Hi Mike, Dont buy the oxypetalum. I am sending you a few pieces of this one. It is true that they grow like crazy. I left this one at my parents house when I moved out because it does take a tremendous amount of space. I got a call from my mom and she told me that she was waiting for the day that that was going to strangle her..LOL. Once you have an established cutting, you can expect some new growths to be a couple feet long. No joke, mine had some growths that were 4 ft long in one summer!! The blooms are great! Just make sure your going to be home to enjoy them! Mine only lasted one night and that was it. As soon as the sun went down, the bud would begin to open. By the time the sun came up, it was closing. Logees describes it as having flowers the size of dinner plates. I had some that were even larger than that!!! Mine is pitifull now compared to when it was in its glory. I wished I would have found a way to care for it here. At one point, that plant was around 10ft long but I have had it for over 10 years. You can control the growth with pruning. Just make sure you do it at the right time or you will end up with no blooms. I will have to read up on my notes on this before I can tell you when to prune it. I can send you 3-4 nice cuttings next week with the others if you want okay? I also have a nice big pink epi. I don't know the name of the variety but it is really pretty. Trust me, neither of them will take a lifetime to get blooms from. My oxy bloomed in 1.5-2 years after I got it. I started a couple for friends and the one I gave to my landlords mom bloomed the same year I rooted it! The pink variety I bought locally and they had rooted cuttings with buds on them. I will say that it may take a couple years for those blooms to reach there potential. Andrew

Thanks for the photo comments. The picture is from 2006 and is the rhubarb remaining immediately after a harvest, where all the older stalks on the ground and at low angles have been pulled off. Slug bait pellets are used around this rhubarb on occasion. It is about time for harvest #2 this year. Local strawberries should be widely available by mid-month. Some U-pick notices are already in the paper. The Barn rhubarb is still on display during peach season when we visit.

Mila - sounds like you have a plan, and I know what you mean about not wanting to wait to follow through on your plan. There's always room for more roses if you get creative! Glad the pictures helped you get tempted - they're all great climbers and you can't go wrong with any of the three you mentioned. Summers - for sure you'd have to finagle a way to attach the canes to the trees, and that's getting way too close to Quadra for my skin's sake. He's big and thorny, and between two trees he'd be just waiting to pounce. For sure you'd need another kind of support in addition to the trees, or he'd be flopping on your other roses as you mention. I used to grow my Quadra as a free-standing bush and he was at least 7' wide and aggressive with space. Can you stretch some sort of trellis or arch between the trees for extra support? He might not bloom as much in part shade beneath trees, but I'm all for giving it a try if that's where he is. I have Veilchenblau beneath a huge oak tree and it's pretty impressive (though it doesn't want to climb). Cynthia

For further reference Mullion/muntin: A mullion is a heavy vertical or horizontal member between adjoining window units. Muntins are the narrow strips of wood that divide the individual panes of glass in a traditional sash.May 24, 2008