Charleney, I'm sorry to hear about your illness and ailing roses and hope you are both better soon. First thought here is that you might not have done your roses a favor by putting coffee grounds on them. I once did that to a healthy azalea and it _suffered_ very noticeably. If you want to use coffee grounds, I'd suggest doing it only for plants in the ground where its impact would be less concentrated, and also not putting very much at all at one time on any one plant. I know I've seen threads where people rave about coffee grounds on roses, but I'd go easy, easy on that, given what I know for sure its impact was on my azalea. I may have overdone the coffee grounds thing here when I tried it; perhaps just a thin scatter thrown out once or twice a year would have caused no harm at all. Anyway, you might consider scraping off some or most of the coffee grounds if what you put there was a heavy application. Grs An Aachen will do well even without enough sun, so your overcast weather is probably not responsible for its problems. It's a little leggy with too much shade, but nothing like a one-cane thing, and still very healthy. And the cold probably doesn't account for its problems either unless your winter was a lot worse than ours was; all three of our Grüss An Aachens have been absolutely cane hardy here with temperatures down to 11, 12, 13 degrees this exceptionally cold winter. They look wonderful now and I already see at least one flower bud. I don't know what MMM clone is, but would guess that just making sure the soil has a good organic component in its composition would be all that you'd need to do if it's acidic enough. We had something like your problem happen here when a rose was planted in a spot that was elevated but not nearly enough for our low clay soil in that area of the yard, given the unusually wet year we had last year. With really wet soil starting just maybe 8-10 inches down, there's so little dirt at a level where the roses' roots can function that the rose doesn't have the strength to send up a normal number of canes. Perhaps your wet weather was a problem because the growing spot is less than ideally elevated for good drainage in wet times? If that's the problem, just getting the roses into a well-drained pot situation ought to fix them up very soon, if you don't do anything to the soil in the pot to stress the roses further. Of the two roses we had in an insufficiently elevated spot, the one ailing the most recovered quickly as soon as it was moved to a pot with nothing more than normal organic materials incorporated into the dirt. However, the one that seemed less threatened didn't get moved right away, and with one thing and another, we didn't get around to moving it until a couple of months later, after it was too late. But the one we moved quickly enough recovered beautifully and survived the winter in perfect condition. It looks wonderfully healthy now. Fingers crossed for you now that you have that good luck with yours too! Best wishes, Mary P.S. The roses are counting on the few leaves they have remaining to get the strength they need for sending out new roots; don't cut any of that growth off now! You can always trim them later, after the roses recover, if you want to shape their form then.

Hi Konrad...about two/three weeks ago I visited the cherry orchard at Berwyn, Alberta (Zone 2) and picked my winter supply...they were absolutely loaded...I mean absolutely LOADED. This year in the Peace River Country it has been very hot and very dry...and obviously they love those conditions. The orchard is located in an exposed field...no windbreaks but there is an irrigation system installed...the orchard is at least ten years old and is the "true" testament of what is a hardy cherry variety. I believe there are at least 6 varieties in the orchard and we picked Crimson Passion cherries exclusively this year...under the conditions at the time, I detected a slightly sweeter flavor with these compared to the other varieties. Also, the cherries were large this year...so the pitting went well. By the way, the orchardist (J Stuart) doesn't think much of the Evans cherry...I could see why...winter/spring kill and very few berries... I was impressed at how his other varieties have grown in mass in two years...wasn't there last year as it was a poor crop...but they are still what I consider "shrubs", not "trees"...presently about 5 ft tall and likely not to get much taller. That possibly proves that cherry plants don't have to be large to produce huge crops...as a matter of fact, it appears that may be a hindrance in our climate...(Evans are the tallest variety that I have seen so far)...would your observations lead you to a similar conclusion?

Hahaha...poor Ill-Man! Glad you were able to handle the problem. Catbirds and Mockers (their cousins) do LOVE fruit, for sure. If it is any consolation, the catbird should be gone soon. April is about as late as they stay in this part of the state...usually. (I'm adding that disclaimer, because lately, birds seem to be disregarding the rules now and then!) Catbirds winter here, where mockers stay all year. Yours should be handing his fruit patroling duties over to his cousins any day now. Marcia

We are joining friends this year, so I am bringing the pumpkin bread pudding this year. Very easy to make and make ahead....I do skip the caramel sauce and just serve it with sweetend whipped cream and I use the Splenda brown sugar. Bread pudding 2 cups half and half 1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin 1 cup (packed) plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar 2 large eggs 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 10 cups 1/2-inch cubes egg bread (about 10-ounces) 1/2 cup golden raisins Caramel sauce 1 1/4 cups (packed) dark brown sugar 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter 1/2 cup whipping cream Powdered sugar For bread pudding: Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk half and half, pumpkin, dark brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and vanilla extract in large bowl to blend. Fold in bread cubes. Stir in golden raisins. Transfer mixture to 11x7-inch glass baking dish. Let stand 15 minutes. Bake pumpkin bread pudding until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare caramel sauce: Whisk brown sugar and butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until butter melts. Whisk in cream and stir until sugar dissolves and sauce is smooth, about 3 minutes. Sift powdered sugar over bread pudding. Serve warm with caramel sauce. Curtesy of Wildfire Restaurant, Chicago.