Kim, today I read your entire article on HMF "I am NOT an expert" but I have to disagree, you really are!! After reading up on Renae I'm convinced that's what this rose is like you said, except it doesn't seem to have a strong desire to climb. Of course that's just for me, in my climate with my horticultural practices. Southern Louisiana is a very specific climate to grow in. I do think it's a great place for me to carry out my lifelong breeding goals since if a seedling can survive Louisiana's black spot infested humidity and heat it'll be off to a good start! Thanks for the good luck Judith! Also to anyone interested and curious, I have ripening hips on a couple of roses with this rose, 'Renae' as the pollen parent: a few of (Smooth Ballerina x Renae) and a lot of (Thomas Affleck x Renae). I bet those seedlings will be smooth as silk! I can't wait to one day share my creations with everyone!

I have both dogs and not really a fly problem, but a question... my husband once had an interesting conversation with our next door neighbor, went something like this: annoyed neighbor: your dogs bark all the time! perplexed and slightly amused husband: yeah?...well your dog poops on my lawn so I guess it's something we both have to live with I lurrv my husband. A little background, the particular neighbor is an older gentleman who has a bad heart and as the years had gone by, had become very overweight and his mobility was greatly reduced. He could hardly walk 10 ft without having to stop for 10-15 min to catch his breath. At the time, he used to open his front door and let his dogs out and they would just make themselves at home on my front lawn. What could I do?...he's an old guy and we're both pet owners. Sadly, both his doggies were also geriatric and are no longer with us. I'm glad my husband chose to point out the obvious without getting rude with the old guy who by the way wasn't very nice when he complained about my dog barking. 'nuff said...here's my *real* question....I have a med. sized lavender plant right by my front steps. About 3-4 days ago I noticed there were 8 or 9 dead flies stuck to the underside of the plant's leaves....what's up with that??? For the record, I am the proud owner of 4 yes 4 dogs. I walk them 3 times daily around the block 2 at a time. I scoop their poop and have been blessed with the time and inclination to have been able to teach them to void in the street where I can easily clean it up. They urinate in the street in front of my driveway and after our walks a little dish soap and the hose, with coffee in hand, I wash down the street. We keep a small tightly lidded tin trashcan with a garbage bag in it, I deposit the poop bags after our walks in the can and out the whole thing goes with the rest of the trash 3 x wkly. The lavender plant is in pretty close proximity of the trash can...so what's with the flies stuck to the underside of the leaves? For the record, we live on long island (NY) and our neighbors are separated by the width of a double driveway as far as the eye can see :)

I grew up on Peanuts!!!! STILL love the gang after all these years! Still have the big hardcover "Peanuts Treasury" I bought in the 70's! I made SURE that our DD (now 23!!!) knew all about the "Great Pumpkin", and all that cute/innocent stuff. I would NEVER miss the Peanuts Halloween show on CBS in the 70's! Same with "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!" When I look back, I miss the simple, sweet innocence and fun of those shows & characters... Yes... BC, The Far-Side, Calvin & Hobbes are the best by FAR IMO! I also liked Archie, Beetle-Bailey, Garfield, Hi & Lois, Marmaduke, & Hagar the Horrible... Good times & memories with all of these! Faron PS- This simple Far-Side frame is my all-time FAVE!!! Here is a link that might be useful: Midvale school...

That is what I liked about the Kousa dogwood is that it blooms after the leaves come out and seems so much fuller than our native ones. Laptops are great - you can pretty much do everything you want to on them and pick them up and hit the road. I can cast or use HDMI if I wanted to have a big screen like my 60" TV. I don't know if it is hand size or just age on using phones as your primary computer. While they are great for most everything they lack a full keyboard and mouse and the screen is kind of tiny to read. I guess your cousin can say "hi" to Sarah since they live in the same town? Or did she move? I collect the gourds and let them dry in the sun. I then store them away as ornaments or give them away. I just like growing them. Oh yeah, whoever thought of mini-storage hit a gold mine at least for the folks who got into it early. There is a storage place on our way to TN that is advertised as "Big Boys Toys" so you will see RVs, boats of every stripe, trailers, ATVs, etc. Now there is a place close to us (by the train tracks) that was graded, graveled, fenced in with chain link, and rented out to semi trucks, RVs, etc. Maybe 3 acres and it looks like the lot is full. Then across the road from that big lot is a new one that has a lot of construction equipment - front loaders, back hoes, bulldozers and other rusting "junk". Yep, to each their own on collecting "stuff". It is a passion, a hobby, a pasttime, etc. We can't take it with us but we can enjoy it while we can. Oh those aroids do have some "lewd" looking flowers at times, don't they. Voodoo lilies - look at their botanical names and find the definition. I was reading a blurb on the net this morning and how they think that 1 out of 3 COVID patients will have long term health problems from catching this horrible virus. We got our shots yesterday at Sam's Club. It was J&J as it was all they had. We took it and are hoping for the best. I hope Don gets his energy back soon. My mother had both her shots last month without any issues. No problem on the passionflower seeds. I think I saw our temps will be 78 one day this week. Those temps will bring a lot of plants out of hibernation including the bugs. I didn't even look at the crocus outdoors. Surely they must be blooming but so small compared to other flowers. My two stands of Lycoris are up and pretty but blooms will be a long way off from summer. When I find them in bloom it is usually by accident as they are in areas not frequented in summer. I have one other stand of Naked Ladies about 30 feet away. Daffodils the same day (this was 5 days ago) Backyard under the huge some in the front yard Some of these hyacinths got a little cold after this day. R.L. Wheeler two days ago from the backyard. Star Magnolia close up Gourds from previous years. 2015 - ladle or birdhouse I think. The earlier pictures were Caveman gourds. in 2013, I had one climbing out magnolia tree Here are some my dad grew from seeds I bought for him to try out. These are dried and drilled to hang up. Dec, 2012 Some I grew in 2007 mid October. Some are green, some yellow, and some already dried out.