Oh, yeah. That's a rose! GH's color is amazing. I find myself increasingly drawn to raspberry roses. Paul Barden's Crested Damask just opened a similarly colored bloom, and I can't stop visiting it. As Ingrid so accurately noted, GH looks magnificent with its blue and purple friends. You're gardening in my color scheme, KS! Kim, I love that there's a contagious cedar scent! There's something about a rose that's both sweet and savory, like gourmet cuisine or Swedish meatballs and lingonberries. Carol

If I had to pick a "favorite" rose -- it would be this . . . We grow 12-14 plants of it, and many of those were suckers from the first one, which easily grew into big new plants. In our very mild climate, there are always a few blooms somewhere to enjoy -- and it's changeable enough in form and shade to provide a wonderful visual diversity. When the weather is particularly warm and damp, it -- yes -- gets some "crud" which is mainly blackspot. But it doesn't spread, and is usually reserved to the lowest canes. For the first several years that we grew it, we pruned "Grandmother's Hat" rather as we might a Grandiflora. But, eventually, we let her have her way, and grow to her preferred size. If you are so minded, you can grow this rose as a lovely informal hedge, or espalier her as a low climber. No -- I have read no new thoughts on what she might have been -- but I do know that she has been found in locations in both Northern and Southern California. We found her growing in an old garden, behind a victorian house on Mare Island, and Fred Boutin found her in Altadena, CA and also in Columbia, CA. She's been sold as "Grandmother's Hat," as 'Mrs. R.G. Sharman-Crawford', and as 'Cornet'. I've come to the conclusion that, personally, I don't care what she was, and "Grandmother's Hat" is a good enough name for me.

Thanks! Great idea. I posted over there. For whatever reason I'm getting a 404 when I try to edit this post. :-(

Jeri, Carol, those are all good ideas for underplantings--thank you. It's not really that I don't care for the leggy look -- it's more that my plant is so very sparse. She was at @ 6.5 feet tall, with greenery only above @ 4 feet; and there are only a few canes. When she's blooming -- seems like a nice quantity of bloom for the greenery, but I want to see more leaves. That's really the issue. I think the snipping back will do the trick, tho--she's really leafed out. I really don't know much about pruning and such and have mostly avoided it -- but only about a week ago, I did a lot of cutting to the rose that's been winning the "Most Miserable in My Collection" prize -- Dupuy Jamain. And -- incredible -- that rose is already showing a LOT of fresh new growth, after doing next to nothing for the past 2 years except mildew and blackspot and rust! Going to try this on a few of my other struggling/loser plants and see how they manage.