Daisy: Since own-root roses are small, I move them around a lot and observe their roots. OWN-ROOT W.S. 2000 has thinner roots & more cluster roots thus need a fluffy medium to push through. In contrast, Comte de Chambord has long woody sticks, not much cluster roots, and cannot handle tons of acidic rain resulting in black spots. Hard woody roots need hard-minerals in clay to form. W.S. 2000 as own-root has PALE and small leaves. Small leaves mean it needs fluffy or sandy soil, and pale leaves mean it blooms best with acidic rain. It refused to bloom with my alkaline tap water at pH 9. In contrast, DARK-GREEN leaves like Dee-lish, Intrigue, Liv Tyler, Arthur Bell, Double Delight, Firefighter or Evelyn bloom easily with pH 9 tap-water. Dark-green leaves are also prone to black spots during acidic rain .. while the very pale leaves like own-root W.S. 2000 never have black spots, even with tons of acidic rain. Sharifa Asma also has pale leaves as own-root and I never see blackspots on that one. pH of rain here is 4.5. First pic. is own-root W.S. 2000 in my amended clay (note the pale and tiny leaves). Second pic. is Sharifa Asma (gets rain water from my 6 rain-barrels so leaves are darker green). But own-root Sharifa Asma was very pale with alkaline tap water at pH 9. Own-root Carding Mill also has pale leaves and refused to grow with alkaline tap water. Light-green or pale leaves are BEST AS GRAFTED. I wish I had bought Sharifa as grafted. See own-root W.S. 2000 below: Own-root Sharifa Asma below: All my 134 varieties are own-roots, and Facebook Fragrant Rose Lovers (founded by Khalid) helps me in choosing dark-green and large-leaves for my alkaline & dense clay. Khalid urges his 1,800 international members to post bush-shots where leaves and growth can be seen. When I want an own-root rose suitable for my rock-hard clay, I search inside that Facebook group for "dark green leaves" or "large leaves". These rosarians always post bush-shots plus detailed description of each rose (lineage & types of leaves). The info. is more accurate than HMF since they post many bush-shots in different weather (above 110 F, or month-long rain, or in sandy soil, or pots, plus bush-shot videos of rose so I can see what type of soil they have). Below link is Facebook Fragrant Rose Lovers group, fantastic reference !! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1412992132360557/permalink/2264173233909105

Sue, that was a very nice tribute to Jeff. Even though we come in contact with people throughout our lives, some intimately, some in occasional passing, we truly don't know what goes on in anyone else's head. One of my friends committed suicide in 1990 at the age of 29 and although he was going through a rough patch, he had a young boy and I just couldn't understand the rationale. It was the saddest and strangest funeral I had ever attended. Over 200 people in attendance and friends putting joints and whiskey and pepsi in his coffin and his brothers drinking and dancing on his grave. I had a dream of him a couple of years ago. He was relaxing in a chase lounge with a drink next to him and he looked happy! I said to him, "Dave, you look great....especially since you are dead!"...he just laughed his goofy laugh...and I've felt better about it...weird huh? Annie, thanks for putting yourself out there and putting into perfect words what many of us feel at certain times in our lives: "just a combination of a lot of life's sorrows at a vulnerable time." If you have never, ever had the thought of taking your own life consider yourself very fortunate. Life can turn on a dime at any given moment so appreciate your blessings this very minute and enjoy living every second of every minute of every hour of every day. Duane

My cousin also commited suicide about 1 1/2 years ago. this has been painful for my aunt and uncle and his sister. He was manic-depressive and at the time that this happened, he was not on speaking terms with his parents. This has been so difficult for them due to..." what if we had done this, or what if we had done that". They thought he just needed some time, and that everything would come together again, and so they were giving him this time. But he took his life. Life was a struggle for him. He was so brilliant in many ways. But in many ways life was painful for him. I am so sorry for your loss and that you are going through something so painful and trying to understand that which no parent should have to try and understand. May you one day find peace in your hearts and blessings along the way.

I need some serious advice, and all of you seem like very good people with sincere approaches to coping. My brother took his life eleven months ago today. I so dread the one-year anniversary. This was not his first attempt, but was the only time he tried that he really meant it. The other times clearly were a call for attention. This time, there was absolutely no stopping him. I'll spare you details and get onto my two issues. First, I have been paralyzed from having any relationship with my sister-in-law since my brother's passing. I know I need to reach out to her, but I simply cannot. About three weeks after Chad's passing, my sister-in-law called to ask me a favor, which I quickly performed. During the conversation, though, she digressed into telling me about the last conversation that my brother had with Mom and Dad. It was very clear that my sister-in-law blames my Mom and Dad and my brother's upbringing. This caused two problems for me. First, it really made me question who I am ... if Chad and I shared the same upbringing and Chad took his life, what does that mean for me? Second, we all have to have our own "reality" about why Chad passed in the way that he did, but my reality cannot be to blame my Mom and Dad in any way whatsoever. In fact, my relationship with my parents is stronger than it ever was before. The day that my sister-in-law and I had this conversation was absolutely the most difficult day of coping that I have had. I was literally in the car on the way to work when she called, and I had to pull over, get out of the car, pace and cry while we talked and for a long while thereafter. I could not make it into work for two days following. Hence, I have not been able to make myself call her in months. At forced family gatherings, there is a tension but we're cordial. But, we have no relationship. I hate that, but I'm so apprehensive too. My dad is begging me to call my sister-in-law, and I cannot tell him that I can't call her b/c she blames him and Mom. I've written eight letters to her in an attempt to explain why it is so difficult for me, but I haven't had the courage to mail any of them yet. My second issue is that a couple of months before Chad's passing, he announced to the family how proud he was of himself for quitting smoking. He said it was all because of the anti-smoking pill Chantix. Now, I've learned that the FDA has linked Chantix to suicide. I've carried a ton of anger since Chad's passing and now I'm mad at hell at the pharma company. To make Chad a class rep in a class action against the pharma company may give me an outlet for my anger and grief, but I don't want to be the selfish little sister that drudges the rest of the family through even more pain. Of course, my sister-in-law would have to be on board and that would require my talking it over with her. I'm an attorney by the way.