zuzu said:There is no #19.

*sigh*

I'd just come back from a Pink Floyd laser concert, was a little tired. But yes, I'd like to order #18 please. I have enough of my own #19...

I just noticed that to add little badges requires a purchase - kind of a neat use for acorns!

Yes, they were free and we added and shuffled them and then the acorn feature got started and now they are a bonus incentive for contributions to the site and database. Soon we'll be able to 'purchase' ATP t-shirts and mugs with acorns!

Clever!

Start adding comments to plants and save up enough acorns for mugs and T-shirts. You'll get one acorn per comment, but the comments can't be too brief. Strive to make them two or three sentences at least, and you can't just copy and paste the same comment for every plant.

I find it hard to think up a comment about my roses while I have no trouble putting in comments about some of the other plants that grow here.

I know what you mean, Rita. I save my comments for roses that have something different and interesting about them. Otherwise, I'd just be saying: "This is a nice rose. It grows well in my garden. Blah, blah, blah."

I enjoy reading comments that tell me something I wouldn't have known about the plant. For instance, if the plant is sold as a carefree and disease-resistant variety, I want to know if those claims are false.

I never feel that I know enough to add anything useful. Do you (we) still need more pictures too?

That would about sum up my comments I could make on most of my roses. I doubt that I like (or love) this pretty rose is what they had in mind for the comments section.

Hmmm, I guess I'll have to think harder...

I think you could always comment on the color -- does it hold its color throughout the life of the bloom and how do the older flowers compare with fresh blooms -- does it change color as it ages? To me yellows just about always seem to fade to white in the older flowers, which I usually don't care for, but I know that others are happy with that in a yellow. So it's important to me to find a yellow that still looks yellow (albeit a faded yellow) when the bloom finishes, and that's the type of thing I would love to have people put in their comments.

And what about the overall shape/form of the plant? Are you happy with how it looks? OPENING NIGHT is one HT that I am totally impressed with because not only are the blooms absolutely gorgeous but the shape of my plant is near perfect to me.

Just a couple of ideas...

Good ideas Betty. And I don't mean that one can't or shouldn't say they like this rose. Just that that comment alone is not helpful. There needs to be more too it than that.

Well, I thought about what I might be able to say. So I decided to try a comment about one of my roses. Here is the comment I just posted about Westerland-

Westerland is one of the very few climbing roses that I grow and one of my very first roses added to my garden. I choose it because of its lovely flowers and desease resistance. I do spray with systemic fungicide but Westerland is one of the few roses in my garden that really doesn't need the spraying. The first year I grew roses I didn't spray. My Austins were a blackspot mess while Westerland stayed shiney and blackspot free. Great rose that loves to bloom.

Rita on the north shore of Long Island, New York zone 6/7 where it is humid during our Long Island summers

I don't have that one sounds like I need to get one next summer !!!!!!!

It is a really pretty bloom. Does have really thick caines as ZUZU said in her comment.

I will be looking this winter for roses I was a very good girl this summer and diden't get any AT ALL boy was that hard !!!!

I didn't get any roses this year either. I can't as I am totally out of room. I would have to dig and toss something in order to replace it with something else if I want a new rose. As there was nothing I wanted to get rid of, I didn't buy anything new.

oh I have room but $$$$ was my problem with weddings and grads this year took the whole budget !! happy for every one but sad for me and my gardens priorities

I am out of room here. I had just been putting in new beds each year for years and years. Just adding to the garden and the grass got less and less each year. But really I have things pretty much the way I want them by this year. Good thing as I have no room were I could put in a new gardenbed.

Yes, Porkpal, we always need more pictures, so that's a very good way to earn acorns.

I don't want to be misunderstood about the comments. When I said I didn't want to post comments that say: "This is a nice rose. It grows well in my garden. Blah, blah, blah," I meant that a comment like that isn't helpful. I didn't mean that you shouldn't comment on how much you like a rose. Please do tell us which roses you like best, but also tell us why. "This is a nice rose because....." If it has great fragrance, an intriguing color, or a good shape, include that information. If you dislike the rose, tell us why.

Toni has added comments about zone hardiness that are very useful to people in the colder zones. Rita writes comments that are full of information, including data on disease resistance. Ideally, the comments should help people decide whether or not they want a rose, the way that Rita's comment just helped Gloria decide that she does want Westerland.

Betty's suggestion about the staying power of color is a very good one. I want to know if a vibrant orange rose is going to turn pinkish-coral in just a few days and not hold its color. I always want to know about the staying power of roses in general. Some rose bushes are just too finicky to last a long time, and some blooms disappear too quickly. I have some roses that produce beautiful blooms at noon, but those blooms are already crumpling and shattering by the time the light gets better for photographs.

What about rain resistance? I have some irritating roses that I rarely see because the buds are ruined by rain or because the bloom shatters when the rain starts.

Factual comments are good too. If you know that a particular rose was the ARS rose of the year, that's a good basis for a comment. In fact, it would be really nice if someone could find a list of all the prize-winning roses and add that information to the database in comments. And if those comments aren't long enough to earn acorns automatically from the system, I'll give you acorns for doing it.