Many of the older Austin roses are quite cold hardy due to the Old Garden Rose Genetics that is only one or two generations removed in their breeding. Mr. Austin has also used some Rugossa roses in his breeding programs which helps with hardiness. My personal list of hardiest Austin varieties is: St. Cecilia, Mary Rose and her sports,Redoute and Winchester Cathedral, Crocus Rose, Lilian Austin, The Reeve, The Mayflower, Saint Swithun, Teasing Georgia, Eglantyne. All of the roses named above survive and do well here without winter protection. Though aside from St. Cecilia and the Mayflower, the rest will have significant die back if not protected or covered by snow. I grow other Austin varieties that are somewhat more tender, but still do very well for me here with winter protection. I plant all my roses with the bud union three to four inches below the soil level. I cut my more tender rose plants back in mid to late November to approximately 12 inches and then cover them with straw and leaves, because I do not have reliable deep snow cover. Generally the yellow and peach roses are more tender. Cheers, RRL

BM White Dove has gray in it. You want a creamier white like BM Cloud White. If you are happy with the off white of your tiles, that is your starting point to find a white that matches that.

Lilyfinch, neither of my Spirit of Freedom plants want to climb. The 6 yr. old is own root, a little more than 4' tall, and vase shaped. The 1 yr. old, is grafted, and much bushier than the older one. I've seen pictures of SofF climbing, so it may in your climate, especially if it's trained onto a structure. It is always healthy, maybe because it's so dry here. I know you will love it regardless of the form it takes.

Ah, Label Peeler! That's where I got mine. I forgot the name, and after my previous computer crashed, I couldn't access my old files. Thanks for finding it. As to how I learn this stuff, I just do a lot of googling. When someone mentions a product that catches my eye, I look it up, and check active ingredients. I remembered that bit about GreenCure because it prompted me to buy the active ingredient by itself. So, if you plan to use 2 tablespoons potassium bicarbonate per gallon of water, I'd recommend putting half potassium bicarbonate and half hot water (in that order) in the mixer, and setting the dial to 4 tablespoons per gallon. That allows for better dissolving of the powder. You double the strength at the dial because it's half-strength with the hot water in the canister. If you're adding 1 tablespoon per gallon of the soap, then you have to do a little more math. You'll want to figure out the volume of the hose-end sprayer's canister, fill one third with potassium bicarbonate, one half with hot water, and one sixth with soap -- in that order, so as to avoid the soap foaming up, and making a mess with the powder. It's also easier to do the soap last because you're just squirting it from the bottle until you reach the fill line. Learn from my mistakes -- haha! Then you set the dial to 6 tablespoons per gallon. How to get that? 2 tablespoons potassium bicarbonate per gallon of water plus 1 tablespoon soap per gallon of water equals 3 tablespoons of them together per gallon of water. That also means that, of the mix, 2/3 is potassium bicarbonate, and 1/3 is soap. But that's half of the container, the other half being hot water, so you half them as well -- 1/3 of the container with potassium bicarbonate, 1/2 with hot water, and 1/6 with soap. Then, since it's diluted to half strength in the canister with hot water, you'll have to double the strength on the dial to get the same dosage coming out of the sprayer. If you couldn't follow along, no worries....just trust me that the math works out, and you'll end up with a spray that's 2 tablespoons potassium bicarbonate and 1 tablespoon soap per gallon of water hitting your roses' foliage. :-) ~Christopher