"Scopata Fuori" wrote
Black snakes, in the US, are harmless, beneficial creatures. The only
exception I am aware of, are the notorious cottonmouth snakes, found near
water. Black snakes look scary, especially big ones, but just let them go
their way, and they will not bother you. They won't bother you, in fact,
unless you insist upon bothering them, and they are unable to escape any
other way.

Around here (N. pensinsular Florida) it's something called the black
racer, and what's either a subspecies or a rare color variant called the
indigo racer. Powerful, fast-moving snakes (they don't call them racers
for nothing!), graceful of motion and arguably beautiful, and harmless.
I saw one on almost every piece of land I considered buying, and have
come to consider them a good luck charm. I have never seen any
venomous snake on my property: maybe the racers eat them. Everyone
else I've talked to in my church has killed at least one cottonmouth or
rattler or coral snake near their house; there's even a place that buys
freshly-killed snakes for their skins.

Ob. roses: the Romanticas and other Austin wannabees I bought 2/3 to
3/4 off from Wayside as bare-root grafts and potted up are mostly doing
well, except for one I transplanted into the wet and seem to have killed.
Gina Lollobrigida (spelling?) has done nicely, with good crops of nicely
smelly blossoms, but looks to be too small a bush for my tastes, and
"Handel" (modern climber, white flowers with pink to red edges) has
been growing well if blooming a bit fitfully, in spells. Beales writes of
Handel, "An excellent rose, but somewhat `pretty' for my taste," and he
has a point: at least it hasn't a hybrid tea look to its blossoms. Handel
is
also old enough (1956) to be out of patent, so perhaps I can try it on its
own roots here.

Mark.