otnorot--I have a cym outside; very stingy as well (no spikes this year). I have a mini-catt intergeneric that I was thinking of putting outside this year so it could have more light (it hasn't been happy since I got it about a year ago) but most stay inside. At ten indoor plants, I don't think I have that many. ;-) Beautiful photo, thanks for the inspiration. What is the watering secret to catts (mine has never been happy and only has a couple roots now)? calvin_orchidlover--I will look for T5s, thanks. I think my tallest orchid is a brassia intergeneric. I took an "inventory" last night, after I posted my vent, and it actually seems okay in it's new home, just covered in drywall dust that I washed off. It has continued to grow during winter with no crinkled leaves AND has a new pbulb growing (that was a surprise). I may not move it back. The other larger plants can sit in front of my now-smaller window, and the rest would probably fit under the cabinets if the light is thin enough. I feel like such a whiner b/c the new kitchen is nice. As for foliage plants, I never truly gave them up. I have several pothos, a very happy marantas, some sans, aglaonema etc. Thanks for the responses :-)

Hi all, Boy did this thread turn exactly into what I had hoped it wouldn't. I never meant for the name of any vendor to come up. That has been my own pet peeve with people on the forums that I had to overcome myself, that is, complaining about a vendor before you have contacted them in regards to your problem. That way maybe you will get your problem resolved before you feel you have to complain. In my own case, the only time I was able to get ahold of someone at this vendor was ironically at the time of canceling my 2nd order. So in frustration I needed to vent my anger, however trivial it maybe compared to real problems in our lives, my garden and my roses are #6 on my list of what's most important to me in life... that's pretty high on my list. I'm also a VERY patient person. People tell me that if I was any more patient they'd have to pronounce me dead. :^D Anyway, I was contacted by the owner of the nursery and here is what he said: Hi Robert, Paul Zimmerman here. Im the owner of Ashdown Roses. A customer of ours pointed me towards your post on the Antique Forum and the problems you had with us this season. I try to answer as many of these as I can and I hope you donÂt mind me intruding on you to do the same. First let me say your post was very gracious and this is in no way about that. When we make mistakes I like to contact folks to find out what happened  however in this case from your post I feel fairly sure I know the situation. IÂm sorry your first experience with us was a bad one. While I feel it is not a typical experience for our customers in your situation this was your only experience with us so for you it was typical. I can only offer the following background as to this year in the hope it might help you better understand why it did. The freeze and drought last year severely affected our ability to propagate to the point we were not only late with our crop but we only have about 60% of the roses we would like to have. What we do have is slow to come on this year, hence the size issues. Pot-Less has worked well in terms of getting costs down but when the plants are smaller we need to hold them because Pot-Less does stress them somewhat. To solve that in the future we are going back to a pot we used about five years ago which is a 3.5 inch by 6 inch pot that produced a nice rootball and plant. It is also less expensive to ship. In addition we should be able to expand our selection and offer more roses year around including fall shipping. It will mean the lower shipping cost of pot-less but with a more stable rootball and a pot so customers donÂt have to deal with the plants upon arrival. We also lost two key personnel this season and it is impossible to replace and train people during the season. Because of that Trish and I are pretty much running the place on our own with some help on the weekends, and they are focusing on propagation. Needless to say that has put us behind on many things as well. So, itÂs been one of those years. Late plants, less staff is giving us late shipping and customer communication that I realize is not what it should be. These are not offered as excuses because in the end what matters to you the customer is that we give you the product you ordered, when you ordered it. I hope you will give us another try next season (hopefully when things are back to normal). I did see you were able to get a Long John Silver elsewhere and IÂm glad you were. It is a lovely classic rambler with exquisite blooms on it. I first saw it bloom in England about five years ago and loved it. Have a wonderful gardening year and I appreciate your time, All the best Paul [My response:] Hi Paul, Thank you for your response and concern. I never intended for the name of Ashdown to come up in the post. By the time I checked back, there you were, I apologize for that. I try very hard and always encourage people on the forums to contact the nursery before posting their problems regarding the nursery. In my case however I couldn't get responses to phone calls and emails. I was very frustrated due to the lack of communication and the need to have these delivered on time in order for them to bulk up for winter. I do not take your response as excuses. I have been the foreman in an architectural woodwork shop for 13 years. I am very familiar with the ups, downs, ins, and outs of a small and specialized firm. We produce one of a kind pieces of furniture, doors, cabinets, or anything made out of wood. We have some rather eccentric clients that change their minds in the middle of production, and all kinds of situations that are turning my 35 year old hair grey. They are at times very hard to make happy, even when you give them exactly what they asked for, even if you go above and beyond what they asked for. So I understand that things don't always go the way you hope they will in a given business year. I understand how hard it is to train people in a very specialized niche, and keep them as productive employees. I'd love to quit my job, move my family to South Carolina and come and work for you, but I highly doubt that as an under-nurseryman I would be making the $XX/hr that I need to support my family in our present standard of living. I can dream though. :) Also, Trish is currently helping me with a situation that arose concerning the size of the Fantin Latour that you sent me, and a spider mite issue as well with Jim Lounsbery. I will see what damage control I can offer on the GW forum. I hope you find the people you need to help you make your company what you dream it will be. May next year bring you sunshine mixed with just the right amount of rain, timely frosts and thaws, and zealous rose collectors with disposable incomes due to plummeting oil and energy prices. Thank you sincerely, Robert Stockman [His response to my response] Hi Robert, Good morning and thanks for responding. DonÂt worry at all about our name coming up. As I mentioned weÂve had some struggles this season and others have been through what you have. In that regard I have no problems with our name coming up. IÂm a glass half full kind of guy and so think that this being discussed on a forum will let others know we are having issues this season  and give our long time customers a chance to share their experiences which are positive (If I may toot my own horn here for a moment! LOL) We are looking forward to next year. A new year, a new crop and a new way of offering plants I think customers will like. WeÂll release more details as we go on but as you well know small business is about fine tuning new approaches. The pot-less was new, by and large it worked and where it failed it did so spectacularly. But it achieved the goal of getting shipping way down. To that end we are working with that smaller pot to give a more established root ball with a plant that is more than a band. I hope it works and IÂll know for sure in about 8 weeks. The email situation was largely due to yahoo, bellsouth and about four other providers blocking our emails as spam. IÂve had to register with each of them but that is taking time. In your chase however it wasnÂt and I can only say we just got behind with all the extra work. IÂd love for you to come work for me but at $XX an hour IÂd advise you stay put! I love woodworking and do some very amateurish work in my spare time. Mostly structures like potting sheds etc. I find it a great way to relax and buy tools I could otherwise not justify. You know, "if I do the labor myself and save this much money I can afford this new saw" Stay in touch and thanks Paul So after some communication, I feel the issues have been resolved. Trish is sending me a new 'Fantin Latour' and if both of them survive the winter I will pay for the replacement she sent me whether she likes it or not. :^) And I have a handle on the spider mite issue. However, I don't know if I will be buying from Ashdown again, or any other non-dormant, own root vendor. Not because of any fault of the vendor, but I'm just not sure that these small plants are suited to getting established in my climate before winter sets in. I know I will be completely burying these plants for winter protection at least this first year, and that's something I vowed to never do again. If I had to provide winter protection to all my 100+ roses, they'd be putting on spring growth before I was finished. Time will tell. At the moment, I feel my issue with Ashdown has been resolved. So, please don't let my 1st experience with them be an indication of what your first experience might be. Now I hope this thread will just die, unless someone has something they need to say. Thanks for all your time and support, Thanks to Ashdown for resolving my issues, and thanks to USPS, FED-EX, and UPS for bring me all my roses this year, Rob :)

Looks like another very dark stoloniferous neo by name of 'Tar Baby'.But maybe not.If it stops raining,I'll try for a pic tomorrow. Those lizzy pics are great. I remember seeing them all over the place when visiting Bermuda.Most of the wives did not appreciate them,especially when they'd fall off a tree and land on their hat or dress.It made for some interesting table talk tho. ;) Bob

Hi all, I just wanted to update on SD's birthday party. It was today and it was GREAT. After telling SD that BM told us she was going to do something with her on a different weekend, SD hadn't asked again about her mom or sister coming to her party. Her mom, of course, didn't call her at all this week and called her on Saturday (her real birthday) and talked for about five minutes. She actually cut off SD when she was telling her something and said she had to go. (her boyfriend's kids had a baseball game so that might be why. Then, her sister called her in the evening while we were out to dinner. Then, today was her party and just about an hour before it ended, BM's mother drove up with SD's sister. We were cutting the cake and my MIL asked her to come sit down. She told her, 'no, we just came to drop of a present. We weren't invited so we can't stay.' We gave SD's sister a piece of cake but grandma declined taking a piece. Then they left. A while later, SD told me she gave her sister a ring pop and I asked her why she didn't stay. SD said, 'I thought she wasn't allowed' and I told her 'who said? It's your party and they could have stayed.' SD looked puzzled and said 'oh' and wasn't fazed. She had a great time and said that her friends told her it was the best party they'd ever been to. SD had a wonderful time and she's so happy. (I also have to add, that BM's mother drove an hour each way to drop off her present. She brought her a bouquet of tulips and a Toy's R Us gift card) and I just wanted to add a picture of her cake. I spent two and a half days baking & decorating it myself...