I’m obviously missing some of the posts here, based on comments. But the earthquake talk is interesting to me as well after having lived nearly twenty years in California, almost 8 of those just a few miles from the San Andreas fault line. One day after lunch, I was reading a nap time story to my littles on the couch right in front of a hanging light. The story mentioned an earthquake. One of my daughters asked me what an earthquake is… just as I started trying to explain in language a 3 year old could understand, I felt movement and the light in front of began to swing on its chain and my littles’ eyes grew big and they were all wondering what is happening??? I didn’t need to do much explaining after all, just say THIS! This is an earthquake! We didn’t even try to get out of the house, just rode it out and we all kind of enjoyed it. It was a 4 point something and the epicenter was only a few miles away. No serious damage anywhere as it was a fairly sparsely populated area.

Judi -- I miss posts, as well, when I sort the comments to display newest first, which is what I prefer. Then when I click to see more posts, it just shows me more of the same posts I've already seen. I can only see everything by sorting to show oldest first. So frustrating! What an incredible earthquake story, and quite a way to introduce your child to the concept of earthquakes!

I've been enjoying following along with all the Palantine excitement. Sounds like everyone at least some of the varities they were hoping for.

Diane, your Eglantyne is just sensational, and your lavender is so pretty. Lavender is like an instant mood-booster for me whenever I encounter it. Luckily there are some nice swaths of it in the park nearby that get little care, I believe, but still thrive. The lavender out west is always so impressive, though.

Deborah -- that is such a moving gesture from Chewy. I remember how emotional it was to deal with logistical things like canceling medication, prescription food, etc. So, a gesture of kindness like that really goes a long way.

Echo -- I've finally gotten my first bloom of Like No Other, and I'm really happy with it! It's only a couple inches across, but I'm very pleased with the form, petal count, and color. I've always wished there was a rose that looked like Bolero, but in a dark color, and this comes very close. I'd say the scent is moderate to strong, and overall anisey. It really reminds me of another rose I've smelled -- maybe Carding Mill?

Kitty -- your calamondin orange is incredible! So lush. It makes me really want one. My meyer lemon is kind of in resting mode again after flowering a bit. I'm not sure yet if any of the new little green fruits will actually turn into real lemons or if they'll just fall off. The original three lemons on the tree keep getting bigger but aren't turning yellow yet.

I'm having mixed results with my amaryllis. The varities with double blooms have really short stalks, which has happened to me before. I'm probably doing something wrong in terms of watering or the warmth of my apartment or something else. But the blooms are still pretty. Here are Tika Queen and Tika Fairy.

Wedding Dance has nice long stalks, though. Maybe I should stick to the singles.

I transplanted my jasmine into this rectangular planter between my two Boleros, and I've been getting lots of new growth but only a couple blooms so far. But overall, I'm happy with how it's doing. Sorry for the terrible photo; shooting into the sunlight is always tough.

Ok…. Guess I am revamping my rose gardens….. I keep ordering more & gotta remove some! I am counting 19 new roses for spring now! I just ordered another today now…… “Scent Garden”-looks kinda like Ives Piaget or Queen of the Night.

.

Scent Garden rose

from JessiesRoseUSA-Etsy, the big roses!

NOW counting: 4 new roses in my kitchen today, 4 roses coming from Palatine, 4 roses from Etsy coming, one Velvety Twillight rose, from Highgarden website, Sunrise Parfuma from SpringlandFlowers website, & 5 Cream Verandas from Northland Rosarium. 19 new roses total.

I’d also like one rose from April & Ashley in January maybe???

And I am removing 20 roses-HELP! Didnt down size enough yet!

Windiwsill,

Thank you regarding my orange. She is across from a grow lamp, but mostly has windiw light and seems the happiest! Like No Other simply is gorgeous-a perfect bloom with delicious color! I have cinsidered adding her, too too, but she’s similar to my Celestial Night soooo trying to restrain,LOL! Yours is lovely! Can’t believe you have such beautiful blooms indoors! And…… do you have Latin American Amaryllis? They take only 4 weeks to bloom!!!! Yours are bloomingvsoooooo early! Latin Amer. Amaryllis bloom so much earlier than Holland Amaryllis!

My Amaryllis-are from Brecks, “Holland, ” which take 8-10 weeks to bloom. Mine are so much slower!

How many plants do you have in your living room? They look sooo happy growing & blooming! I have 7 plants inbthe kitchen & 3 citrus in the living room. It can be overwheling having them in the house, LOL! Welcome to my Jumanji house!

I have 4 roses coming to my kitchen in later Dec/Jan-that’s it for me!!!!!! Last year I do roses in the kitchen!

Carol,

You are now going to have 15 new roses! And Ivill have 19 new roses, which is 15 more than I originally olanned, LOL! We both have many new blooms to look forward to! I think I will pull out older roses whenever I can to reduce numbers. Very excited about Poseidon, Fur Elise, Sunrise Parfuma alias My “Princess Elizabeth! “ and SweetvBaby. I believe they will all grow really well next to the home in beds.

I’m going to put The Pride & Crazy Love in an oval bed in the backyard.

My new Jaoanese/Euro roses such as Velvety Twilight, Scent Garden, Mahogany Veil, Repartir, Hiraku, Princess Kaori will go in my J bed!

And Autumn Rouge & Tuscany Superb in a pot will go in the diamond new bed.

I have places for all, but I could add one more from April & Ashleys???

Kitty, here are a couple of photos of Sunrise Parfuma from this morning.

Carol, I'm so sorry you didn't manage to get one, and I feel like I'm rubbing salt in the wound posting these photos. However, Raspberry Cupcake does make a very attractive bush, and the scent is detectable to me! It's sweet. Trish

Trish,

Lovely! Sunrise Parfuma in it’s creamy sunrising colors !

"It can be overwheling having them in the house, LOL!" Yes, Kitty, I agree! I was feeling a bit overwhelmed today as I was having to catch up on a lot of fertilizing, spraying, watering, cleanup, etc. I put on some relaxing piano music to make myself chill out a bit. I have about 30 plants in my living room, not counting temporary things like paperwhites/amaryllis. The only other space with good light is the bedroom, but I try to be restrained in there since the blinds/curtains actually need to be functional, and plants tend to get in the way of that. In there I just have some airplants in bowls and a couple small terrariums.

Yes, I believe the amaryllis I got are from South America. I think in the past I've gotten the Dutch ones, and I don't mind the longer wait. I really need a pick-me-up from bulbs in Jan/Feb rather than in December.

Trish, I'm still obsessed with your Sunrise Parfuma! Gorgeous color and form.

Windowsill,

30 plants in your living room! Is there room to walk?????, entertain, move around, watch TV? That’s like CA gardening all yearxaround 30 plants & more in your bedroom! What a garden!

I actually love winter for the rest from gardening….. except no rest for me this year-LOL!

Let’s see….. I have 7 kitchen olants & 4 roses coming to my kitchen soon. That’s 11 in the kitchen. That’s 7 more roses in the kitcen than I planned. Yikes! I suppose 7 roses will go on thectable & one on the counter near the window! Oh, I can’t wait until spring when they go outside!

However, it’s too cold here now! 35F today…. now 32F going diwn to 29F. Tomorrow warms to 42 & 49 F in 2 days. I’m ready for soring….. too cold!

Oh, I’d love to meetca nice CA guy and move to CA! Can you send one my way?

Your temps, Kitty, are warm and balmy. Our high today is 29F and our low will be about 24F. Yesterday, there was about 3 degrees difference between the high and low. We are in an inversion freezer where the air doesn't move or change in temp. It's totally white outside, or grayish white. This can last up to 6 weeks, but probably won't. It's in its second week now. Even the calendula is frozen solid. Diane

Random stuff.......Another orange belted bumble.

Regular bumble

Jemma's little cactus blooming.

It lives in her window.

Random new hybrid made by plain rudbeckias.

Wish it looked like this now.

Kitty -- luckily the windowsills in this apartment are about 11" deep, so I can put nearly all the plants on them. I don't know why they built them so deep, but I'm grateful they did. Our building was built in the 1990s before the current trend of floor-to-ceiling windows in apartment buildings, so that means I have decent windowsills!

I agree that year-round gardening in CA is pretty cool. My mom has peas, lettuce, and other greens growing right now. I'll visit in January and we'll defoliate and prune her roses. The lack of freezing temps does mean there are plenty of garden pests that simply never get killed off in winter, so that's a downside.

A CA guy does sounds nice, right? Preferably one who owns lots of property for growing roses. I guess I shouldn't be talking like this when I'm already married to a Buckeye...

Edited to add: Diane, I love your bee photos! I play the NYT's Spelling Bee most days and you can submit bee photos to be featured on their hints page. I've tried once or twice but never gotten one featured. The rudbeckia is beautiful -- it almost looks like it's painted in watercolors.

Thanks, Windowsill. Would you like to use Jemma's bumble on lavender? It's my favorite bumble pic. But my favorite honeybee pics are the crowd of bees on Augusta above, and the bee zooming into Augusta's center. I married a California guy, but he converted to Idahoan in due time and loves it here. Unfortunately, I guess, we're not still married......It looks like the inversion may end in a couple of days, though I don't trust the forecasters. Diane

Sorry for the repeats of these. Is there anyway you can submit these photos to the bee photo feature?

Diane, what a magnificent photo of your hills. The colours are mesmerising.

Thanks, Kitty and windowsill, though I can't really take any credit: that's owed to RosTom (HMF name) from Kordes. It's super healthy, on its 3rd repeat already and one of my very few roses that hasn't had its blooms decimated by caterpillars. And thanks Kitty for mentioning Wellenspiel. I looked it up on HMF and discovered that it's available here, as Tallulah. I've ordered 3 to go in front of 2 Forget Me Nots in the semi-circular bed. I'm going to wait a year after planting them and see if I'd like Mariangela at each side.

Mariangela link.

Trish, thank you and I'll tell my daughter. She took that photo from her balcony. I seem to live with a bunch of photographers. I meant to tell you how beautiful your Sespe Sunrise is (that's its other name, right?). How big is that bloom? It looks huge, and the coloring is lovely. I'm totally confused by the RosTom thing and Forget Me Nots. All these rose names are driving me crazy. I keep reading Mariangela as Michelangelo. I would like to grow a rose by that last name. It would something like Ascot, only more magnificent. Diane

Windowsill - that is a beautiful bloom on your Like No Other!! Mmmmm :) If you like anise scented roses, you could try White Licorice (It's actually yellow.)...I love mine...it's a great bloomer, too. I love the strong red color of your first Amaryllis. :) How many rose bushes do you have? Yes, you are so lucky to have such deep windowsills on your apartment windows. I never even thought of that. Very unusual.

Kitty - lol...did I hear the words, Kitchen Jumanji? lol That sure is a beauty!!! My goodness!! Well worth the extra space in your kitchen. :) :) Yes, it's going to be a fun spring/summer next year. I can't wait!! But, I guess I have to. :) I think we both got some really great roses!! I'm getting a bunch of Tantau roses and I'm excited about that even though they usually don't love my yard. This time they will!! lol My new roses will be:

Barbra Streisand

Chantilly Cream

Anuschka

Eisvogel

Chippendale

Lady Capri

Free Spirit

Deep Secret

Desiree

Evelyn

Caramel Kiss

Perfumed Kiss

Rasberry Cupcake

Morden Sunrise X2

I think the one I'm most excited about is Caramel Kiss. :) I'm glad that you were able to get a Sunrise Parfuma. Wish I could have gotten one...but I've got lots of beauties coming. Why did I get so many Tantaus...they hate me. lol I think you'll love The Pride.

Trish - no worries. :) :) I'm heartened to hear that you can detect scent from your Raspberry Cupcake since you don't have a good sniffer, it must smell good. :) Your Sunrise Parfuma is beautiful!!!

Diane - I'm going to need some help from you this summer with my Tantau roses. :) :) You'll have to sprinkle your mojo on them from far away. I think your first pic of the bee next to the larkspur (?) is my favorite bee pic ever. Gorgeous...and I'm mesmerized by her teeny, tiny, segmented legs. :) I'm amazed that Jemma has a flowering cactus with 3!! flowers!!! Beautiful!! I wonder how your Rudbekias will keep mutating...in 5 years, there will be some even more beautiful Rudbekia...so cool!! Mmmmmm...I love your picture of the mountains and the sun setting. We're having some glorious weather...going to be 3C/37F. So warm. I don't even need a coat. I finished that book you recommended...I can never remember titles. The one with the psychic on the plane. I loved it!! It held my attention all the way through and I didn't know how it would end. I loved how she ended up helping so many of them...especially the baby boy.

Jim - are you alright? Haven't heard from you in awhile.

Carol, did you get the link to the animated movie I sent you to your proper email address? I actually forwarded it to you. I know you've got it. It's The Bear, and it's not the TV thing. This was nominated for an Academy Award for best animated film in 1998..... Do you still grow Violet's Pride? Those photos on the Palatine thread you posted were exquisite. Really beautiful rose with great bloom structure and coloring. Don't worry about Tantau roses.I think they're better by far than Kordes. Just treat them like your other roses. I wish I were getting a few of them, especially Eisvogel........The first bumble photo was with veronica. The second with a sunflower. And the third with lavender, so I'm not sure which photo you meant. I think the bumble on the lavender is by far the best photo........I'm so glad you liked Here One Moment. I'm reading a really great book right now, I recommend called, Eleanor Oliphant is Perfectly Fine. It was a major best seller in 2017, and got terrific reviews. I finished the cancer book, also a wonderful book called, A Fatal Inheritance. It's nonfiction and well reviewed, too. It's a mix of personal story and research. Diane

Busy running to work…..

but I will comment more later…..

Carol,

Thank you! Scent Garden looks really colorful! Ivam hopingbto see her fuchsia-purple colors in her blooms-gorgeous!

Soooo looking firward to The Pride & S Parfuma! Beautiful big blooms!!!! And fragrant! I needed more big bloomers-HTs!

What a gorgeous list of rises! You have some real prize beauties! Wowza! Very exciting to see them bloomvfor you in spring! I can’t wait! Your garden will he spectacular! Some really beautiful BIG bloomers like B Steisand and Ch Cream-yummy fragrant! You’te going to becdizzy with fragrance in your garden! Mmmmmm! Yep, Jumanji Jumanji, again again! Oops!

Trish,

Wowza! You were able to order 3 Wellenspiel! No fair-we can’t get even one! LOL! Although, I really dont need even one more rose! Jumanji inside home-jumanji outside in gardens-too much! LOL!

Windowsill,

Ha, ha ha, I won’t tell your Buckeye about the CA guys! LET’s both go & get away from the cold! LOL!!!!!!!!!! Wowz! You have large deep set window sills! That’s amazing tonput all those plants on them! Perfect for your garden! Hee, hee!

Diane,

You can still order Eisvogel in the soring. it is waiting for you! You need at least one new rose!

WANT A WEATHER REPORT ????🤪🥀🤪🥀

YAY! Today’s weather 46F high, snow melting-1/2 gone now! Oh, I need warmth! I have been sick off & on…. had difficulty keeping warm….just wanna be warm! Tonight 34F. low low. And And…. 40s during days- for just a few days!

I looked at Geneva, NY, month’s forecast…. Dec has 7 days of 40-50F with mid-30sF most of month-The day HIGHS. Jan. has one week of lower 20s-17 day highs-rest if month 30sF.-the COLD MONTH.

AND FEB WARMS UP THIS YEAR!!!!!!! FEB has 30 days of 40-67F highs & rest of month mostly ipper 30sF. Those are all daytime high temps! BecausecI need warmth during days. Feb seems way warmer this year!

DEC seems little colder, but snow not staying and only an inch.

I’m only looking at day highs because tgat’s when I have to go outside. Brrrrttrt!

Diane -- I'm going to submit your bee photos to Spelling Bee (crediting you) if that's OK with. I'll keep an eye out to see if they get featured and will let you know!

Carol -- I have eight roses plus that little mini Bistra I got from Trader Joe's. That's the max I can fit unless I were to ever replace the fig or the meyer lemon with a rose. (I'll have to figure out which rose gets the boot when Martha Stewart arrives this spring.) Your selection of new roses looks so exciting. This fall, I happened to smell a Barbara Streisand at a nursery in CA, and the scent was INCREDIBLE.

Windowsill, please credit the bb on lavender to Jemma Nelson. She is trying to go pro with photos. The remaining photos are ones I took. Thank you so much. I hope this is not too cumbersome for you, but Jemma needs the credit on that photo. I really appreciate all this. Diane

Diane , besides been named Jemma. My grandma's side has Nelson name too. We are kinda like family 🤍

Oh, that's so neat. Jemma's dad is a Nelson, a Swede mostly, born in Minnesota. My daughter and I loved the British actress, Jemma Redgrave, from the great Redgrave acting family, and our Jemma was sort of named after her. Mostly, we just loved the name. Diane

Diane, I have so many DNA relatives with that name too in Sweden.

My name came from Jemima , Job's daughter.

My bougainvillea looking pretty today

Socal, that's more than just pretty.....the Bougainvillea is spectacular. I wish we could grow them year round here. Wow. I love Mandevilla, too. Oh, Nelsons are all over the place, a very successful group. I'm pretty much of UK extraction.

Well, we're swellerting at 35F and all the hoarfrost is melted away. And the sun is partially out. I hope this continues and we don't get that awful inversion back. I still have a few snapdragons that have blooms but they're probably old. Alyssum looks fine, but I'm sure it's comatose. The snaps, penstemon, and Jup's Beard are all green, and companula, too. Other plants, just as hardy have died back quickly. So funny how some are semi evergreen. I saw our resident quail loving pygmy bunny today. I worry about this cute guy who does no damage to anything and plays with the quail. I want Finn to stay away from him. Since it's wet and cold, Finn isn't outside much, so that helps. I hope the quail and bunny all huddle together in the quail cave and stay warm. Diane

Evelyn looking fresh in June.

A huddle of Evelyn in July, looking a bit warm. We ran 95-105F all July.

This a microscopic bug--eight legs like a spider, so it's got to be a spider, but the body is wrong. It was magnified to get it to show up at all, so it's a bit blurry.

Another, a little different. Huge back legs. Highly magnified. I have super tiny good insects and spiders all over my roses. They are never sprayed with anything, and very little bothers the roses.

Jude in late May, kissy face.

In early June

I just checked an email from Wayside Gardens and they have Evelyn in stock. I'm amazed. Wayside is a sister company to Park Seed and Jackson & Perkins. Diane

Just got on Wayside's Website, and the photo of Evelyn is an old one from DA. It's a terrible photo. Don't be fooled by it. Why would they provide Wayside with such a horrible photo?

This is one of my Evelyn roses, and it's how this rose truly looks, not that !@#$ Austin photo.

Diane, of course -- I'll provide those credits for the photos. And oh my gosh -- that DA photo of Evelyn is even worse than I'd remembered it.

Socal, I love your bougainvillea and how you have it trained. Just beautiful.

I managed to catch the final bloom of the season on the rose bush that's likely Falstaff at the park this afternoon. (This was the rose you all helped me ID this summer.) I was pretty surprised to find the bloom, as we've had some lows in the 20s. The bloom was so perfect that I had to take a photo.

Good grief, you aren't exaggerating, windowsill. That bloom is exquisitely perfect. Can we preserve it acrylic or something? It just kills me that a bloom so beautiful is so ephemeral. And thank you again about the bee photos. Yes, that Evelyn photo is just....ugh. Diane

Wow. Gorgeous photos, Diane. Love the bees and hope Jemma's pics make it onto the NYTimes site. Kind of you to do that, windowsill! Carol -- you have a lot of roses coming! I realized that Palatine was finally open for business, and the two roses I was eyeing were gone. So. I have one more chance with an outfit that is legit for the rose I'm looking for. If I don't get that...well...I should be content with what I have. I do have some coming from DA, but who knows when they'll get here. Progress -- I could only do a tiny bit of yard work yesterday, but I got my Orange Dude planted in the garden. He's been in a pot b/c it was a very late sale from J&P for a bare root in...June? Maybe May. But super late for us here -- bare root season gets going on January 2! So I found a video online that recommended putting a bare root that you get late season in shade and keep it well watered. It took off and bloomed like crazy, then got quiet with our fall heat & dry winds. So now hopefully he will take a bit of a nap until spring and then bloom like crazy again.

apropos of nothing -- I saw the Dorrance Dance Company do their version of the Nutcracker on Thursday evening. And they are TAP DANCERS! I had a wonderful time. So fun. But some old ladies walking out were saying, "and they call that The Nutcracker?" I wonder if they didn't read the program, which was super upfront that this was TAP DANCE and NOT a ballet!

Well, classes have ended, but now everyone has their heads down for final exam week. I am so behind on grading it's ridiculous. and I have to write the exams...so you won't see me for a while. Thinking of all of you and wishing you a lovely advent season -- with visions of plum roses dancing in your heads.

Deborah, I wrote you a little on the April & Ashley thread, so I'll just say have a lovely, restful Christmas season, but get those blasted papers graded! And I'm posting the dancing Sugar Plum Roses with the Sugar Plum Fairy Roses. Loved reading about the Nutcracker as a tap dance. Only in California. Diane

Diane - Yes, I did! I watched it today. No wonder it won an Academy award!! It was wonderfully fluid with wonderful imagery and heartfelt emotions. I loved it!! Thanks for sending it to me. :) :) Yes, I still grow Violet's Pride. Thanks!! I'm not sure I'll always grow it if the fragrance doesn't improve. But it really is a great rose...made my day almost all summer. I am worried about the Tantau roses. I have not had success with ANY tantau rose. What was I thinking. lol The proof will be in the pudding, and I'm going to try my best to make them bloom wonderfully. The bee photo that's my fave is the one above the sunrise/Jemma's cactus and the sunflower. That picture is perfect to me. :) :) Right now, we're in the money crunch with Christmas and I just bought roses, a food processor, yadda yadda. lol I'm in the middle of rereading my books...that's lots for right now. :) :) A Fatal Inheritance...did it give an idea of preventative methods beyond what we all know? That's too much of a book for me. Too real. :)

Kitty - I had Barbra Streisand years ago for one summer and then it died in the GGDO. It did wonderfully for me and the fragrance was amazing. I've been looking for it ever since, and I finally found it. YAY!! lol about your Jumanji kitchen...I love it...means you'll have lots of fun planting and seeing how your new roses do...so exciting!! Can you afford a holiday? Wouldn't that be nice...you could go somewhere warm and let the heat envelop you. :) :) Although your forecast seems quite nice. :) We're getting back to temps below freezing, but still quite warm.

Windowsill - Eight roses...that's enough to make you happy, I'm thinking. :) :) A perfect bloom or too at a time would be enchanting and more would be a treat. :) :) I know, right?!!! Barbra Streisand is a great rose IMO. It bloomed its heart out the very first summer. I'm so happy to be getting it. :) :)

SoCal - holy Hannah!!! What a stunning bougainvillea!!!!

Diane - Hey, you have SUN!!! That's really good to hear. I don't want you howling and yowling going crazy from no sun. lol :) :) Your quail is still living the dream life snuggled in with his quail family in your wonderful garden. :) Oh, my gosh!!!! I love your huddle of Evelyn and the fact that you made up a word for a group of roses, "huddle." My 2nd fave pic of the Evelyn photos is the one with the kissy face. lol :) :) They are all so gorgeous!!! SWOON!!!!! Look at the long back legs of that hopper bug. Not everyone can grow Evelyn as well as you can. :) :) I checked out Wayside pic, and I thought it was pretty...not up to what you grow...but :) :) Oh, my!!!! What a study in contrasts!!! GORGEOUS with the purple, yellow and peach colors!!!

Windowsill - ooooh!!! That IS a beautiful rose!!! Did you sniff the bloom? I bet it smelled amazing. WOWZA!!

Deborah - yes, I do have a lot of roses coming!! tee hee. :) :) I hope you get the roses you want. Which ones are they? Yeah, Palatine didn't seem to have much stock, but that's to be expected since they're winding down. Ooooh!! You got an Orange Dude and it's done really well for you!! Excellent!! Diane really should get some payback for Mr. Carruth. lol Tap dancer doing the Nutcracker? I think that would be a hoot!! I would like that a lot more than I liked ballet. I'm uncouth. I went to one ballet (The Nutcracker) and then I was done with ballet. lol Nose in your papers, get the bullwork done and then you can relax for Christmas. :) :)...well, except for the grading. blech. I hope the work goes quickly for you. I definitely will have visions of Sugarplums, lol...that's the name we settled on for our white 6 year old Standard Poodle we're getting. Shortened to Sugar. :) :)

So should I start a new thread or wait until the new year?

Carol, I'm so glad you got to view The Bear. I just loved it so much that I'm going to watch it again in a few days. Your favorite BB photo is one I took. Thank you. The bumble is on a Veronica stem. All the bees love Veronica about second after the lavender. I took the pics of the honeybees and Augusta, too. Jemma's photo was the orange belted BB on the lavender. That's my favorite one, though I like that honeybee zooming into Augusta. Very determined bee there. What Tantau roses have you grown already? Augusta, I believe. Didn't she do well for you? I remember her blooming and they looked good. I never thought Palatine's Augusta was as good a plant as Hortico's from a long time ago. I'll explain later. I know some people didn't like the colors their AL plants produced.....The book, A Fatal Inheritance, is not that heavy going, and there is quite a bit in it that is new. It was published a couple of months ago, and the author is an excellent writer, the former Managing Editor of the LA Times and Dep Managing Editor of the New York. He's no slouch. He directed projects that won five Pulitzer Prizes. The book you should read now, and can get fairly cheaply used, is Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine. I just finished it. What a book. Let me talk about it tomorrow, or this post will turn into a book......The Kissy Face pic is Jude the Obscure looking a little more peachy in May with the cooler temps. It certainly gives Evelyn a run for the money. Jude is so unique. Austin should never have retired that rose. It's a national treasure for the UK. Shame on DA Roses. Sorry, but I get het up about that, and what they're doing to another treasure, Munstead Wood, that's still under patent even......Wasn't that funny about the tap dance Nutcracker? I've gone to countless performances of that ballet, and like it a lot. First I went with friends, then I took my daughter when she was in ballet class. She liked it and behaved well. Then Samantha and I took Clare, the granddaughter, in due time, and the trouble began. Clare hated the cannon blast on stage during the war with the Mouse King, and she plugged her ears and got down in the seat and held her hands to her ears for the rest of the performance. It was worse when took Jemma, too, with Clare telling her about the scary noise and to plug her ears. Jemma couldn't sit still, either, and I was ready to leave early. End of story. Three generations of Nutcracker, but the grandkids broke the spell. If you are able, I'd just start a new thread as soon as possible. But whatever you want. I just appreciate that you're doing it. Diane

Diane,

I see Evelyn is popular for sale on other sites now. On Wayside Gardens $49.95 it looks like a colorful Eglantyne, LOL! Not really the true Evelyn shape! . On DA website $35 bare root is is only golden orange photo. On Grace RF looks more the colors-shapes-but $65-Oops! Menagerie has a pretty photo of many blooms, but $74.99! Double-Oops! From your garden-beautiful colors-perfect shapes-lovely Evelyn! True shape-should be cupped and in a few tones to see her real colors- in creamy pink-peach-yellow tones! Nice if a few websites would show her true colos/shaoes!

Carol,

Thank you! Can’t afford, but want a holiday! Maybe move tovCA permanent, I wish! Being sick….. I just need warmth right now! No freezing at all, thank you! Barbara S soubds like a heavenly rose! Ai least my kitchen rosescare dry! It’s raining cats & dogs, today! Dec. 9th! LOL! I’d like dry & warm!

Ahhhh, I’m so behind on reading everyone's posts! My father slipped on his way into the glass studio on Friday and fractured (very lightly, mostly bruised, but still) his ribs. And then the NEXT day my mom fell down the stairs (could have been a lot worse, sprain and swelling/bruising), and then my poor little brother (not SO little, I guess—27 yrs old and 6’3”), needed to go to urgent care yesterday morning where he was told he has pneumonia. All things considered, everyone walked away (or hobbled off) fairly in tact, but I can’t believe my whole family fell over like a row of dominos, one after the other, and landed in the hospital over the course of three days. Now they're all in bed.

Needless to say, I’ve been at the hospital / making turkey soup / boosting moral and I have a LOT of rose reading to catch up on.

Kitty— So sorry to leave you hanging after that amazing, exciting, beautiful post about the roses you’re so generously gifting me with; you’re going to POT them all?? Soooo much work! Just let me know if you change your mind and want me to dig them as bare root transplants or I can provide you with soil and pots.

Every time I remember what I have to look forward to from your garden in the spring I brim over with excitement and gratitude.

Last night Zach was like, “Are you thinking about those roses again?”

Surprised, I said “How can you tell?”

“Well, you’re shoveling manure in the dark, in the cold, in the rain, and you’re grinning like it’s Christmas morning.”

I already told him you get bottles of the best ciders from the season!

Also, do let me know if you change your mind about Wellenspiel—I really got myself all excited to give it to you, and I’m sure you could call and cancel your Fur Elise if you’d rather have your first choice for that location.

I’m SO glad you got your Sunrise Parfuma!! She looks like a stunner.

And your Calamondin Orange is a beauty… I have small Persian lime and myer lemon trees that I bring in during the winter. My Persian lime grew 8 limes in its first year!! It was sooo happy all summer and I brought it inside and Debussy peed in it and it dropped half its leaves and five limes in protest… Waaaaah. Stupid cat. My myer lemon has one, huge lemon on it and is covered in fragrant blooms right now.

Diane - Your orange-striped bumble is beautiful! I love bees. Thanks for sharing all your wonderful pictures. The views of the landscape around your home are breathtaking. And I’m very envious of your lavender. I assumed our soil here was too wet for lavender to thrive, but apparently lavender farmers just purchased a large section of land Cornell was selling off just down the road from us. I’m looking forward to hearing their recommendations on what will do well here. I love lavender in general, but I’m especially keen to plant it liberally around the roses as a deer repellant.

Your quail and pygmy bunny observations are wonderful! I wish Jan Brett would illustrate a book about them.

I’m admiring your “huddle of Evelyn” and so looking forward to growing her—I have an Evelyn and a Munstead Wood coming from DA in the spring on your recommendation. I planted an Angel Face and a Love Song last year after seeing your pictures (I got the Angel Face for $14 from home depot and Love song during Edmund’s big sale for $19! I was over the moon!) and they are both, as you have said, so beautiful. Now you have me thinking I need a Colette… but that will have to wait…

Here is a belated pic of Debussy:

He has a thing for bathroom sinks, lol. The little black one with him is Dirty Bear.

Jena,

Two Cuties! Cutie sink kitties! Lol! I had a cat who cuddled in the sink years ago! HA, ha, ha! Congrats on Love Song & Evelyn! 2 magnificent roses!

Oh Jena, I’m so sorry about all the misfortune in your family lately! But so glad they are all ok and I wish you much strength to care for them all just now. You have your hands full for sure.

GRF had Evelyn on 40% sale with majority of her other roses for a long time in November.

Jena, I'm in love with your kitties. Debussy is a ringer for our late, lamented Clancy who has his own little flower garden atop his grave. Finn, his long companion visits out there often. I love all black kitties, and yours has a cute name, but I'm sure he is a very clean kitty. I've never had a sink kitty........I hope your family is healing well. What an awful "domino" game, and I truly hope you aren't the next domino........Thank you about bees and Angel Face and Love Song. I love those two, and good luck with lavender if you try it. Lavender likes alkaline soil, and very sharp drainage. I find the less done to it the better, once it's established. At first it might need a little watering, but I'll bet the rain you get might be sufficient.

I couldn't find my Domino kitty drawing/painting. Just got to show that to you. I'll find the photo, but it's not a very good photo.

Kitty, I hope you feel better fast, and wish you some warm, dry weather. The big problem with California is the outrageous housing costs as you must know. Take care, friend. Diane

Love Song in June, I think.

September

August

October

Love those Love Song centers

Diane, Mmmmmmm! Gorgeous Lovely Song & Angelic Angel Face! Hee, hee! Delicious blooms! If I had your two lovelies, then I would have all the greatest lavendars ever! Lol! Added to my Poisiedon, The Pride, Violet’s Pride, and my 3 Japanese lavendars , and Lavendar Lassie! And Cartonnage, andVelvety Twilight and…. oh oh, well well, too much to think about!!!!! I ought a nap or eat lunch! Mmmmmmmm, food soubds good!

But…..

Jena,

Bless you and your family! Remind your mom to be extra careful-slowly walk down those stairs! Maybe glass studio can be carpeted to prevent slipping? And your little brother who sounds ”quite BIG 6.3ft. (LOL!)”-sorry 🤪 needs to stay warm & rest! That’s what I need is to stay warm!!!!!I’m glad they all walked out of the hospital in one piececand now on the mend!

Dearest, Jena, I will have a ton of used -very nice green pots to put 20 roses in and have them ready by Mid-May or June when you choose to come! No worries & I have some potting soil, too, -kinda used-but I’ll fertilize with Fish fertilizer and they will be great! I’m all ready now-for having them dug up come spring! And no worries on Wellenspiel-you know I really must figure a way to remove even more roses-I just cant prune them all-LOL! I think you have a younger garden to grow & Wellenspiel will be a gem for you! Myvfarden needs to down-size! 🤪 But…… I am really looking forward to CIDAR!!!!! Perfect! I love juices-I stock-up on juices & Cidar is a favorite! And we can have lunch and lemonade at my home that day! I fun beautiful rosie day!!! Looking forward to meeting you!

Kitty ❤️🥀😊⛄️🌸☃️🌺🥀❤️

Jena, what a run of bad luck for your family, but good to hear they all hobbled out of hospital! I laughed out loud at the photo of your kitties in the sinks. Your lifestyle sounds hard work but idyllic. Good luck to you both. And that's great that Kitty found a good home (homes) for all her surplus.

Diane, thanks for all the photos. Especially glorious one after Deborah's comment. I'm glad to hear the inversion has lifted. That sounds dire. I was taken to a ballet in London when I was a child. I remember a very fancy theatre, so I expect it was the Royal Ballet Company. It probably was The Nutcracker. I fell in love. but unfortunately, was the wrong build to become a ballerina! I have another couple of Tantaus coming - Ashram and Violina. And will probably get Candlelight, Always Remember and Arabia.

Carol, I so hope your Tantaus do well for you this time. I don't see why they shouldn't.

Deborah, I don't envy you grading all those papers. I second Diane's wish that you have a lovely, restful Christmas.

Kitty, sorry to hear you're not well. When I have a cold, I wear a beanie. Not a good look! but keeping the head warm works wonders for me.

Jena, your cats are adorable! I used to have a cat that'd curl up in the sink like that, and the cuteness factor never wore off.

Deborah, that's so cool you got to see Dorrance Dance do The Nutcracker. Every year, I'm tempted to go to New York City Ballet for Nutcracker, but the tickets are so expensive, so I just end up putting the money toward regular NYCB performances, which are a fraction of the cost.

Carol, of course I took several sniffs of the Falstaff bloom! A couple nearby was having their wedding photos taken, and I was worried I'd get in the background of the shots, but I just had to smell that bloom. It had a moderate old rose scent like usual. Unfortunately, several of the big, very old rose bushes in the park are so tall that all the blooms are always several feet above my head. I wish they'd give them an aggressive pruning. A couple springs ago, they planted some new standards -- Pope John Paul II, Ebb Tide, Neil Diamond, Desmund Tutu -- that are doing okay-ish but not filling out much. There's a lot of tree cover, so the roses are up against that. The only other DA there is Queen of Sweden, planted a couple years ago in this lovely bed that encircles a fountain. Again, it's in a kind of shady location, so there are never a ton of blooms after the May/June flush, which is seen here. But the setting is just so pretty for roses. I'm glad there is someone who loves roses (I'm sure a volunteer) who is investing in this park.

Diane -- Houzz isn't letting me copy any of your bee photos, so I'm unable to save and submit them. But here is the page where you can submit your bee photos for consideration if you like:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/23/crosswords/bee-forum-photo-submissions.html

Sorry -- I thought I'd be able to be of more help!

Windowsill, that's fine. Jemma does those crosswords and knows where to send it, but she can use your link. I'm sorry, too, you had to waste your time. I have albums of all my photos since 2012 on my computer, so I'll let Jemma do it. Thanks again. And that photo above is gorgeous. So classy looking. We don't have beautiful fountains like that in parks out here. Love the rose, too. Got to feed the birds. It's getting dark! Diane

Trish - thanks for the good wishes for my Tantau roses. I'm pretty sure that I had 2 or 3 others that died on me too. I'm up to the task for these beauties!!

Windowsill - wow, you're not kidding...that is such a romantic setting for roses and QoS looks so pretty there. The blooms are soooo lovely!! Yes, of course, you smelled that Falstaff bloom. :) :) Maybe you should mosey down there with some big loppers and give them a trim. hee hee. :)

Carol, I wonder if they might want volunteers to prune the roses in Windowsill's park? ......You should have seen the long line of quail this morning, all pecking away at the back edge of our lawn. It looked like a Quail Parade of Looneys with their bobbing heads all going ratatat tat. They don't seem to do any damage, but I'm not sure what they come up with from the grass. Inversion is gone now, so cold gets colder and highs get a few degrees higher. How's your weather doing? And you and your family?

Trish, thank you for that nice comment. It must have been wonderful, seeing the ballet in London. I never had any desire to be a ballerina. I took one year of ballet when I was about six, and already I knew I was too tall. In the spring program, I was one of the blasted toy soldiers. That's what tall little girls got to do. Yuck. I still resent that. You are getting some beautiful roses, my favorite being Ashram. I didn't check out Violina, so I'll do that now. And I don't remember Candlelight, so will check that one, too. Be sure to show us more photos as your summer continues. Are all your well fed handymen gone? I'll bet you have no trouble getting them to show up promptly when you call for the guys to fix things. Diane

Time for a bit of Angel Face

With Young Lycidas.

Join us here for the next exciting installment of the Seasonal Thread. lol

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6476048/seasonal-thread-tis-the-season-and-happy-new-year#n=3

Diane - maybe they do. :) :) I love your quail!!! It would be wonderful to see pics of them if you ever take any. Parade of Looneys. lol I'm glad your inversion is gone so you can have some sun. Our weather is still good. Hallelujah!! It'll be -2C/28F on Tues., so I'm very happy with that. :) :) Kedra is coming home on Sunday, so that will be exciting and then we get our new dog the next day. Kedra is excited to come with us and get Sugar which is nice, because she's been dreading Zephyr's death since she was 15 (she has OCD quite badly and ADHD quite badly). So she'll have something to look forward to when she comes home. She had been dreading coming home to a house without Zephyr and now she's excited. So this is such good timing. She can mourn Zephyr on Sunday and then we go get Sugar the next day. Toy soldier for the tall girls. Booo!! I remember taking tap dance when I was 5...I couldn't do the basic shuffle, shuffle, heel, toe. Didn't realize I had a neurological disorder at the time. I was just really, really clumsy. lol

Sure, Angel Face has to have her time in the sun here...she deserves it!! Beautiful!!

Oh Diane -- as a short dancer (tap and jazz) I was too short to be a Rockette. And when I auditioned for a school play, The Wizard of Oz, I was cast as a munchkin, one of the lollipop kids. Sigh.

Your purple roses are just so purple. I have a nice Angel Face blooming right now. I'll see if I can post a pic.

Carol -- last I popped in you hadn't heard from Sugar's current person -- sounds like everything came together for you. I'm sure you will give Sugar a lovely home. And how nice that Kedra will help welcome her.

Someone from the vet's office called me yesterday morning, and in a chirpy little voice told me that Summer Nights was ready to be picked up...for a split second I thought I'd made a horrible mistake, that my dog had been cured and was now ready to come home. then reality came blasting back in, and I whispered, "do you mean his ashes?" and she said yes, still in that chirpy voice. I said okay and hung up. Then I wailed and howled and grieved all over again. And then I saw his favorite toy under the chair, but the tail had been chewed off, and it was a bout 8 inches away from the toy. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN????? No rational explanation.

Okay -- last post here, I guess. I'll look for you on the new thread.

Deborah - oh, that is so disturbing about your Sum Sum. I had something similar happen with my first dog to die. I got a card from the vet's office and opened it, and my dog's stamped paw print was there. Like you, I wailed and sobbed. There was no warning that they were going to do this. So I get what you're feeling. I'm so sorry. :( :( No rational explanation. Like my Jellybean pressing her cold nose into the crook of my arm after she was dead. I'm sure your Sum Sum has visited you. Yes, I've been in contact with Sugar's owner. :) :) All is well. We get her on Wed next week. :) :)