If you are interested and willing to search (Google or Bing), check out some of the articles on AGDIA, which is a company that makes tests for viruses and other diseases of plants. You can see the PCR and ELISA tests that are available for roses (and for many other plants.) Do you know the word "Synergy"? Not the new age version, but the science based synergy- there are some interesting plant pathology sites out there as well. Briefly, Synergy means that diseaseA has X symptoms and disease B has Y symptoms, but when a plant has diseases A&B, the plant will not have a simple mix of X and Y symptoms, but often will also have new (call them Z) symptoms that may be worse that the sum of X and Y. Where does that leave rose growers? It leaves rose growers wanting to keep their plants as healthy as possible so that no even more damaging symptoms appear. Years ago a simple study was done in California roses. Under optimum conditions, roses with a single virus (as tested for back then) produced ten to fifteen per cent fewer blooms. That, economically, was reason to keep the plants as clean as possible. And to the root to root transmission: Google Scholar papers by Giolino (author), roses, and the time period last ten years.

Today the heat (without an index) was rating 115 when I got to work. After half an hour (I also had to walk to work, maybe 1/4 mile) I was throwing up. Had to go home, that's how bad it was. Sheesh, and I didn't even do anything physical besides walk! How on earth people worked in this heat today is beyond me. We shut down operations on the renovation here as the house does not have any systems running, it is too hot to work in. And some folks still don't have air conditioning here. My friend Kim is completely physically disabled and lives with her uncle who had a biopsy today, and her cousin who is developmentally handicapped. I'm sure they are miserable! GGG

Just know that you are not alone... we had a magnificent row of white pines (on our property but overhanging the street) butchered by a town employee, riding in the bucket of a front-end loader with a chainsaw. As they raised the bucket, crawling down my curb, he cut a line straight up to about 12 feet. All to accommodate the snowplow, which had not in all the previous years ever bothered to plow all the way to the curb anyway, but which all of a sudden was (so we were told) "endangered" by the white pine branches (I personally have never met a white pine branch that was any match for a multi-ton snowplow, but there you are...) Needless to say, this resulted in many letters, many complaints, intervention by the first selectman and a reprimand for the "nonprofessional" "pruning" by the town. The reprimand must have REALLY ticked off the Public Works director, because next thing I knew (literally -- 8 am the VERY next DAY!), he sics the power company on my trees. Says his crew saw "plain evidence of arc-ing" (which if true, would be dangerous, I agree): of course, the power company themselves had "pruned" (i.e., topped!) the trees less than a year before. Pure retribution as far as I could tell! One more tree story: In that same line of trees lining the street (and forming, when we bought our house, a virtually solid privacy wall!) was a magnificent elm. A real, American elm. We spent a fortune injecting it to protect it against Dutch elm disease, and it was flourishing (not necessarily because of that, of course, since we subsequently learned that there was significant question about the merit of such treatments. Nonetheless, we did them and they weren't cheap!) Then the power company's tree guy came to the door on one of their many visits to butcher (ooops, "prune") the white pines, to ask my permission, as they must. I said (reluctantly) okay, but prune as lightly as possible and leave the elm alone (since I didn't think any of its branches were impacting power lines and I didn't want any unnecessary pruning of this beautiful specimen). We walked out together, he agreed with me, and told (while I stood there) the crew to leave it alone. I looked at about two hours later to see them lifting the bucket up to the elm. I RACED down the drive, planted myself at the base of their truck, and shouted up to the guy in the bucket: "SORRY GUYS -- You're DONE here!" (Further discussion ensued, of course, but in the end, they left, grumbling about "people like you, lady...") And as for line-of-sight, don't even ASK about my magnificent forsythia that the town wanted to remove. Even when a police officer came by and agreed it did not impede line of sight, they still sent someone out to "prune" it back. So a lovely old fountain of gold that never bothered anyone was turned in five minutes into a round little gumdrop. The public works guy -- when I confronted him in tears -- said "gee, lady, it looks MUCH better don't you think??" -- to which I (sobbing) said "take it OUT! if you're going to do that to it!!" (To which HE said "I can't take it out, I'm not authorized to do that..." Your tax dollars at work... Which is all just to say that I SO feel your pain! The irony is that two years after we moved from that house, a former neighbor told me that ALL those big white pines (which DID lose branches like mad every storm!!) had been taken out by the town! The reason: the roots were growing into the sewer lines in the street. Thank goodness I wasn't still living there -- they'd have had to lock me up for the duration! Final bizarre note: After the front-end loader butchering incident, the town offered, in response to my squawks, to "underplant" the trees they had butchered the lower 10 feet of, to try to fill in and restore some of our privacy. So in their infinite wisdom, what do they suggest they are willing to plant UNDER these troublesome white pines that are apparently destroying their snowplows? WHITE PINE SEEDLINGS!!!!!

Hey Cliff: While we seem to agree that unless made sterile, the investor would never recover and see a profit due to nurseries breeding their own specimens. Where I respectfully disagree with you is the demand and ROI. Going by internet searches is not a true indication of demand-especially when it comes to something unheard of like palms living in the Northern regions. Most folks just write it off as it cannot happen so why search? Take my immediate area (Long Island, NYC, NJ & Costal CT)...we've experienced a "storm of the Century" the past 2 years in a row. Most of the damage (not counting tidal surge) was caused by down trees. As a matter of fact, we lost power for well over 3 weeks due to all the down trees. I had a crew from New Orleans in my backyard working on wires and I got to talk to them. They said the damage on Long Island was worse than Katrina-from their perspective, due to all the down trees. They busted poles, took down wires, blocked roads and damaged houses. Trust me, because of the business I'm launching, I got to talk to some politicians in Nassau County and they said that they would welcome palm trees...not just because they are beautiful to look at but because they wont cause nearly as much damage from a hurricane that our native trees cause. Also take into account the commercial value as to attract consumers...malls, car dealerships, shoping strips. Catering Halls, golf courses, beaches & Beach Clubs, Country Clubs and parks...just to name a few. The demand will be there, most people don't consider it a reality so why bother searching. Regardless, I'm launching my company in two weeks so that will be putting my money where my mouth is. :) This post was edited by Kokomo-JB on Thu, Feb 21, 13 at 13:21