Thanks to everyone for the responses and suggestions! I really appreciate it. Toolbelt: part Canadian is still good. :) I have asked at a few nurseries and everyone seems a little "meh" on the rose options here. One high-end, quite well-known nursery basically told me to choose from the Explorer series and that was all they could offer me. They only had about 3 selections and I left feeling a little blue. But I'll keep checking. ptwonline: I'll check into Campfire; thanks for suggesting it. I hadn't thought of growing in pots. Maybe once my deck is done...can you do DAs in pots in this zone? Slimy_Okra: I'm in the Edmonton area so no chinooks for me. I'll make sure to mulch like mad; I learned the value of mulch in my last garden, so I'm sold on that. But I didn't think much about exposure except for "full sun", so I appreciate the wisdom about the early budding. I wouldn't have thought of it myself. blackgavotte: Wow. Two of the most beautiful places in Canada, and you've lived in both! Though I can't imagine going from a garden in B.C. to one on the coast. My hat's off to you for soldiering through. Zaphod42 gave me some roses to try, and Campfire was suggested, so I'll keep trying. I just can't seem to get past the form and fullness of the DAs and I think now that what I am really asking is if anyone makes a rose like them that survives in my climate. Of course the answer is "no", but I keep asking as if someone will someday say "yes". "Hansa" has a lovely colour though, so that's a plus. Zaphod42: many thanks for that list! I've looked over it and I am going to give the three Canadians and Great Maiden's Blush a try. I had Henry Kelsey before, I think. Light pink? And Snowbeauty is a favorite out here if I'm not mistaken. But it only blooms once, right? That's one of my hold-backs; I'll just have to plant colour around it. We get tons of snow cover. Too much. :) But you're right, it's good protection. And since we have what appears to be an entire village of hares around here, perhaps the snow cover will keep them from eating the roses when food is scarce in winter. Thanks again everyone! Lots of interesting user names too. ;)

Woooo Hoooooo... I have been in Hoya heaven all after noon. You guessed it the big box arrived this afternoon. Kookie...... Thankyou once again. The Hoya's look amazing. I have done this for a few years now and these looked the best traveled hoya cuttings yet. You brought them home in record time so they look wonderful! Seriously the colors were brighter, less dehydrating, they really looked good. I did give them a soak while assembling rather getting the right size of box to match each order together and then we started. Thankyou Kelly! it was so much fun doing it together as it really speeds thing up. You should have seen us we had a real system going. I would read them off and Kelly would tick them on the list. I would pack them and Kelly was wrapping the boxes. By the time I had the next bunch ready she was back to get the next one. We couldn't help ourselves though.. I kept saying Kelly.. you have got to see this one... oh and this one:))) We were a real team and had so much fun. I did get them all to the post office and have tracking numbers that I will send individually later. I suspect that some of you may get the package before I get the e-mails done:) The post office said they would all be at their new homes in one to three days tops. I am going to try and add some photos as I took photos of each group just before I repacked them. I have had trouble though posting on this list. It will take my first post and then won't let me post a second time until the next day. Not sure what is up with that. Anyway I will do my best to get them posted here. Hmm just hit the preview button and I can't find away to post the photos. Someone Please help what do I do to get them posted? Enjoy! Bea

If you have problems with places, post consumer reviews. A good place to frequent for customer reviews of garden companies is the Garden Watchdog which contains a database of nearly 5,500 garden vendors around the world. People like you and I can post feedback based on our experiences. According to their Jung Seed Co Ratings, Jung has room for improvement with customer satisfaction. I haven't ordered from Jung mostly because I personally find their selection to be a bit mainstream for my taste. I'm accustomed to seeking out heirloom varieties from places like Baker Creek (which charges just $2.50 per order no matter how large within the US), Sandhill Preservation Center which has about 93 varieties of Sweet Potatoes, and the Seed Savers Exchange (which offers over 24,000 varieties of heirloom vegetables to all members) there's little left that other sources can provide unless it's Evergreen Seeds or Kitazawa Seed Company for Asian vegetables. I do like to have the Cook's Garden and the Kitchen Garden Seeds Catalogs on hand. And many here like to order from Fedco Seeds. But even with all the sources, I've found that most of my varieties come from the GardenWeb Seed Exchange Forum. It's much more economical. If you're starting out, many offer seeds for the cost of postage. I used to send out close to 20 varieties of heirloom vegetables for well under $1.00 to newbies. And when you trade heirlooms, you can really discover some great finds. If you want plants, use the GardenWeb Plant Exchange Forum. I would sometimes send 30-50 plants for under $15.00 to one person. So you should absolutely utilize the exchanges.

liz h, A number of the foreign agencies (a major one being the Government of China) that hold U.S. debt now are holding U.S.-issued bonds. The U.S. issuers will be required to pay off those bonds at maturity in U.S. Dollars, of course. The reference that I made, but did not indicate, in the part to which you refer was in situations where U.S.-based agencies made borrowings denominated in the foreign currencies, which would need to be repaid in those (at that time more expensive) currencies. But this does not happen often. When much of the U.S.-issued debt is held within their country, there is less risk of detrimental effects if confidence in the currency falls, as many are disinclined to move money abroad. There are deeper problems for the U.S. issuers when foreign entities hold large amounts of their debt, for they are much more inclined to dump the U.S. debt and put their money elsewhere. In such a case, when the U.S. issuers issue new debt, if the issues are at former rates, knowledgeable lenders won't buy them, fearing that the value of the bonds may drop and they'll lose part of the value of their principal, down the road. Which requires that the issuers offer substantially higher rates of interest, in order to have this new issue of the bonds be fully subscribed. But - when current interest rates go up, say to 7%, lenders who had bought a bond issued earlier, paying, say 5%, will sell it on the secondary market, in order to buy one of the new bonds. He won't find any buyers of his bond at full value, however - for they don't want to earn only 5% any more than he does. So the only way that the holder of a $100. bond paying 5% can sell it is to be willing to accept $95. - $98., depending on how long term there is until that bond matures. The rule for this is: when interest rates go up, the price of dollar-denominated assets go down. Considering that the U.S. government carries a huge debt load now ... and is going deeper in debt each year because they're spending more than the income that they're generating, added to which they're putting a substantial number of tax cuts in place, a number of money management experts are growing increasingly concerned that the future value of the U.S. Dollar is in jeopardy. Even though a much larger proportion than formerly of the total U.S. debt instruments these days that is held by foreign agencies can be paid off in U.S. Dollars, even though their value has shrunk, the risk that they may not want to buy more U.S. bonds in future because they fear more of the same is very real. Even more so because many believe that the U.S. is printing a lot more money, these days - which puts the continued stable value of each one of those dollars at risk, into the bargain. Sorry to be the bringer of less than happy news. ole joyful