h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The pioneers brought root stock for their favorite plants when they came to the U.S.

There's a guide entry on roses, and it covers the history of man's use of roses.

There are other ways to approach roses, though. As someone who enjoys getting plants to grow well, I want to offer gardening tips In general, you will have the healthiest ross if you plant varieties that are native to the area you live in. England's native roses are not the same as North America's native roses. But they look somewhat alike, and benefit from being put in place where they can get the light and moisture they need. It' prudent not to plant roses in a spot where there have been roses before. Also, there are parasites that infest the leaves. Neem oil is probably the best treatment.

And don't worry about them! Don't pick of the spent blossoms, as you will be depriving the world of rosehips, which are a delightful red during the winter. There may be advantages to pruning dead wood, though this would not occur in the wild.

As for double-petaled roses, there's a tremendous selection to choose from. You probably need advice form a specialist for some of them. If you want *easy*, though, Knockout Roses are there for you. You will still need to fight the parasites, and you'll want to fertilize. My guide article can contain tips for doing this.

We have a yellow rose that is stunning. We put it in a sunny place that is somewhat protected from harsh winds.

Good luck on doing gardening tips!

Maybe a collaborative entry on U. S. gardening tips, like the photography tips entries, may be an easier start?

Keep it simple for us newbies!

I'm a newbie when it comes to doing guide entries.

Are there gardening topics you would like to have a collaborator on?

I love things tht come up every year without my doing much.

I've taken a look at the trees in the edited guide. Lots of oaks, and some holly, redwoods, and maybe a maple. No real evergreens. Scotch Pine is native, but no edited entry. I must be overlooking something.

I *did* overlook something: The ash grove. And some fruit trees.

And a survey of British Woodlands
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["Giving and getting flowers" A87834711 has a quote from me about hanging pots of flowers from my porch railings. I hope that you like Coneflowers, FWR. They are quite fragrant, and come in many different bright colours.]

I'd like to recommend Gnomon's "British Woodlands - a brief history."
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I no longer feel as if guide articles need to be written for the important individual tree species. It would be nice to have them, but links to the sites that Gnomon consulted will have a lot of information anyway.

Anyway, we don't have an army of researchers to write these entries.

I've just submitted a second entry to peer review. This one is about the Dwarf Alberta Spruce. I adore these trees. Five or six years ago, we bought 14 of them for eight dollars apiece and have let them grow to a size where they would now be worth thirty or forty dollars each. Only one of them died. The others have very few signs of poor health.

Apparently they are also popular in the U.K.

I believe there are only 3 native British conifers:Scots Pine, Juniper and Yew.

Lots of others have been introduced.

My neighbor has a Scots Pine. It's doing so well that he worried about it damaging the shed he planted it next to. It's the ultimate Christmas tree.

I have a Juniper in my back yard, but it's called an Atlantic red cedar, as we have no native cedars here. My trailer has been on two different lots, and each time it had juniper growing under the edge of it (I didn't plant it, but maybe the birds dropped juniper berries there).

The edited guiide has no entries on Juniper trees or bushes, so I am giving you thi link to explain the nature of the "cedar" I have
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniperus_virginiana

In fact, that could be the next guide article I write.
(

I've come acrosas an excellent Edited Guide article called "Principles of landscape design"
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it hits all the nails on the head. I don't need to comment further. Just take a look at it.

Today the site was down.

Now it's back uo, and I can't tell if it's been up long enough for other researchers to post messages.

Yesterday we got 13 inches o rain. My neighbor was going to shovel me out, but he was called away on business. I ended up shoveling myself. My muscles are not as sore as I expected them to be.

Today I drove down to the drugstore to pick up couple of prescriptions./

Tonight I binge-wacthed youtube. Fitst, a movie from 1994 called "This can't be love," starring Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Quinn. Then I watched about five episodes of the George Burns and Gracie Alleb TV shown fro, the 2950s.

Sorry, we got 13 inches of *snow*, not rain. I don't know how I failed to notice that error.

I watched two more episodes of "Burns and Allen" today, and have poked around in some obscure musicals form the 1950s (Phil Silvers in "Top Banana" in 1954).

Right now I'm listening to an obscure folksinger named Steve Goodman (his one hit: "City of New Orleans").

I love it that he had a sense of humor. he wrote a spoof country song that had every country element you could imagine. In the last verse, he sang about the dog getting drunk and dying, about the time Mom went to prison. The farm wasn't the same. Mom broke out at Christmas, but drove the laundry truck into a train..

I was wondering how you managed to shovel 13 inches of rain

By the way have you changed your name or is it just me who always read it as paulh?

The rain would have run off, though that much would have pooled. I might have needed a boat to get out of my house.

I left out the "l" in "paulh."

My eyes leave something to be desired -- except when I'm reading someone else's guide entry in peer Review. I spot their errors even if I don't see my own.

That happens to the best of us. Trust me

Part of my job as a sub-editor was proof-reading. I used to say I find other people's errors and replace them with my own

When did you leave out the l in paulh Did it take me days, weeks, years to notice

I think that the new blood pressure medicine is making me more relaxed. I've been in it for 17 days, and there are signs it's beginning to help me. I went to the doctor for a blood pressure check on Tuesday. The first reading was 160/87. Five minutes later the nurse took it again, and it was 140/77. If my blood pressure matched that lower reading often enough, I might be okay.

Yes. that higher reading is worrisome. hence the move to make me take two blood pressure medications instead of just the one I've been on for the last eight years. I still need to get used to the new one.