Although I am a true fragrant rosarian (I can say that now as I thought we all call ourselves gardeners, but we are not Master Gardeners, so we can call ourselves rosarians, though we are not consultant rosarians) I think I have that straight now, nothing to do with what I was going to say, anyway, back to The Fairy Rose. I have six and would never do without this beauty. I love it. It reminds me of Cherry Blossom, but out of season. It makes amazing back drops in bouguets yet, makes a bouquet all by itself. I decorated an arch with it at my friends daughter's wedding, we had so much of it, it was beautiful. Everyone should have the Fairy in their lives! :) Pauline

Hi, I only have Wild Eve and she is just that, WILD!! She makes a beautiful rounded shrub for the spring and LOADED with buds but then she spreads out all over. Canes go wild. In my garden she is at least 5 ft wide and about 4 ft tall. Her color is a blush pink. Her blooms last forever and are gorgeous. I bought two of them a few years ago at Home Depot for $2.49 each on clearance. Would love to have Pretty Jessica too one day. Judy

I have not grown Cinderella Fairy Tale. I only grew Morden Blush for 2-3 years--I got really into fragrance and this one doesn't make the cut for that-- but it had good disease resistance no spray (not perfect but good enough,) some shade tolerance, and set decorative orange hips. A lot to recommend it, really, and now that I've moved and need a few landscape pinks I might consider it again. MB should be more cold hardy (MB was bred for cold hardiness--listed down to zone 2b.) MB sounds like a smaller bush than CFT--I don't think MB grew over 4 feet in zone 7b and it was compact/narrow upright, not arching/spreading. MB didn't stand out as being esp. thorny, but I don't think I ever cut one for a vase.

Fri. September 8th I will have a casual meal and a glass of wine (or two) ready for Friday weary travelers. I have nothing planned for this night as I am not sure who and when people are arriving. Sat. 9th We will be leaving my home at 8:30 am to pickup the 9:00 am arrivals and continue to Polly Hill for our 10:00am Workshop. Please note that I will need one of our group to be a driver. 10:00am to 12:00pm ($24.00) is our workshop if the weather allows we will be doing a picnic lunch at Polly Hill. The lunch will come from the only place in the area it is a catering business and either Friday night you can look at the menu or Sat. prior to the workshop ($10-$12.00??). After a quick lunch at the Polly Hill picnic table there are three nurseries in the area and we will probably have one hour to kill at a nursery at one nursery there is a gentleman who I would consider a rare plant fantatic/collector who is new to the island I have told him about you all and he will let me know if he can talk to us about rare plant collecting and how he moved his collection. Of course there will be time to poke around and make some purchaseshmmm (too many $$). Sadly it is fall and all of the nurseries have relative slim pickens. Back to Polly Hill for our private tour I have told them how brilliant you all are. My guestamate is we will be leaving PH around 3:30 I would like to stop at another nursery, a daylily farm for another talk on not only daylilies but solar power, a glass place where we can watch visiting and local craftsmen blow and see some of the most amazing pieces I have ever seen. I am suggesting this only after having run in the other day to see if they could repair something of mine glass and crafts usually arent my thing but the pieces they had on display were like nothing I have ever seen before and of course with a price to match $33,000.00. There are also a few art galleries as well as Chilmark chocolates that (hard to believe I know) is even better than Ben & Bills. ( All of those suggestions are free unless you choose to purchase) These are a few things available to us on the way to Menemsha a small fishing village where if the weather permits I would like to do what is called "backdoor" which is going to the restaurant/fish markets backdoor and ordering dinner to go (which is usually a cracked lobster and fixings) (I dont recall the cost but I am guessing $20.00-$30.00?) But I am sure they have something for the non fish lover but to be honest I dont know what so you may want to order two sandwiches at lunch. We will then walk over to the beach plunk our tired fannies down and watch to sunset as we eat our lobster. Please keep in mind if you like wine, beer, what ever with your meal these are dry towns and you will need to have brought that with you in the am. Also keep in mind it will be chilly so bring many more layers than you think you should. It will be much better to have a pile of sweaters and jackets in to trunk of the car than shivering unhappy people far from the warmth of my home. Now if as they are forecasting it will be raining and miserable I will have a plan B which will include dinner at a restaurant unless the majority of us would rather pitch in to buy and prepare a meal at my house. I dont know how to keep everyone comfortable with the decisions other than majority rule so please come prepared to spend twice as much as you thought you would. After the sunsets I thought we would head back to down town Edgartown for ice cream, wine what ever and of course at this point some or all could just go back and collapse. Sunday September 10th Wake up and bike, walk, ride to a private garden designed by Christine Horiunchi a Cape Landscape architect who has won awards for this design. With coffee in hand lets talk about design and plants, what she chose, what you would have chosen. Continue down the road to a grass airport where we will stop for more coffee and breakfast while watching vintage planes take off and land. We will also be viewing one of the last great stretches of Sand plain with rare native wildflowers. For those who need to catch a noon boat that should have you on the road by 1:30pm it would be time to say goodbye. For those that can stay a bit longer we have other choices, When picking the brain of people from Polly Hill for what else to include in this weekend they all suggested we drive down the beach to chappy and visit the My Toi gardens, or head back to down town Edgartown to do a walking tour of town and check out village gardens as well as another nursery visit, or maybe? My feeling is that the late group probably wont want to depart any later than a 3:00pm boat which would have you on the road by 4:30pm. A number of things that we will be doing are dependant on weather so we may be making adjustments to any and all that I have suggested. Please if something is important to you speak up I would want to know that and will try my best. I look forward to meeting you all and dont hesitate to write or call. Let me know at your earliest when you expect to be arriving. kt