Ingrid, it really is wonderful to meet other rosarians, see different roses and look at how they grow in different settings. The Farmer's Branch garden is impressive, with huge bushes grown under very harsh "Earthkind" conditions. Then, the Heritage Rose Garden at Chambersville is astonishing, with roses grown at 20 ft centers in a pasture with longhorn cattle on the other side of the fence. Hope that at the very least you can make it up to Sacramento one of these days. Anita

Congratulations Dee! It sounds like you are influencing people in your life not by the constant preaching some people do, but rather by educating which is far better in the long run. I've come to the conclusion almost on one likes a preacher or a tree hugger. I just wish more environmental activists would learn that lesson. I'm still not sure what impact I am having on others. I know they know I practice a lot of what we talk about out here, but I don't know if anyone is doing or even thinking about doing some of the things I do. I guess I just need more feedback from folks. Maybe this is one small success: You saw my dryer thread. Well I was telling my sister about the dead beast and my decision not to replace it. At first she thought I was crazy and started to give me all these examples of when I would need one. I calmly explained how I would handle each of the situations she suggested and also explained how little I had been using the dryer already. By the end of the conversation I think she was actually seeing my point of view - a very, very rare event for sure! Once again, I think you're going in exactly the right direction with your education of others. It's very nice to hear of your success. Kevin

Here's Marianna Greene's article from the Dallas Morning News: Some of my garden roses are putting on a fall show, though I dare not look at them directly for fear of inviting bad luck. I marveled at their prolific beauty last June, even puffed out my chest a bit � as if I had anything to do with the extravagant display. Then there was the historic hailstorm in June, shattering blossoms and breaking branches. Some rosebushes were split in half. I gave up gardening, but my despondency lasted only a few weeks. I tried to bandage my wounded soldiers and amputated a few limbs. But I have been lovingly feeding and watering them all summer, talking sweetly to them, if you must know, and most are bouncing back, rewarding me with a few big, full, fragrant flowers. I do not spend my money on a rose that does not smell like a rose. My garden roses are mainly old hybrids whose history goes back to long-established Texas cottage gardens, abandoned farmsteads and old cemeteries. I can bury my face in a newly opened rose and swoon. If you are a rose gardener or wish to try cultivating them, Saturday holds unusual opportunity. Farmers Branch is holding its Celebration of Roses all day, featuring three presentations, a silent auction of young roses from a highly regarded nursery in California, and the Farmers Branch public gardens filled with roses in their fall flush. One of the speakers, Gregg Lowery, has devoted more than two decades to propagating old roses at his Vintage Gardens (vintagegardens.com) in Sebastopol, Calif. His current special project is to bring recently rediscovered heirloom French roses that had been lost to the nursery trade to American gardens. Like the cottage roses brought with farm wives and others colonizing Texas, Lowery�s selections have long histories. "France was the source of most of the old roses we grow today in our gardens," Lowery says in an email. "In the 19th century, it was the home of the world�s great rose-makers. In their efforts to create new roses that bloomed continually, they worked with a group of roses imported from China, the China and tea roses." In 2013, many old roses from France, grown from cuttings at Vintage Gardens for two years under U.S. quarantine, will be shipped to customers across the United States who reserved them when Lowery made the offer known. "The collectors of old roses and nursery people in France have in the past few years rediscovered a wealth of old tea roses, early hybrid teas, Chinas and noisettes," Lowery says. "We were keen to see these get into the hands of American gardeners, as the groups are recognized for their suitability to the South and the West, where many rose growers reside." Because these French roses are still under quarantine, Lowery cannot bring them to Texas yet. He will lecture about these roses, representing "some of the greatest rose hybridizers in the history of the rose." He has donated other rarely seen roses from his nursery to a silent auction to benefit the Farmers Branch rose gardens. This is the shopping opportunity: "Some of the very special roses," Lowery says, "include the single yellow Banksia rose, Rosa banksiae �Lutescens�; a foundling hybrid gigantea (these are giant ramblers related to the tea roses) known as the Santa Clara University Cemetery No. 16, a rose that resembles a massive �Gloire de Dijon�; and �Reine Marie Pia,� a climbing tea rose with double pink flowers, quite fragrant," among others. The silent auction will open at noon Saturday and close at 4 p.m., with bids starting at $15. Dr. William Welch from Texas A&M University, author of Antique Roses for the South and the new Heirloom Gardening in the South, will talk about Southern heirloom plants and gardens. His co-author on the 2012 book, Greg Grant, also will speak. Grant, a seventh-generation Texan, has restored his grandparents� dogtrot farmhouse in Arcadia, near Nacogdoches, and planted flowers and shrubs suitable to its age and style. In addition to tours of the Farmers Branch rose gardens, the Dallas Rose Society will have its fall rose show from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Free registration, which includes a lunch of hot dogs, will be in the Gussie Field Watterworth Park pavilion beginning at 10:30 a.m. Parking will be available at City Hall, 13000 William Dodson Parkway. Shuttles will move through the gardens, and master gardeners will be available for questions. For more details, see fbroses.com.

plumorchard- I asked the gentleman that owned the store why he thought the results were different. I think between his information and my personal experience, the difference was in the ranges natural convection. It is a vaulted oven which allows the air to naturally swirl around the food. It is known that convection fans do dry food some, and without fans, this oven has the benefits of convection without the drawbacks. My husband and I are configuring colors now on the Chateau 120 with the double ovens. The Cornue fe cooked excellent as well, in fact, if it was made the same as the Chateau line of ranges, that is what we would be considering because it is the most beautiful range I have ever seen! We want to step it up a notch above the mass manufactured ranges like the Cornu Fe and Wolf etc. I just hope we can afford to do it..! Happy cooking.