With great uncertainty, I just bought a P-Touch labeler. I'm glad to hear it works out. I use the tops of Fancy Feast catfood--I thread the pull tab through bamboo skewers--and have been painting the words on because everything else fades. It's labor intensive and recently I have run over several with the lawn mower because the roses grow and I move the labels to the edge of the bed. So I decided that even if the labels don't last as long as the paint, they are easier to replace.

Outsmarting the tree rats (squirrels) around my house is a full time job. This past spring I hit on a new idea. When I plant a container I invert an empty wire hanging basket over the container and the plant gets sun and can be watered but the squirrels can't dig in it. Another idea: I bring in a lot of plants to "over winter" under lights in my garage. I have so many that it is hard to reach my hand under the lights (4 shop lights) to the middle for watering. So I bought a pump sprayer with a long wand and it works great! In late winter I add a little liquid Dawn detergent, few drops, to each gallon of water and not only does the soil get wet easier but the worms that are waiting to hatch into distructive pets just don't hatch. Don't know what it costs me to run those four shop lights all winter but I don't care. It is a small price to pay to be able to "garden" every weekend in the garage. Many people have mentioned that they mark their outdoor plants with a "permanent Sharpie". In my experience there isn't a "permanent Sharpie", they all fade and quickly too. A grease pencil/china marker or expensive "no fade" garden center marker are the only markers I have found that won't disappoint you by fading. Eight years ago I decided to learn about gardening so I tapped into my local library. I checked out nearly every book they had on gardening and learned so much. The Gardenweb forums are also a wealth of information and entertainment. There is always something new to learn and I appreciate all of you who take the time to write in your ideas. One last idea from me...I keep a small notebook on my computer table and jot down any idea I find that's new and I will want to try. Little pieces of paper get lost but I always know where my notebook is and also use it when I order "on line" so I will remember the name of the company and the order date. Tina or Trowelgal

Julie, I bought a piece of acrylic today. It's about 12" x 12" and cost a little over $1. They have acrylic cutters for about $3.00. The problem, from what the salesman said, is that it's difficult to cut anything but squares and rectangles. I want to make hexagons thats why I just bought a small piece to play with. Then you cut strips of acrylic and glue them on the back to make stakes. It'll have to be some sort of waterproof epoxy. Haven't gotten that far yet. After I write on them I'm going to seal them with a clear acrylic glossy sealer. I might even paint some flowers on them with outdoor acrylic craft paint. When you go to Lowe's just ask someone where the pieces of clear acrylic are. They knew right away what I was looking for. Let me know how you make out. Mariann

cleangeek, thanks for the link to the video. florist roses do have thorns. There tend to be less thorns right underneath the flower before you get to the first set of leaves . in the video that you linked to, there were actually red thorns lower down on the stem when they were picking the roses . Admittedly they're not super thorny varieties. But they're not actually thornless . One of the handling techniques discussed in a California grown video was to pick the longest roses first, lay them on your arm, then pick ever shorter roses to put on top. that way the flowers on shorter stems don't get punctured by the thorns of taller stems surrounding them . Florists and rose arrangers use a gadget called a stem stripper to remove thorns: This stem stripper is stainless steel. It will instantly remove the leaves and thorns from fresh roses. This tool is very commonly used in the floral industry and is a necessity for anyone working with roses. Length is approximately 4.5 inches. the description was for a professional one being sold by a wholesale florist supply website, but you can buy plastic and metal stem strippers from Amazon. I have used thorn strippers; I don't think they're worth the bother. That may be because I had to handle rose and I was the end-user as well . If someone else handled the rose to strip off the thorns for me, I might feel differently. the video from Holland also mentioned part of what makes their roses a premium product is they allow the flowers to open a bit further on the plant . It reminds me of the premium tomatoes which are closer to ripe when they're packed . I remember people being astonished at seeing the cut garden roses my husband brought to work actually open up until you could see stamens . Apparently florist roses tend not to open to that extent before they wither. as home rose gardeners, we're probably baffled at how much the price of roses is determined by the length of stems, all the way to superexpensive 5 foot stemmed roses.