SILVEIRAS, Brazil � Jorge da Silva plucked a giant ant from the muddy ground, pulled off its wings, legs and mandible, and tossed it into his mouth like popcorn. The i��s are an obsession for the 6,000 people in Silveiras. "Tastes like mint," said Mr. da Silva, 58, with an audible crunch of his teeth. In his rubber boots, Mr. da Silva roamed the hills above this town of 6,000 people with a stick and a plastic bucket. He was on the hunt for Silveiras�s obsession and a rare gastronomic delicacy in Brazil: i��s, or queen ants. The thunderous spring rains in October and November drive the ants out of the ground, and for a few short weeks Silveiras becomes a frenzy of ant hunting. Residents stock up, cleaning the i��s and freezing them in one and two-liter bottles to get through until the next season. But this year the ant haul was smaller than usual, residents said, and the number of ants has been dwindling. The principal culprits are pesticides used on eucalyptus trees that are planted to produce cellulose for paper and other products, residents and local officials said. "With urbanization and the poison that they are putting into the soil, we do not have much time left," said Vera Toledo, 67, a writer and anthropologist whose husband is a native of Silveiras. Generations of indigenous people treated the ants as a protein substitute for fish and monkeys, residents said. Today, Silveiras residents � and the people who drive hundreds of miles every year to buy the ants � value them not only for their protein, but also as an aphrodisiac and source of natural antibiotics. Residents of this town 190 miles from S�o Paulo have kept alive the ancient indigenous tradition by cooking and serving the ants with traditional Brazilian dishes. These are no ordinary ants scampering over sugary leftovers, like the tiny American variety. I��s are big � up to an inch in length � and fat, and they can bite viciously. But the changing landscape means the ants are under threat, residents contend. Driven by Brazil�s growing economy, the eucalyptus trees have proved to be a big boon for some landowners in Silveiras, which has lost its place as a major coffee and cattle producer and once had a population of more than 30,000. Residents have not tried to make the ants into a big commercial enterprise. In northern Colombia, locals are exporting their "hormigas culonas" or big-rear queen ants, to France, Britain and other countries, where they are dipped in chocolate. The giant leaf-cutter ants in Brazil come from the same Atta family as the Colombian species, said Marina Saiki, a biologist at the S�o Paulo Zoo. But while residents here say they could certainly use the extra money, many seem more concerned with preserving the tradition � and the ant population � for themselves. Oc�lio Ferraz, Silveiras�s resident i��s guru, has dedicated himself to keeping the ant feast alive. A self-professed environmentalist, he has resisted efforts to export them, preferring to receive visitors at his restaurant, where he has a special kitchen devoted to frying the i��s. Mr. Ferraz, 72, says he receives almost daily phone calls asking him to start delivering ants to far-off towns. He said he looked into exporting them at some point but gave up because the Brazilian export laws for food are too complicated. Beyond that, he said, "I don�t think making deliveries would be good for the quality of the tradition." He grew up eating i��s at home and taught the tradition to his children. Then, 20 years ago, he held an i�� festival that drew more than 400 people. The festival�s success inspired him to create an arts and crafts center dedicated to the tradition. Today he shows off table mats, dishes, cups, his apron and paintings on a wall of his restaurant that all feature the queen ant. Other artists are designing toys. Slowly, Mr. Ferraz was able to help break the stigma that used to surround eating i��s, which had been seen as a tradition reserved for poorer families. "Many people would say they were embarrassed about eating i��s," he said. And yet, he said, every October and November "the entire town would smell like frying ants." Today the residents are more open about their appreciation for the crunchy queen ants. I am an i�� fanatic," said Mar�a Jos� Camargo, 29, as she sampled some ants at Mr. Ferraz�s restaurant. "I love it so much. It�s worth saving money all year to spend on i��s. My children are too young to catch them, but when they are grown they will catch i��s for sure." The içás are an obsession for the 6,000 people in Silveiras. Back in the hills, Mr. da Silva, the ant hunter, is teaching 12-year-old Dudu da Silva, no relation, how to capture the ants. With his bare fingers, Mr. da Silva grabbed the i��s one by one and tossed them into the bucket. Thump. Thump. Thump. The ants frequently bit Mr. da Silva, whose hands are typically bloodied after a day of catching them. At one point, a little girl watching him work cried out in pain as an ant bit her foot. Back at Mr. Ferraz�s restaurant, the ant catchers sell their haul for an average of about $15 per liter. He charges about $12 for a large plate of i��s with wheat fried in pig fat meant for two. While the ants sell fast and are a seeming source of pride, some Silveiras families are divided over the practice. Edson Mendes Mota, the former mayor of Silveiras and now its development director, said he does not care for them, even though his wife has 17 pounds of i��s in their freezer. "My wife likes it, my kids like it, the whole town likes it," he said. Mr. Mota supports the town�s growing eucalyptus industry, which has become the enemy of the ants. Landowners have a right to plant the highly profitable trees, though the plantings need to be regulated, he said. "We need to unite and sit down and discuss the fact that the new generation here will no longer know the traditions of our town," Mr. Mota said. Alair Duarte, the president of the town council, said he had proposed limiting eucalyptus plantings to certain areas so the ants can continue to reproduce. "If we don�t do it soon, we won�t have any i��s left," he said. "Before we can think about exporting i��s we need to preserve what we have here," said Mr. Duarte, who grew up eating the queen ants raw. If the i��s are imperiled here, some residents say they believe there is still a place where the eucalyptus plantings are not killing off the ants. "People say there are a lot of i��s in the cemeteries because they eat people�s brains," said Osmar da Silva, 43, an i�� salesman. "But it�s a legend," he said, though he admitted "I have never had the courage to go into a cemetery and actually look there."

When Minnie Hill Palmer passed, The Acre was deeded to the city and fell under control of 'Parks and Wreck'. The Chatsworth Historical Society was formed to save The Pioneer Church and finally came to support The Acre. Candy and Dean Craig resurrected the gardens and added many OGRs through their friendship and connection with John MacGregor, Clair Martin's predecessor at The Huntington Library. They were rose garden volunteers there and it was they who introduced me to the place and got me started there. Candy also had a friendship with Peter Schneider, the editor of The American Rose Rambler, a marvelous rose newsletter, and now the editor of The Combined Rose List, which he generated with Bev Dobson (who originated it) and whom he succeeded. The Craigs lost a daughter to a drunk driver and Peter named an apricot floribunda he created for their daughter, Eden Ellen. There was a bed of it growing there for many years. They surrounded the house with roses, making it a popular venue for weddings and other parties, arranged through "Parks and Wreck". With tightening belts and the aging of the Historical Society and surrounding rose societies which often used the gardens to hold their pruning demonstrations, it appears roses (not all, but from the photos, many) have been removed (or, perhaps died) to reduce maintenance and probably to increase room for events. Candy held an annual Rose Festival in conjunction with Pioneer Days, a community festival, for many years where she sold old, rare and unusual roses to help pay for the potting soil and other supplies required to maintain the gardens. Many of them were passed through her by Peter from his imports and were the source of things such as Julia's Rose, Greensleeves and quite a few other unusual European roses not in US commerce at the time. A number were propagated from the OGRs existing on the property when they came to be the volunteer caretakers and many more came from The Huntington and my old Newhall garden. There are still some roses there, I'm not sure which though. It's suggested to start plants out in pots which best fit their root ball size so the roots fill the pots and knit a solid root ball. Starting a band out in a five gallon can will frequently lead to weakened root ball between the crown of the plant and the pot edges due to the long length of roots between the center and edges. Removing the root ball from the pot could then permit loosening or even damage to the roots at their weakest point, between the crown and edge of the mass. Starting a small plant in a gallon until the roots fill the pot wall surfaces shortens that distance, creating a more solid root mass. Increasing that from a gallon to a two or three and permitting it to then fill out the increased mass results in a more solid soil/root ball which is less likely to fall apart or otherwise be damaged by removal or handling. The organics in the soil break down, digest, over time, leaving only the inorganic material (sand, clay, stone, etc.). Eventually, all potted plants require replanting to replenish and refresh the soil in the container. A looser, weaker root ball is more easily damaged than a tighter solid mass, so the plant will experience less damage and shock from the root ball falling apart. If you're trying to protect smaller pots from heat and cold extremes, it's far easier to protect multiples than one. They can be grouped together so each helps shade and insulate the next. (another logical "excuse" for larger pot ghettos!) If your goal is to keep the plant potted until it's matured sufficiently for planting, this would be the more secure method of accomplishing it. If you intend to keep it potted, it still may be safer to start with a smaller size them transplant into the desired size to stack the deck in your favor for safer repotting when the time comes. You may be able to safely accomplish transplanting after starting the smaller plant in a larger pot, but the chances of the soil ball breaking up are greater. Kim Here is a link that might be useful: American Rose Rambler and Combined Rose List

I'm pretty big on colour too. Russet, mauve, black, colour changing, green, purple. I love them. I've got a few new additions to my yard in bloom right now. Well. New since I last posted on this thread a few years ago. Please excuse the weird lighting. It's cloudy and the light keeps shifting. Stainless Steel. A very light mauve with a rich heady fragrance. Distant Drums. A lovely rose with red buds that open a lovely tan russet colour. As it ages the outer petals turn pink, until the bloom is all pink by the end of its life. Also a lovely fragrance. Like spiced wildflower honey. This one wasn't chosen for colour. I stuck a few reliable bloomers around for constant blooms. This one is Pillow Fight. It's a about 3 feet and throws out a profusion of white blooms with a hint of cream. Usually lightly scented of violets the fragrance is surprisingly wafting and heady today with it being so humid and warm. Twilight zone. Not new lol. Not as purple now that it's warmer.

I didn't like thorny and non-fragrant (to me) Darlow's Enigma when I had it -- and I didn't like Distant Drums when I saw it growing in the BBG, though other folks were mad for it for a while. Most of the others mentioned here I do like, or at least don't mind, including Hot Cocoa, which I actually find rather beautiful. To me Double Delight is beautiful as a cut flower and the fragrance is fantastic. I think almost any rose can be made to look beautiful in the right spot and with the right conditions and companions. I have even reconciled myself to Knockout because it is so cheerful and willing in public plantings. One gets more mellow with age. I now look back with nostalgia on Circus, which used to be so despised, it grew in everyone's shady back yard when I lived in Philly along Trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliatus) and required no care. Now it has disappeared. Also Peace and Tiffany. Ah, well, fashions come and go.