Thank you, Kaye. Your garden looks wonderfully ready for spring! Joe, that's a beautful pink confection. Thank you Carol, I love the pink swirls in the blooms. Ingrid, I love the pastel shadings of TG. Thank you for the Birthday wishes. Judith, what a lovely bloom, so cheerful and spring like. Fr. Jerome, thank you for the Birthday wishes. Thank you, Rosefolly for the Birthday Greetings. Patricia, thank you, sounds like a fun idea, to celebrate twice! Beautiful pic of Double Delight.

Could I make a suggestion? Why not start a whole new thread with "RSVP to Garden Party Oct. 1, 8 to 1" in the subject line. Condense the rest of the info in the message. We're close enough to the date to keep it onscreen with replies and far enough out to give people time to plan. Everyone could RSVP to that one and you wonderful planners would have a better idea of how many people to expect.

Typically do tryouts with new plants, while potted, in various sun exposures to scope out their site preference before planting. Golden Celebration didn't appreciate all day sun here in central Virginia at 38 latitude, so was planted in an ESE exposure where the house blocks direct sun after 2-3 pm. Guessing you're up to 10 degrees closer to the equator, warmer year round & generally hotter longer in Summer, so believe moving GC to where it will receive afternoon relief from blazing sun will help greatly. Haven't found GC needs rich fertilization in the mineral-dense clay based loam here, but definitely appreciates more water than most. Even in this climate with 5-6" of rain a month typical in the growing season, GC needs extra supplemental gentle hose spray hand watering for peak performance when the temps really crank up. Like other roses. it gets 1-2" of homemade compost twice a year Spring & Fall and fallen oak leaf mulch in Autumn, both kept a few inches clear of the canes. With lower plants shading the ground in mixed perennial beds, there's nothing besides the light layer of compost past Spring, as I've found actual mulch contributes to fungal spread in this humid climate. All get Neptune's Harvest watered in once or twice a year & sprayed as a foliar feed if they're showing signs of stress any other time. Golden Celebration grows vertically here, confined within but not tied to a copper obelisk, where there's good air circulation in this high humidity & high blackspot pressure area. Only occasional blackspot noted on low leaves, stripped off & trashed as they appear, with new clean leaves replacing them quickly. No sprays nor chemicals used here, as they may harm the beneficial soil microorganisms I rely upon to keep the pathogenic ones in check. Nearly 9 years in this garden with this treatment, Golden Celebration has been a real star performer, blooming nearly continuously early till late in generous clusters of beautiful & well perfumed blossoms. Since yours holds its leaves while dormant, may be a good idea to strip them once it enters dormancy as clean up, as they serve no purpose for the plant at that point & will often succumb to disease once the plant withdraws support for them. A little Mycorrhizal Fungi sprinkled on the roots when you transplant it may help it recover more easily. Incorporated into this garden years ago, find it made growing healthy roses much easier. Good luck! This post was edited by vasue on Fri, Feb 6, 15 at 12:50

Bingo! Sorry I've been AWOL. School started Aug. 19, our Moms In Prayer group started up again (we pray for the schools/students/teachers). We had the Eclipse (Nebraska was one of the best places to view it and lots of hubbub). I attended a training on Native American Children/ICWA Indian Children Welfare Act. Very enlightening. The tribes are a nation within a nation. They have their own courts, social workers, etc. If the tribe chooses to return a child to the household with a parent who is neglectful/abusive the American courts have to let it happen. On the other hand, the Native Americans have a strong culture and often use non-traditional ways to cure drug addiction such as music therapy and animal therapy. My husband had a birthday so we had a party and now he's trying to put together his own business. That's been a life-long dream. Trouble is...he's an entrepreneur and I'm the anchor who keeps dousing him with questions and pieces of reality. I can see where he wants to go, but he can't see the 200 steps he has to take to get there. In his mind he's already there (wherever he sees himself in his video playback in his head). I may need valium. My double click cosmos bloomed! That's been my good news to keep me going!!! Ii got my daughter's video complete from her trip to Japan and got it uploaded to Facebook. Heidi