You're welcome Diane! I agree, it's this kind of information that adds tremendously to the enjoyment of the roses. I've read Ollie Weeks was a plain old "farmer". He loved little more than driving his tractor through his rose fields, his red HTs and his wife of more than half a century, Verona. Now you know where the Week's rose, Verona, got its name. Buck's Princess Verona was a cross of Verona and Prairie Princess, hence the name.

His obituary stated he started with a rented horse and plow and one acre of land in 1937 (the same year Ralph Moore opened Sequoia Nursery!) and built it into a multi million dollar a year rose empire, spreading over 250 acres in Wasco, which he operated for nearly fifty years until he retired. Another contained this illustrative quote, "Texas-born Weeks was an unpretentious, plain-spoken man who was happiest wearing work clothes and driving a tractor over his land. "He was a hillbilly and he made no apologies for that," said Verona Weeks, who was married to him for 64 years." The full article is here.

http://amarillo.com/stories/052702/usn_rosebreeder.shtml

Yes ma'am, it's been hot off and on here. The monsoonal flow is also up from Mexico seemingly every other week, making it hot and sticky. Most of the rose plants are doing OK, thanks. The flowers, on the other hand, are potpourri the day they open!