Hi Carol: Thank you for your positive feedback .. I love all the pics. of your garden, esp. of your little girl ... would love to see more! I have 52 varieties. I received 6 yesterday from Roses Unlimited, which makes it 58 roses. Roses in zone 5a stay small due to winter-die back, so I can fit them into my garden. Their being own-roots make them small too. My own-root W. Shakespeare 2000 is the size of a mini-rose. I thought I'm the only one, until Rosefolly reported growing hers in a pot. I'm happy that 2 of my large trees died during last year drought, which means more room for roses. Hi noseometer: In the English Roses Forum, RosarianPK's canal soil has a pH over 8, with temp. near 120 degrees. His favorite roses that bloomed at high heat are Fragrant Cloud and Meilland roses. Firefighter is also a Meilland rose, does well in my hot summer. Dry and hot climate usually have alkaline soil. Some tap water are alkaline due municipals putting lime to prevent pipes from being corroded. French roses like Meilland and Romanticas can handle alkaline soil and water well, plus loving the heat. I agree that Frederic Mistral is NOT good for hot sun ... his color get bleached out to blah, plus he's a water-hog in my zone 5a. When I researched on Peter Mayle for my rose order of next year ... I find people in hot and dry climate really like Peter Mayle. His color is deep-pinkish red, and smells great. Kate (Dublinbay) listed that among her best roses in summer heat. I also saw Braveheart rose blooming at the rose park at 100 degrees, but that has no scent. Roses with thick petals that last one week in the vase can stand up to heat well, I still regret not getting Bewitched Hybrid tea, that smells good also ... but I already have Frederic Mistral, vase life is shorter, and needs more water. If you google "Bewitched rose and HMF", it will show the info. that Bewitched rose is heat-tolerant. If you choose ADVANCED SEARCH option in HMF, click on GROWING option (zone, plant use, disease resistant, growing note), then scroll way down to page, and check the box next to HEAT TOLERANT, then click CONTINUE ... it will list the roses that are heat-tolerant such as: Angel Face floribunda, Stephen Big Purple, Bewitched, and Romantica Auguste Renoir. This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Fri, Jun 28, 13 at 13:43

Depends on the year Maryann. February is the wettest month in LV, which doesn't mean much since this is a true desert and drier than almost anywhere else. Just means there might be several small storms during the month instead of the single big ones we get in spring and late summer. February can be bright sunshine and warm, but more likely clouded over and windy with some days very sunny and warmer. I've seen it pushing the 90's by early February some years, but normal day time highs are more like around 60-70. Warm snaps do trigger the butterflies here and south of here though, causing some wintering-over pupae to emerge and strays to fly into the area. If there's been any warmer days, several Pierid species could be on the wing for sure, and some of the early Papilio species as well. Also larva that wintered-over will probably be out starting to feed again. A fun day trip if they are out is to go south of LV to Christmas Tree Pass road just south of CalNevAri for the Pierids, especially the Euchloe and Anthocharis. One species that flies strong there is a great find, E. lotta. The A. cethura and maybe even A. thoosa will be out too as well as other species. A closer day (since you have people in BC) might be to look for larva up on the slopes of Railroad Pass between Henderson and Boulder City. Could be several species of larva found there, both moth and BF if you know the LFP's... AND it's a good place to see adults moving back and forth between south/north, including stray species. Weather doesn't matter for the larva, but you'll need some sun or at least warmth for the adults to be flying in any numbers. L.

it's intresting ----haS anyone ever sent pollen ---not frozen --but cooled,express air to use a.s.a.p?---we send seaman in dogs ---frozen or cold chilled to AI or inplant-- the rate of getting the female in whelp is better with chilled-sent counter to counter. Frozen is a tad tricker. I did a frozen litter this last year. On paper the breeding was to die for---but in the flesh the pups were medecore at best---I did keep one (like a bridge plant) gave him to my son---I'll try him when he is a bit older and health check out--His breeding is beautiful and he has not a glaring fault. BREEDING BETTER BULLIES and hope a few DLS in MENDO---cole

Rosewitch, England was definitely one of my favorite places I have ever visited. My folks took me there when I was 14, and I remember bits and pieces the Crown jewels, walking amongst the Stonehenge stones (roped off now, vandalism), Stratford upon Avon. Time for me to take my own 14YO. Im trying to think how I can get over there for a whole summer, LOL. Dlynn, I could have worked so much more. I didnt really look at night time stuff and there was loads to do. Greece: cant help you, but shoot Yasou a line, she went a few years ago. LOL Annie! Teresa, well go together. I wanted to explore more cooking and food shops/stores but didnt get to. Terri, here is more a link to Pictures of England, a website pointed out to me by Denise. I started it on Bourton on the Water, where we stayed for a few days. Thanks Sharon, I was actually thinking how can I even come close to posting her quality of travel guides, I dont do the pictures she does LOL. We might have sat at the same table in the Cheshire Cheeses dining room! Sawdust still there, but we didnt make it to the cellar. I missed a lot of the British Museum. It has changed.check out the new atrium. I couldnt keep up with DH and DS16. Afternoons, when I planned museums, I crashed. Next time! Pam, lots of people did more than we did per day! Theater every night, more attractions, I cant imagine. Gina heh heh yeah I need another vacation like a hole in my head. Speaking of whichDH has another week off in August. Nooooooooo! Kathleen, DH says he took an average of 200 pictures a day. Yup. Me, I just buy the post cards or Google the images, same thing (DARFC from the photo bugs here) Cathy, thanks for giving me the War and Peace moniker heh heh. Next time I go with CF friends! LindaC, I know. Im still exhausted. Speaking of the V&A, did you know there was a Dale Chihuly chandelier in the entrance room?