teeandcee - I am in SWMO too, and have a small collection of gallicas. I'd love to share info with you on all aspects of rose growing here in the Ozarks, as there isn't much discussion of roses on the Ozarks forum usually. Right now the only gallica I have with buds is Rush gallica (which, unfortunately, I don't believe to be in commerce anymore). It is supervigorous, but does tend to mildew for me a bit in early summer. But what a beauty - incomparably ethereal blued-out pastel magenta. Cardinal de Richelieu is my only other really early gallica. It will be in bud soon. It is also extraordinarily vigorous for me, and spotlessly clean. All things considered, it is probably the best rose in my garden. I do have Gloire de France, but it is not particularly early here. It is a slower grower, but suckers badly. It is also totally clean here in my garden. I can't remember the bloom times on my other mature gallicas well enough to give you much info, but I will try to come back with some of that info as things progress, if you'd be interested. One thing I will say about gallicas in SWMO is that I really appreciate their breaking dormancy so late. It ensures that they will have a good bloom when the time comes. Here's something else - if you recall the Easter freeze a few years ago, followed by another late freeze the next year...well, a lot of roses were hit badly by that. My bourbons, which almost all bud out early were really set back. Russelliana, my earliest bloomer, and Banshee didn't bloom at all those years when all their buds were killed. But the gallicas mostly set new buds and bloomed a few weeks later, albeit more lightly. An exception was Gloire de France, which refused to set new buds. CdR was spectacular in this regard. After having hundreds of buds killed by frost, it quickly recovered, and set only dozens and scores of new buds. A lot of bloom by any reckoning. One thing more - the main disease problem I've had with gallicas here is mildew. Most will mildew a little, some will do it badly. The only gallica I've suspected of blackspot is Charles de Mills. It might be what they call "damask crud," though, because it doesn't defoliate or yellow, and my Rose de Rescht gets it too. Still don't know what that is, really, but RdR is on it's way out because it's so bad. CdM, however, is still well worth it IMO. It is just unbelievably gorgeous with those huge, swirling, neon blooms. And the black stuff comes after it's awesome performance anyway. Mine is not own root, so maybe that's another problem. That's all I know for now. All in all, gallicas are probably one of the very best bets for SWMO. Good luck!

My husband always says, "Pretty is as pretty does... pretty won't save your butt in a tight situation. Gimme the ugly dog that bites like a shark and will lay down her own life to save mine. To me, that's a pretty dog." He's an old school breeder with the finest reputation in his line of dogs. We've hosted shows, but they're mainly designed to bring the breed community together... the conformation rings are always very sparse. The get-together is always fun, though. I almost dislike giving advice for growing hippeastrums... mainly because what works for me may not necessarily work for someone else. Be it soil, or fertilizer, or watering techniques... or even container type... it's all relevant to an individual's climate and gardening habits... I think we all have to do our own bit of research, take what we learn and read with a grain of salt and a lot of common sense... and in so doing, we eventually find a way that works for our situation. I hope everyone takes my postings as what they are... my own personal opinions and findings... something to think about, maybe, or a jumping-off place for research... but still, only my own observations... I'm not an expert by a long shot... I just want to get some ideas across that may help in a given situation... or may help get you thinking about other ways to do things...something I do may make you think about something you're doing or not doing... but in the end... we all have to find the equation that works for us. For me, MiracleGro houseplant liquid seems to make my bulbs happy... I've tried other fertilizers, but I always come back to the liquid... they just seem to grow well on it.

Hi Tigerdunes: Thank you for your feedback. I live in North New Jersey. We heat both floors of our house using steam radiators (from a separate boiler in the basement). We also have a separate AC zone for our larger first floor. This system is for our second floor only. I think that our installer has sized us correctly for our (smaller) upstairs zone as I received several estimates and virtually all the bids included the same system (or Comfort systems). Your feedback helps as our installer shared that he thought that I was wasting money by even getting a Performance system, but I wanted to have some humidity control and a VS system. One follow-up question: I think that this system on his proposal has a single stage with a scroll compressor. Would I notice any difference between this system and a Performance system with 2 stages?

Spend years building fish habitat around my dock. got all kinds of fish living there. Don,t need a boat for catching fish, water is clear most of the time.