Lots of lovely pictures! I will dig through my files at home and see what I've got, although I'm really bad at taking pictures. I have (roses* are new or first year roses so I don't know much about them yet): Munstead Wood* Fighting Temeraire* Lady Emma Hamilton* Summer Song* Carolyn Knight Jude the Obscure Golden Celebration Graham Thomas Charlotte Possibly Pilgrim? (It was unlabelled - it grows like it's an Austin and the huge blooms look like Pilgrim) Wildeve Eglantyne Sharifa Asma* The Mayflower 14, which is more than I expected actually. Mostly orange and yellow which is predictable I suppose, as those are the colours least represented in old roses. Mayflower is an early and late bloomer for me too, and has remained small (it's 4 or 5 years old?). All the Austin yellows I have tend to blackspot, (apart from maybe Pilgrim, that stays titchy, but clean) so why I bought Golden Celebration I'm not sure - Although I've heard it's not as bad as some. I am actually hoping that the Austins will be like most of my other roses and stop blackspotting so much as they become mature plants. Carolyn Knight is coming up on her third summer for me and has been a small, healthy, floriferous plant for me. It was an impulse garden showstand dismantling purchase. Don't really like the scent, but I hear a lot of people do - I find it a bit bitter. I gather Summer Song did very, very badly for a lot of people in the US, I think the phrase 'grew backwards' was used more than once (so much so that it was withdrawn from sale!) but it's not got so bad a reputation here, and Carolyn Knight, it's sport has been good, and where it is it can stay small if it wants, AND I really wanted that colour in it's spot, so I took a chance on it. The bareroot had very solid chunky canes, and big roots, so fingers crossed. I'd heard a lot of good about Sharifa Asma from forum members, not so much about it in the UK, so I took a punt on it. It's planted near Wildeve, which is a very graceful plant although it didn't bloom much last year - I think it was concentrating on size. Hopefully they match well. Munstead Wood I'm hoping has the deep purple red colour that it so often has in pictures, it's possibly my favourite rose colour. That's it really, not thinking of buying any more Austins, as my garden is getting pretty full - I have room for more reds, and more titchy roses, but I don't like the habit and colour of most of the Austin reds that I've seen as mature shrubs, and the range doesn't really seem to include really small roses. Of course, who knows what Chelsea will bring?

Toss it in! If it's safe to put in your belly, its safe for your compost-critters. We're making compost here, not fine-tuning the moral fiber of the microbes, or protecting their little livers. "God gave us wine because He loves us and wants us to be happy." ~ Utah Phillips "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." ~ Benjamin Franklin Wayne

mail time!!! i finally checked the mail after a few days and had my card from Susan! such a cute card with a garden surprise. also glad to see we are labeling this seasons seeds with next years date for planting season. helps with my seed database!

Updating Jeanne sends to Melinda - sent & received Melinda sends to Urooj - sent & received * Urooj sends to Beth * Beth sends to Mandy - sent Mandy sends to Jeanne - sent & received * I'll check more about these later today. I may have missed seeing a post or two. And now. BINGO for the last posting of the month. Today's words are: AMERICA COMMON The Secret Words are: the Beautiful (America the Beautiful) Sense (Common Sense) Winner of the Secret Word is Melinda with an incredible 8 correct secret words out of the 15 choices she made. Congratulations, Melinda! Waiting to see who posts having BINGO.