wow! It's really interesting to see how bands arrive to those in the warm climates. They're so young!! I, of course, won't be getting mine till late May -because of my cold zone-- so they will have a lot more greenhouse aided growth on them by then. (Yours will have the same growth too, just in your yard.) ....when I get mine, they will look like rose plants with leaves and even flowers.... and not sticks in dirt like these. I'm sure it'll all be the same by June- but this is an eye opener. I see another reason why you hot zoners can't plant out your bands as fast as us cold zoners do-- they just are too young. Edited: I was just reading a discussion on the Antique forum about propagating with dormant wood. I wonder if the fact I buy my roses from a much more northern rose propagator meant they started their propagating sooner anyway -because here the first frost comes early.? So, the bands might really slightly be older? .....just wondering...... This post was edited by lola-lemon on Sat, Feb 23, 13 at 18:48

Sheila, I had heard of Crepuscule's great performance in heat, it also has the colored canes and calyxes that I like. And Mel's Heritage is it's progenie, I'd forgotten... but it's true they are really, really big, that's an absolute shame! Maybe one day I'll have a larger space to work with. One of the main reasons I wanted Mel's was because someone once mentioned it smelled like Granny Smith apples, is that true? I had considered Hermosa before, and Ducher looks pretty too, are they too thorny? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Diane, mustbnuts, those pictures are so stunning! I may not be able to have it right now, if that's how big it gets. I wonder if I could keep it at bay just pruning often? To not order it is the saner idea, but it has so many of the attributes I like, I might just cave and get in trouble... How does Pretty Jessica compare in scent and low-thorniness? are the canes purplish too? Do you guys think it could be for a year or so in a pot and the be moved to lawn? My grandma has lawn, with several not too- tall trees that could shade it. I visit often and she'd probably appreciate it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Beth, thank you for taking the time to address all of those! Your pictures are all gorgeous! and yes, I do love the odd colors! I was hoping you could chime in since I knew you owned several of them from hmf! Thanks for the neat pictures there too! I have crossed Lagerfeld, Ripples,BB Hill, and Guinee and Graham Thomas might be walking the plank if I don't get some other verdicts. On further inspection of the pics on hmf , Victoriana might be not quite my taste, I'm not too fond of the white reverse. And several people in hmf compare Hot Cocoa with Smoky, saying it is the same shade and better performing. Since I have HC already I might cross that off too. I had never seen Lavender Pinocchio like that! It got on even ground against Silver Cloud there. Even if SC does not bloom much I think I have to order it. Those are my favorite shades of steely cold lavender and cappuccino there, whereas most of the time LP appears slightly pink-ish. Oh, and it's settled, I will make space for Butterscotch in the ground. I'm not sure how, it just will happen. It's destiny. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank you very much everyone! If anyone has supporting or differing opinions, don't hesitate on commenting.

Very very pretty!

@Biff Jessop I'm not sure how to gauge the situation. Apparently once upon a time, RVR used to have correctly labeled inventory of 'Licorice Tea', but it seems nobody has actually received the correct variety in recent times, myself included. I'm not sure about the others. I know several people have bought the ones you've mentioned and apparently received the correct plant.