Congratulations on improving a patch of soil. It may be the most important work a human can do. It IS work and takes effort and patience. I started a veggie garden about 3 years ago in some of the sorriest thick heavy clay, but with vermicomposting and heavy mulching, it is coming right along and turning into fertile loam. Bought my worms (sold as red wigglers) from the local bait store and they have done a great job and thriving in this soil. Also have noticed big night crawler earthworms have moved into the garden. They burrow much deeper and aerate the soil even better. If you avoid chemicals, you will get beneficial insects to prey on the pests. Compost, Compost, Compost- if you can find a source (your local diner?) for coffee grounds and egg shells, get them to save that stuff for you. If you have the time and energy, pulverize the egg shells down to a fine powder, so the earthworms can digest that good stuff. Another good thing you can do for your soil is to grow nitrogen-fixing legumes- beans and peas. Get a few soybean seeds and grow your own edamame! Try clover or alfalfa as a cover crop in Winter- I've heard hairy vetch is good as well.

I am soooo confused. Exactly what is a sport? A sport is a spontaneous genetic mutation that has some quality distinctively different from the original. For example, someone in Chicago spotted a flower on their 'Peace' rose that was dramatically different in color than the original--that person rooted that bit of the plant, named the variant 'Chicago Peace' and it is in commerce today. Another mutation besides flower color would be growth habit--an example of a climbing sport would be 'Climbing Peace', which has the same flowers as the original 'Peace', but which has longer, "climbing" canes.

This rose is more beautiful than ever, and looks a lot larger, too. There is a lovely variety in bloom structure and petal shading that I haven't noticed so much before. Please tell us (again?) where you obtained this rose. Idaho doesn't allow several big sellers to send their roses here--frustrating, but the Dept of Ag really protects the farmers, and I'm not sure what their objection to these sellers is. The sellers don't say. Diane

Hi Caroline, I think I live quite near you. I look forward to reading your posts and experiences with David Austin roses since we are pretty much in the same zone. Like you, I hope I live long enough to see all my Austins grow and thrive since I am a latecomer with my addiction for them. I have a large rose garden that finally, just this year has begun to reward us for all our very hard work. I had a thriving crop of thistle that has taken us 12 years to overcome but we won the battle. We have very heavy clay soils and have been hauling trailer loads of horse manure compost in every few weeks to help. We see wonderful results. Maybe we can meet in person one day and share our love of roses.