Hi, I think that I still have enough seeds of Clematis roguch to share with you. I will ck tomorrow, and get back tomorrow night. I would love Echinacea yellow from you. Thanks, djune

Part one I have a friend whose parents were among the founding members of the botanical society here, her name is Martina and she loves all growing things. Her mother passed away in 1996 and the botanical names of many of the plants she inherited are unknown to her although she grew up with them. Her parents are Austrian and called their plants by their Austrian names, sometimes translating the Austrian to English. When I first met her 4 years ago when she was dating my friend Charles. He brought her over one late afternoon for a visit, she'd brought a staggeringly beautiful plant with her that had been on my want list for a long time. Charles had it with him, he took her to the backyard and came to the door with one of it's flowers in his hand. I couldn't believe it when I saw him standing there, and tried to take the bloom, he was holding it out. He pulled it back and asked me what it was in a kind of challenging way. I thought he knew what it was and was testing me, lol, I said "It's a Gloriosa "Rothschildiana" of course!" Welllll, it wasn't a test, Martina really wanted to know and was such a warm, adorable, lovely person that we bonded almost instantly. Down through the years we've just gotten closer and closer. I love her to pieces. I wish I'd known her mother, she sounds like a rather wonderful humanbeing. I did meet their mutual friend, Nell, who is another wonderful and unique individual. Martina's a hero for introducing us. Her plants are amazing and she is passionate about them, and about life in general. She's 73 years young and can outwork most men I know. She's tough and knowledgeable and compassionate all at the same time. I think the world of this lady. Part two About the same time I met Nell I found Gardenweb and hooked up with a member in Mobile. We hit it off instantly, we had a lot in common and each was doing things that complimented the other. She's so wonderful, I don't know how to tell you how much I think of her. She's beautiful and smart, frank and earnest, honorable and ingenious. Our first meeting was at the botanical gardens' fall sale, we had a great time because we were kind of kept busy answering the questions of the other shoppers there, we didn't get much shopping done, lol. She went back on the last day of the sale, she knew the left-over plants would be marked down. One of the plants that hadn't sold, marked at $8 a gallon, was a bunch of Clivia miniata, it was marked at $2. a gallon. Ginny already had plenty of clivias, including some nice yellows, but she was knowledgeable enough to know that she shouldn't pass up an opportunity like that so she bought a couple to give as gifts, one was for an old friend, the other was for me! I couldn't believe it, I had wanted one for sooooo long, it was such a sweet, thoughtful thing to do and I hope she knows how much she means to me. I've had this clivia ever since, it's such a nice plant, such lovely long, orchid-like foliage. The whole growth...

As everyone knows, beagles make excellent watch dogs and really horrible guard dogs. A man and his 3 or 4 year old son were walking by down our alley. My beagle started braying and spiking up because they had stopped to look at her. We went out and the man was laughing at her, and so was the kid. He asked his kid if he wanted to see the puppy and picked the kid up. Well as soon as the kid was up higher and she could see him better, she bolted. She was terrified. Came to stand behind my legs and bark and shake with her tail between her legs. The man and his son left, and I'll be darned if she didn't spend the rest of the night trying to 'track' the man and his son. She kept going back to the spot where they stood, sniffing the fence and following it all the way to where it meets the neighbors fence, over and over. I can't help but laugh at her, cause I know if she ever finds anything she's been trying to track, she'll tuck her tail and run the other way. She'd be the worst hunting beagle ever, I think. But she tries to do her job, thats for sure.

We've had 'sweet summer love' for four years now. I'm not sure if it bloomed the first year or not. The second and third years it grew large and bloomed like crazy. This year, year four, it is even larger. However, there is one major problem. This clematis is a huge japanese beetle magnet. We only had a few beetles in recent years, so they weren't a problem, but this year the beetles are terrible. Every day, hundreds of them eat all the blooms of this clematis. They've shredded them all. There are so many beetles on this thing, it's like flies on a pile of meat. If beetles are going to be this numerous every year, which is likely, then this clematis will be worthless and will have to be replaced with another kind beetles don't like. We have several others and they don't touch them. 'Sweet summer love' is quite fragrant and looks like an insect-attracting plant, unlike the other kinds.