I just got lots and lots of seed packets at our local Dollar General stores in September (I'm in SW IN). They are regular price 2/$1 or $3/1. They put the garden stuff on clearance in September. We paid $0.02, or $0.03, or $0.05 a packet for seeds! Yippee. Got lots of vegetables and even more flower seeds. Way more than we can plant. But, my kids really enjoy gardening, and I'm not great at it. So, I figured, it won't cost me much for us to try and fail with all these. I'm planning to let the kids help me trying them different ways, like inside, winter sown outside, planting after the frosts, starting in the greenhouse. I figure we'll probably learn a lot and if I keep track of it okay. Then, the year after that I probably will make better use of the money I spend on gardening, cause I'll have made lots of mistakes with my super-discounted seed collection! PS. I fully intend on searching for more seeds next year, too. But, the awesome prices I got will help me have the willpower to wait til September not waste $$ paying full price when the displays start popping up in early spring! :)

MojaveLove, albas are tall and often vase shaped roses. My Alba Semi-plena is about 6ft. tall and perhaps that wide. The only pruning necessary is to remove dead canes and after it is a mature plant, to take out one or two old canes (4 years old or more) to keep the plant rejuvenated. Perhaps someone has been pruning it like an HT and the poor thing hasn't been able to achieve its mature form. I would not prune this one. Let it show you what it can do with just a bit of care. BTW, it also sets nice hips so do not deadhead. Of course you can take cuttings to propagate. (There are lots of sites to tell you how.) It probably won't sucker much, even own root so watch for a new cane you might be able to separate and move, but don't count on it throwing any very far away from the base of the original plant.

Pegging works well if the plant has two properties: 1) the bush tends to be a non-"upright" variety, i.e; it produces canes at an angle from the base instead of straight up-ish. 2) the canes are not "stocky" at their base, i.e.; thick or thicker than your thumb. If both conditions exist, it should be fairly easy to peg the canes. Start out being conservative and peg the canes down to about a foot or more above the groud and see what happens. Try to get the "bowed" part of the cane into as much of an arch as possible. That way, almost every leaf junction will sprout a new cane skywards. If the cane is flexible enough, peg to the ground with the end of the cane turned upwards. Rest the end on a hard surface so the end won't rot into the ground and risk disease entering the cane from the tip end. If you feel adventurous, cut the cane midway throgh at the part where it touches the ground. Dust it with growing medium and bury the cut part slightly into the ground. Hopefully, the cut part will sprout roots and you will have a new own-root plant!

I had a couple of pink flamingos in my yard for awhile. I named them 'Tongue' and 'Cheek'. They finally died. I think of,embarrassment.