Is the thought of planting the band in a partially submerged bucket without a bottom to prevent it from baking in hot weather/direct sun? My experience is immature plants benefit from warmer roots to stimulate them to grow faster than they do in cooler/colder soil. I can understand hilling a dormant plant set out in the soil to prevent it from being stimulated into growth before it's developed sufficient root mass to support it. I guess hilling a band to cover more of the main cane might afford a similar benefit. Here, I have best success with newly rooted plants and small seedlings planting them in one gallon nursery cans in good potting soil, then placing them in partial sun where I can pay attention to them and keep them watered. Once they develop enough root mass to begin filling the gallon size, I transplant them into two gallon cans. If they are growing vigorously by the time they are ready to be up sized, I may plant them in the ground or move them to five gallon cans, depending upon where they are to be planted or if they are for someone else, or if I'm too lazy to actually dig a hole for them at the moment. Your experience may well vary greatly, but here, I don't have any success letting the rain water pots. Often, the foliage canopy prevents much water from penetrating the plant and sufficiently wetting the root/soil ball, so I have to water the cans any way. We don't get rain eight to nine months of the year and when we do, it's not always hard enough to force its way into cans. Hand watering is necessary here for anything canned, mostly all year. Burying cans in the ground prevents any soil moisture from moving into the confined soil ball, so they have to be hand watered. I've cut the bottoms and about a third of the sides of many fifteen gallon cans so I could plant larger shrubs on a short, but rather steep slope in back. Those have to be watered more frequently than those directly planted in the soil as they dry out faster. I'm not sure what the benefit of planting bands in a can without a bottom will provide. Not that there isn't one, it just isn't logical to me. I'm all in favor of creating berms around plants to catch the water and focus it into where the roots are probably going to be. Otherwise it spreads out too far and may not actually penetrate deeply enough to encourage the roots to follow it down deeper, resulting in more drought tolerant plantings. Your experience with own root plants is going to vary greatly due to your climate and soil type; the type of garden culture you practice; the types of roses you grow and even the particular cultivars you choose to grow. The specific roses which will perform perfectly for me here are not necessarily those which will perform acceptably for you where you are. If the variety is a weak grower to begin with, it's going to be smaller most places own root compared to budded. If it's not suitable own root because it doesn't form a vigorous root system by itself, it isn't going to be as good anywhere own root. It may be better in some climates and soils than others, but if it's not a good rose own root because it doesn't GROW vigorous roots itself, it isn't going to be as good as it could be anywhere own root, period. The types which are slow to mature own root are going to be slower to mature everywhere own root compared to being budded on a root stock suitable for where it's being grown. Whether an own root plant will eventually mature to the same or larger size as the same rose budded will is also going to vary somewhat. Some, Iceberg being an excellent example here, can actually be inhibited by budding and result in a smaller plant than it can mature to own root. Some, such as Grey Pearl, Fantan and any other really weak growing, insufficiently rooted types, will never become the size they can become when budded. Those two will actually live much shorter, less productive lives own root than they can when budded. Any roses which suffer the same grow issues they do will perform similarly, and are always going to be better performers and garden specimen when grown on a stock suitable for the climates they're grown in. A rose's genetic ability to form a sufficient root mass is as variable as its ability to develop its foliage, flowers, suitable immune system and resistance to extreme conditions. Not every variety has a root system suitable to all soil types. An excellent example is the inability for strongly multiflora types to overcome chlorosis in alkaline conditions. Budding them on a suitable stock which isn't as extremely affected by alkalinity will overcome the chlorosis issues without the constant need to acidify the soil to release the iron and supply nitrogen. Budding types which aren't usually as strongly affected by chlorosis on multiflora will actually force them to suffer chlorosis they otherwise wouldn't experience in the same conditions. Some types' roots are more suited to warmer soils. Others are happier in cooler soils. Only experimentation and experience are going to tell you which is which and which will be good in your soil and climate. There is little reliable information out there because so many have been budded for so long. When you do find that kind of information printed in books, it's often not due to the rose's roots, but to the particular stock upon which it was grown. British writers have long warned against moving Elizabeth of Glamis because she "resents transplanting". The variety wasn't grown own root in Britain, being always produced on their stock of choice. If Elizabeth of Glamis resented transplanting, how could it have been offered as new bare roots annually and for so many decades? I agree with the statement that a suitable own root plant, when grown in a climate and soil type suitable to it, is usually longer lived than most budded plants. You more frequently find stands of Odorata and other types used as stocks in old cemeteries and gardens here in the West than you do actual budded plants. These are often the remnants of old budded plants where the stock has outlived the scion. When you do find old roses in abandoned or neglected situations, they are own root survivors and are always types which develop appropriate root systems for their genetic requirements. Not that they are going to perform similarly everywhere, but they are more likely to perform adequately more places than those which have narrower zones of suitable conditions. But, slow growers are going to be slow growers in virtually every climate. The only ways around that are to bud them on suitable stocks, or to provide them warmer, richer soils and push them to grow by disbudding them, preventing them from flowering until they develop the size you desire. Weaker growers will continue being weaker growers in most places because that is what is genetically programmed within them. They are inhibited naturally against either forming suitable root systems, producing much wood or foliage or both. "Forcing" them by supplying them with more vigorous roots is the most suitable way, in most situations, around that. It's your choice how you want to try growing them, and it's your choice what level of performance you are willing to accept. Kim

You might do a bit more reading up on the history of Hickory King/Cane. There are several well known variants that are widely grown and quite a few more that are still maintained by families. I know of white, yellow, and blue/white color variants. You could also read through the varieties at Sandhill Preservation. The defining traits of this group of corn varieties is that they all have 8 rows of very large kernels on relatively tall stalks. DarJones

Rare Hickory Cane Corn Available Everyone I have talked with who grew up growing/eating this variety have the best of memories! I have been searching for the Hickory Cane Corn for more than three years. You should see faces light up while talking about the good foods this corn made. An example: We were invited to our friend's son's Eagle Scout Awards. There was another young man also getting the award. His father grew up in the mountains of Georgia and I asked if they had grown the Hickory Cane Corn. He excitedly said yes they did and was surprised that I had asked that! Families grew it, saved the seed for the next year, and shared it with family and friends. The "tradition" in the old days was the sharing of seed with newly wed couples. Two good examples are Kentucky Heirloom Viva: It is sometimes listed as Viva or as Viva Lindsey's Kentucky Wedding and Nebraska Wedding Tomato Kentucky Heirloom Viva: It is sometimes listed as Viva or as Viva Lindsey's Kentucky Wedding. Listed in the 1991 SSE by Harold Martin of Hopkinsville, KY says he's the original source and describes it as an excellent late Fall tomatoIt was a wedding present from the Martin family in 1904; this was a tradition often used with newly weds at that time. It produces fruit that is a pale yellow/ivory to white type fruit with pink blush on the bottom portion, flavor is mild/light sweet, and fruit can grow to more than a pound. It is Ponderosa shaped, to 4 inches, does not keep well. Grown by Viva Lindsey's family for 100 years. Indeterminate, regular leaf, a little known tomato variety and difficult to find. Nebraska Wedding Tomato Mrs. Beiswenger of Crookston, MN, is credited for introducing this tomato to the Seed Savers Network. She received the tomato seeds from Mrs. Englert of Sandpoint, ID in 1980. Mrs. Englert was 72 at the time and said "Nebraskan brides were given seeds of this tomato as a wedding gift. It was said to have been brought from MN by pioneers in the late 1800s via covered wagons. And it thrived in cold, windy Nebraska." Nebraska Wedding has apricot-orange skin and flesh. 3-4" globes are juicy with a well balanced acid-sweet flavor and can weight up to a pound. Determinate vines, 90 Days. __________________ "We believe we mere debtors to God in relation to each other and all men, to improve our Time and Talents in this Life, in that manner in which we might be most useful." Shaker Covenant 1795

Yes, there are regional differences. Vive la difference! Otherwise we'd be eating a diet as predictable as McDonald's. If anyone would like to try an authentic Southern (i.e., non-sweet) version of cornbread, this recipe I posted a while back is my favorite version. I will grant a point to those who use 'adulterants' (grin) like sugar and flour: unless the quality of the corn meal is very good, cornbread made with just corn meal can be bitter. Meal can go rancid and stale pretty quickly. But cornbread made with fresh cornmeal, preferably stone-ground locally, is plenty sweet on its own. I generally only buy small quantities of cornmeal--just enough to make whatever recipe I'm making, and I buy it at a store that seems to have a good turnover of product. (That means not buying it at a gourmet store. No telling how long that stuff has been on the shelf.) Fortunately in my area of South Carolina there are a few grist mills not too far away that supply the local stores. Bernard Clayton's 'New Complete Book of Breads' actually has a listing for 2 different breads. One he calls "Yankee Corn Bread" (sugar, flour, yellow corn meal) and the other is Southern Corn Bread (white corn meal, no sugar or flour.) I find, though, that the freshness of the meal is more important than whether it's white or yellow. For those with access to good fresh meal I recommend this recipe from Clayton: Southern Corn Bread 2 eggs, room temp 2 cups buttermilk, room temp 1 tsp baking soda 2 cups white cornmeal (but yellow is okay, too) 1 1/2 tsp salt Preheat oven and baking utensil (skillet or 9 x 9 pan) to 450 while mixing batter. In a small bowl beat the eggs and mix in the buttermilk. In a mixer bowl, mix the baking soda, cornmeal and salt. Pour in the egg-buttermilk mixture and mix well until smooth. Pour batter into the preheated pan, return to oven for 20 to 25 minutes. It's done when a knife inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean & dry. I use this recipe when I make cornbread dressing for Thanksgiving; a quadruple recipe just barely fits into a 5 quart KitchenAid mixer bowl, and into an 11 x 14 pan. Absolutely delicious. This is what you use to soak up the pot juices from cooking black-eyed peas or greens. I always called those juices 'pot liquor' but my wife wondered what the heck I was talking about when I used that term. I guess that's southern as well.