I haven't raised any self set seed from China Doll, Kippy, but it has been used as seed parent so they should germinate. John Bagnasco has released some cute polys from it as well as a few others which are rather nice. Wild Dancer is a bullet proof rose from J&P containing it. I have used Pride of Oakland, a China Doll offspring, which I like very much. One of my seedlings from Pride of Oakland is the one recently named for Anne Belovich. Try them, you could raise some fun things. Grandmother's Hat never set a lot of seed for me until last year when it looked like a fruit plant. I raised a bunch of them which are still in the seed table waiting for "rain" before being transplanted. It was rather surprising how they separated themselves by diseases. One remained healthy from the start and appears to be the most vigorous of the lot. The others weren't as strong off the line but are catching up, cleaning up as they mature. They should provide some interesting results! Good luck with them. Kim

That's really sweet of you guys to miss me! I havn't been gone all that long though...Not to much going on with brugs. The first day of spring is tomorrow and I don't know about the rest of you but I am so ready for it!!! Just snapped a pic of Pink Favorite to share. Photobucket has something new going on with editing pics so I hope this shows up well enough, but there's a sprout coming off the old trunk on the left side. Well....Looking at this closer now, I think the one on the right is coming off the trunk too....Something I don't ever remember seeing. Always has been new shoots from the roots only. Must have been more of a mild winter than I thought it was. Happy first day of spring tomorrow everybody!!!

Hi FlowerLady! and thank you again for your kind and encouraging words. Sometimes we are so busy doing what we do we lose sight of it all! That lovely blue-flowering shrub is Ceanothus Impressus 'Victoria' ("California Lilac") - there are many other varieties and I chose this one for the colour, growth habit and because there's lots of it around here so I know it will thrive. When I mapped out a landscaping design for the front part of our lot which began as 1/2 acre mess of brambles, mint, horrible landfill and rock - I needed a fast-growing evergreen screen for what is now a parking area that can take three vehicles. In three years it grew to 10' tall; it's now 12' tall. In midsummer it is literally covered in those gorgeous blue blossoms (in fact another name for it is 'blueblossom'). Sitting in the rose garden on a warm summer afternoon you can hear the background bzzzzzzzzzz of countless bees as they do their work on those lovely blooms (much too busy to be bothered with anything or anyone else). We love it. It's taken quite a beating this winter with the snow (unusual for this part of Canada where we get more rain than anything else) but it's quite resilient. I would imagine it would do alright in Florida? One of the plus factors is that it originated as a desert plant and is drought resistant; we don't water it at all even during the hottest summers. The shiny leaves retain water naturally and aside from tidying it up a little with my pruning shears it is maintenance-free. Here's some photos for you and a link to read more about it: and this is a close-up of the beautiful blooms (can you see the bee?)

I'm a logger just up from coons bay Oregon, been topping trees quite possably the toughest man alive. (Ray Stevens early 70's) I cleared a camp lot on a lake that included chipping all the brush, leaving all trees over 10" chest high, and making a 10' driveable path to the water 150' from the camp site. Mixed wood but several 20-30" pine. gramp was a farmer/ florest and when I was old enough to reach I was pinching mums for the double blossems. I ran the back hoe rocking and stumping the path to the water. When I saw a lady slipper I would scoop it and when I set it down I would press the bucket down enough to move 2" of soil. It was a bid job and the camp owner didn't know slippers from dandy lions so I never got off the machine to tamp them in. 8 years later I got a call from the camp owner asking what I had charged her to plant the slippers because it wasn't on the bill. she now had hundreds and her friend wanted her camp to look like that to. It was a border about a back hoe reach on both sides of her road. I only moved 10 -12 plants. Be sure I turned down that job , not even on a bet. I don't remember what the weather was, it was spring and I must not have been pressed for another job in min. are money deal. She hand clips around them now and I get work on that lake that $10,000 of advertizing wouldn't buy.