated flu viruses, can lead to vertigo.

The doc's office used below Bionix ear-irrigation kit (sold on Amazon) to rinse my daughter's ear after her ears bled from flu-shot reaction. My husband's ears were also affected with flu-shot, he had to go to an ENT doc. to get his ear-wax removed in 2016.

Do you mean rubbing alcohol? It certainly is worth a try...now that you've shown me the tools to use. So you turn your head to the side...squirt the solution in...do you wait a while before you straighten your head? And do you wipe it out...??

I got dizzy after 30 minutes of watching the t.v. screen and doing the exercises. I'm going to try again today. Thank goodness I have the betahistine pills.

I use 1/2 rubbing alcohol (70% alcohol) with 1/2 vinegar as Mayor Medical Clinic recommends for Swimmer's ear infection. The acidic vinegar is to dissolve calcium deposit in my ear from high pH tap-water (pH 9), and the alcohol is to kill germs and to evaporate quickly. I use an ear medicine dropper like below (sold for $5 on Amazon), I put in 4 to 5 times until my ear is filled while lying down on my side. Wait for 5 min., then sit up to tilt my head to flush it out. I use a paper towel to soak up the excess liquid:

Since my daughter had a perpetual bleeding left ear, she's sensitive to alcohol/vinegar, so I bought the Hear Earwax Removal Kit from Equadose. It's for ear Cleaning and Irrigation. I skip the wax application, and simply use 1/4 very warm water plus 3/4 hydrogen peroxide (fill the bottle by 1/2) to rinse my daughter's ears. Below earwax removal kit works better than the Bionix' rinse at doc.'s office. I spent 4 hrs. shopping on Amazon for the right ear-rinse kit for my daughter and it's worth it. Those who wear ear-buds to listen to music tend to have more wax accumulation.

I just found a bottle of hydrogen peroxide....so I can use that. How often should I do it? Once a year? Once a month?

Okay...I bought it...$80...hope it works. :) :) Thanks, Straw!

I hope you bought the Hear Earwax Removal Kit from Equadose rather than the Bionix ear irrigation kit. The Equadose has a flexible hose to angle the flow better into the ears, plus one can use a scissor to cut the plastic tip that insert into the ear, for safety and comfort.

Daughter has a tiny ear canal, thus no need to cut the tip off. I have a larger ear canal, so cutting off the top of the tip makes it less sharp & safer to insert.

It took the doc's office 15 min. to rinse my daughter's ears with Bionix-kit, versus it took me only 5 min. to rinse my daughter's ears with Equadose-kit. I bought the Equadose-kit in 2016 and use it MONTHLY to rinse daughter's ears, she has monthly wax-build up from using earbuds (from her iphone) to listen to music.

A well-known tip is to rinse ears with hydrogen peroxide to prevent virus from building up in the ear-canal, and progressing to infecting the lung. It takes 2 people to rinse ears. My daughter holds the tip that inserts into her ears, and I do the spraying plus holding the basin that catches the rinse-off water. We put a towel over her shoulder to prevent water from dripping on her shirt. After the rinse we disinfect the tip that insert into the ears by soaking in hydrogen peroxide or 70% rubbing alcohol for 5 min (both kill COVID virus).

A friend's wife got Delta, and the doc. gave her a Z-pak (azithromycin or Zithromax). The problem with rinsing sinus with COVID is detailed by Henry Ford Health system: "But with the rise of the novel coronavirus, sinus rinsing might come with an increased risk: sinus irrigation devices like neti pots and squeeze bottles have surfaces that can harbor active COVID-19 droplets for hours, potentially increasing the spread of the virus.
Because of this potential risk, some people might want to stop rinsing for the time being. If you’re someone who rinses your sinuses just because it feels good, consider holding off for now because we do not know the true risk of sinus rinsing spreading this virus,” says Dr. Craig. “But if you have sinusitis or other sinus disease, and you will feel absolutely miserable without rinsing, it is possible to disinfect your sinus-rinse device to minimize the risk of contamination."

https://www.henryford.com/blog/2020/03/should-you-rinse-your-sinuses-during-covid

Yup, I bought the Equadose kit. Expensive...but if it helps with my vertigo...worth it! :) :) If it doesn't help...it was worth the try. :) Thanks for the tips on how to best use it. :)

The Bionix is twice more expensive than Equadose. I bought 2 other cheap ear-squirts and that didn't work, so I spent 4 hrs. researching before I bought the Equadose in 2016, and it works great ever since. After using, I always let the kit dry in the sun (sunlight zaps out germs and mold inside the tube). My tap water is so alkaline at pH 9 that I never see fungus growing in stored bottles in the basement. Plus hydrogen peroxide kills all germs, including mold/fungus so the kit is always clean.

People who wear hearing aid or ear-buds to listen to music tend to have more wax accumulated in ears. The first time I rinsed daughter's ears, there was lots of wax & dried blood coming out, and she could hear much better after each ear rinse !!

After a few times rinsing with hydrogen peroxide (NO dilution with warm water), daughter's left ear stopped bleeding. UNDILUTED Hydrogen peroxide kills any residual germs. Back in 9th grade, the doc. gave antibiotics-ear-drop for the left ear, plus doc's office rinsed her ears with 1/2 warm water and 1/2 hydrogen peroxide.. that DID NOT STOP her left ear from bleeding after viral infection.

The wax solution in the package is meant for people with very compact & hardened ear wax. My husband used that wax-drop and it didn't work, so I never use on daughter.

I pump the solution up the flex-tube BEFORE screwing on any attachments .. that's priming the pump.

There are 2 attachments that screw on to the kit. The pointy tip that inserts into ears need to be screwed on TIGHT to the flex-tube. But where the flex-tube is attached to the bottle, that needs to be LOOSELY screwed on to allow a tiny bit of air, to maximize water flow.

Great advice! :) :)

So, I should/shouldn't dilute the hydrogen peroxide? I really hope this works. Most of my dizziness is gone...but there's some left.

I watered my garage roses today...1/2 cup for each rose. First time I've watered them since they went in the garage. Now it'll be 1/2 cup/month until they go out in April/May. :)

Strawchicago...the Kimchi looks fantastic! Might just have to give that a try...I developed an allergy to radish what else could I use?

Carol....looking forward to seeing your roses in spring and praying for you dizziness to go!

Ann - thanks!! I'm dizzy from my walk yesterday. Gotta go take a betahistine pill. With the crazy wind we have...makes me think that Straw may be right about inner ear problems with wax buildup. I'm praying for you too!!

Carol: Virus, be it from flu shot or COVID, activates clotting of blood and thickening of earwax, leading to dizziness. Several people report bleeding of ears, dizziness and vomiting with COVID virus .. similar to what I went through with my 2015 flu shot reaction.

There's a medical doc. in Colorado who did a video on exercises to dislodge the calcium deposit in ears that cause dizziness. Those exercises cannot get rid of the problem for good. Rinsing ears with undiluted hydrogen peroxide flush out calcium deposits plus killing any virus hatching inside ears.

Last night I used a hand brush (with hard plastic bristle) to scrub off the hard mineral deposits on my shower head. I got 1 Tablespoon of hard chunks of calcium deposits. I never have problems with dizziness with my hard well water for 15 years, until I got my 2015 flu shot.

After that every time I get water in my ears (from showering), I have to rinse ears with a $5 medicine dropper using 1/2 alcohol and 1/2 vinegar. This method doesn't work for my daughter .. she has 10 times more earwax formed. So I have to rinse her ears with hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle.

Ann: red cabbage has more vitamin C and antioxidants than radish. Fermented red cabbage has 12 times more vitamin C than regular red cabbage. Below is my pickled red cabbage, using 3/4 teas. sea-salt mixed with 1 cup of water. For a large jar, I jam veggies tight, then pour in 6 cups of salt water. Last is putting 3/4 cup of salt water inside a plastic sandwich bag, zip that tight. I put this plastic bag (filled with water) on top to submerge all veggies under salt-water completely. Then put the cap on. If the veggies are not covered with water, then the entire batch is ruined from icky mold formed on top. Veggies have to be submerged completely under salt-water with a stone above, or heavy bag of salted water.

Wow, those are harsh symptoms! I know you went through a LOT with your flu vaccination.

Strawchicago...yes that is about what I did and well all really enjoyed the saurkraut. I even put garlic or herbs or spices to give it a change.

Actually, I forgot about the Columbian curtido (similar to saurkraut) which has cabbage, carrots, onion and oregano, which we liked even better...that has been a long time since we made that. Youngest used to eat bowl after bowl of it. Costco in CA had Columbian papusas and curtido goes on them. Oldest was asking why we never had them any more, so I got the masa and we made them...corn masa surrounding cheese and peppers or beans or meat, then cooked on a hot pan. All the gluten free stuff we ate made us explore food from other countries.

Right now my sweet husband is having high blood pressure and we are trying to figure out why along with trying to control it with diet. We think the high blood pressure could be long covid stuff, but whatever it is from we need to bring it down. Any diet suggestions for bringing down blood pressure besides low salt, low sugar?

Oh dear! I have no suggestions...but Straw and others will. :) Good luck!

Fermented veggies (if made low-salt at 1/2 teas. sea-salt per 1 cup of water) can lower blood pressure. So does hibiscus tea:

"Before the start of the study, blood pressure was measured twice, one week apart, and at weekly intervals thereafter.

The findings show that the volunteers who drank hibiscus tea had a 7.2-point drop in their systolic blood pressure, compared to a 1.3-point drop in the volunteers who drank the placebo beverage."

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1551468/High-blood-pressure-drink-hibiscus-tea-lower-reading

I like the above website on health news. Other noteworthy news are: rice bran to lower blood sugar and pomegranate juice to lower blood sugar for diabetes.

Well, we found out adding lots more greens and the Vitamin D (he was super low) and it brought his blood pressure down 30 points and is keeping it down.

That's great that his bp went down by 30 points!! :)

Ann: which instrument does your husband use to measure his blood pressure at home? Husband bought one from Amazon which doesn't work. Mine were always measured at doc's office, but husband wants to check his higher-blood pressure at home.

I got mine from Costco.

Hi @strawchicago z5

I was just reading your post from a few months ago on the "what are you ordering for next year" thread. Since you mentioned your order for this year here in this thread's opening post I was curious which ones you ended up getting!

Seaside: Since Brendan gave me a $50 gift certificate from Roses Unlimited, I ordered 6 fragrant roses as own-roots: Liebeszauber, Firefighter (died 3 times in my zone 5), Buxom Beauty, Yolanda d' Aargon, Summer Sun (Kordes orange), Elle (Meilland hybrid tea).

From LongAgoRoses, I'll place an order this spring of: Wise Portia (died twice), Prairie Breeze (Buck hardy rose), Augusta Luis, and either Cloudert Soupert (died twice) or Flamenco Rosita (Kordes low-thorn) or South Africa. Would love any info. on any roses in my list.

What are you buying for this year? Thanks.

Straw - you grow roses so very well; I can't wait to see how Buxom Beauty does for you!

Oh those sound wonderful Straw!

I have never grown any of those, and had never heard of some of them so I have been looking them up on HMF just now. I don't have any reds in my garden, but if I ever add one, Firefighter would be it. What a fabulous sounding list!

You mention that some of these have died multiple times for you. I personally can't imagine buying a rose again if it keeps dying in my garden, but I guess there must be something amazing about them that makes you want to persevere with those! I hope this time around they will survive!

I am extremely excited to have finally found a seller today for Autumn Damask. It was the first rose I ordered in the fall and n°1 on my wishlist, but the original seller ended up not having it and it was sold out everywhere, so I am super happy to have found an alternative! I don't expect much from AD, I hear so much negative about ugly growth habit and poor rebloom, but wanted to have her for the history... And the legendary fragrance of course, I just have to smell it even once! Have you grown AD?

Ahhhh....a fragrance hunter. :) :) I understand. :) :)

I don't grow Autumn Damask, but folks report nasty thorns. I love Comte de Chambord since it's small & compact & fast rebloom, and the thorns are NOT BAD. It has tiny prickles ...the ones that poke me badly are the big roses with large thorns like Lady of Shallot.

Both Carol and I have roses that die through our harsh winter. My winter got down to -14 F last week with -20 F windchill factor. Today we have a snow storm with 6 inch. of snow.

Firefighter, Wise Portia, and Cloudert Soupert died multiple times in my zone 5 winter, but they are worth growing for amazing scents. Cloudert Soupert is thornless & tiny for the pot, and I like its scent better than Sharifa Asma. Below bouquet: Large pink is Evelyn, tiny light pinks are Cloudert Soupert, Upper pink is Louis Estes (bi-color).

Below is Comte de Chambord

Below is Duchess de Rohan (dark pinks, the scent rivals Comte but it has poor repeat). I like Comte way better than Duchess de Rohan:

Below is Wise Portia in only 4 hrs. of morning sun

Below Wise Portia turns purplish in cold weather, and the scent is best in cold weather. Its scent is WAY BETTER than Twilight Zone:

Below is Firefighter, the leaves are very pretty, and upper 1/2 of bush is thornless.

In below bouquet, red Firefighter has the best scent (fruity damask), next is orange Versigny (like an apricot pie), and least is Liv Tyler (mothball and sour apricot). One bloom of Firefighter can perfume the entire room .. I can smell it 10 feet away. Firefighter is stronger scent than Mr. Lincoln, and Firefighter gives more blooms.

Straw - Oh, SWOON!!!! I'm in love with your roses!!! To me, the most beautiful are CdC (so glad I'm getting it this spring!), Evelyn, Versigny and Firefighter!! But they're all gorgeous!! :) :)

@strawchicago z5 your rose pics are so gorgeous! I love your bouquets!

Ah, so it was the cold that did them in... Those temperatures are really extreme! I admire how dedicated you and @rosecanadian are to getting roses to succeed in spite of adverse conditions! I hope your new roses will make it this time around!

I heard about some people in cold climates putting little fairy lights in their trees and shrubs to keep the branches a little warmer in winter. It seems like a very aesthetic solution! I imagine it would give the garden a very christmasy, whimsical atmosphere. Have you ever tried this?

In my zone 11 it is the opposite challenge. Winter is the easiest time for roses, our winter is basically like an English spring, so they are very happy.

The real challenge for them will be summer. From late June to late August, temperatures vary between 35°c (95°F) on a good day and the lower 40°c ( about 105°f) during the worst weeks. Combine that with the wind from being on the coast and you get the "blow-drier" effect, with a little salinity thrown in to spice it up.

I give them plenty of water then, but I don't use shade sails or tunnels for my plants. If they don't survive the heat, they aren't meant to live on my rooftop!

Straw I have been wanting Liv Tyler for the longest time.... but it is not really supposed to do well in my zone.... but that really has not stopped me from wanting them.... what had stopped me was trying to decide where to plant it.... now thanks to your mothball description of scent I am able to stop wanting it..... Yeah. Now I can concentrate on things that grow here.

I am not sure how healthy it is..... probably too much sugar.... but I was recommended Ribena blackcurrent drink by a doctor. I think black current is supposed to be very healthy, but the drink has added sugar. I must admit my first taste of it was not overly favorable, but I kept doing it to try and heal faster.

I take an ounze of it, a Emergen-C raspberry vitamin C packet, and different fruit flavors of Zipp Fiz vitamin B drink..... I have been noticing more energy during the day.... I need it to keep going because I am not getting enough sleep at night... 3 to 4 hours and not restful.....

@strawchicago z5 I'm looking forward to hearing how Elle does for you! My zone pushing needs to scale back in the new garden, we don't get reliable snow cover and the temperature swings wildly instead of staying steadily cold. I can see more cane damage in a week where it goes from 50℉ to -5℉ and back again than if it just stayed firmly at 0 and kept the snow around. So I need to be more careful with zones of roses that I buy.

Seaside - I chuckled about the fairy lights. No amount of fairy lights would protect our roses here. LOL Actually, I grow my roses in pots and overwinter them in the garage. :) :) And in the garden...nothing over zone 3 perennials go in there. Zone 4 dies every time for me. :) We actually had hot temps like you do last summer...first time ever...and I hope, the last. That's unbearable.

@rosecanadian

Oh! Sorry I really underestimated how cold your winters get! Pots brought in to a garage does sound like the best way.

I always forget just how different the climate is in the US and Canada. In Europe, you'd have to go to the farthest northern reaches of Scandinavia to find climates like yours:

So when I imagine cold, I guess I have no idea!

I hope your roses and all your plants will get through the winter ok and that your garden will be full of happy new growth soon!

Yes, it's cold here. If the temp. is 20 F to 30 F, I do a happy dance. Most of the time it's below 20 F or - 6 C in Jan and Feb.. Right now on Feb. 4, it's 9 F or -12 C in the morning, and will be -2 F or -19 C tonight in my zone 5.

I went shopping yesterday and my brown grocery bags ripped since it's so cold. We have to inflate our car tires monthly due to cold temp. Due to wind chill factor, it's colder in my windy Chicagoland than in Michigan where I grew up.

Joey: Elle is tall and vigorous at Chicago Botanical Garden, plus smelling great, that's why I bought it from Roses Unlimited. Buxom Beauty had fantastic fragrance as grafted on Dr.Huey, but I ordered it as own-root since I don't want Dr.Huey to take over if the rose die.

Sharon: Agree that vitamin B gives more energy, that's what one pharmacist said.

I love berries, and Walmart has the best frozen berries from local orchards. Their frozen blueberries are HUGE and sweet. My best desert is frozen dark sweet cherries from Walmart .. ate lots of that when I was 110 lb. in 2019. From the web: One cup of blueberries has:

• Calories: 84
• Fiber: 3.6 grams
• Vitamin C: 16% of the daily value (DV)
• Vitamin K: 24% of the DV
• Manganese: 22% of the DV

In contrast, 2 TINY cookies have 130 calories, fresh berries are expensive in winter, so I really should eat frozen berries. Sugar actually makes me hungrier, versus berries fill me up.

Seaside...sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel sorry. :) :) I just thought it was a bit funny. One of the hardest things for plants here is the Chinook winds we get which can raise the temperature from lows of -40C to highs of +20C in the winter...doesn't happen very often (that's pretty extreme) that we get those swings...but we do get significant swings of temperatures. :) :)

Straw - yes, that darn wind chill factor. Where we go for walks, it's on a hill, and the wind is always ripping through there.