Carol, it does not get that disgusting pink-white color. It seems the color bleeds out and it gets pale yellow. Once, they all turned pale green. The blooms last a long time. Here is a photo of an older bloom fading. I don't know how cold hardy it is but I do think it would prefer a cooler climate as the summer blooms are small. My summers are evil--very hot and dry.

I kinda know about what you mean about tossing a beautiful rose because of black spot. For me, Babs was that rose. Beautiful purple blooms with pin point centers and a great smell. It would be covered in black spot before the blooms had a chance to really look good. Then when the temps got to the upper 80's it completely shut down. Nothing. No new growth. Nothing. A hand full of green branch's that just sat there until the daytime temps stayed in the 70's. Then new growth that got black spot before a bloom would set. I must admit that when I saw the title of the post I was immediately rushed to 1968 in Nam in the middle of a stinking nasty rise paddy or on the banks of some stinking river or stream, getting dead American boys ready to go home after a nasty battle. One of a very few songs that stays with you always. Don't get me wrong. I'm very proud of my unit and the men that fought next to me. We didn't run and hide. We did what we were asked to do by our country. Be it right or wrong. (Co.C 3rd/47th, Mobile Riverine Force, 9th Div)

Thanks Martinca & Irisgal. Sharing the garden is half the fun of having it. I'm just about to run home from work and cut bouquets from some folks that are helping me out at work, as well as of course for a thank you for administrative professionals day. Sharon you also ask a good question about the bulbs (lots of excellent questions on this thread). Being a "rose chaos" gardener, I don't worry overly much about a week or two of looking scruffy while the foliage dies down. I find that the tulips go from green to yellow in about 2 weeks once they whole expanse dies off, and in fact some of the foliage in the first picture above is starting to die while other tulips are still blooming. So part of the answer is to have a lot of bulbs that bloom at different times so that they disguise the earlier foliage that's starting to die down. Once the tulip foliage turns yellow and flops over it's OK to clip it off. The bigger challenge as far as foliage goes is the daffodils, since that foliage doesn't fully fade till June in my area, and you need to leave it up and green or you'll start to sacrifice repeat bloom. I've read research that you can trim 1/3 of the foliage off the end and have the rest be just as productive, so I do that and it tidies up the rough ends a lot. Since I have bulbs planted every square inch (ideally) around other perennials and roses, the other plants are eager to shove the bulb foliage aside to get blooming on their own. One thing I don't have to worry about is a garden bed that's not thickly planted enough (smile). I find that I trim off the tulip foliage in the first bed you see listed because it's the earliest to bloom and fade, but by the time I get to mid-May there are so many other plants growing in the other beds that I don't notice the dying foliage at all after that point. I'll clip it off if I see it dead around roses when I'm working with them, but frankly I often just let the bulbs die down and join the leaf mulch as they quickly turn about the same color. As noted earlier though, planting this thickly with water-hungry plants like roses does cut back on the bulb rebloom, but it sure supports my lazy gardener habit. If you want to maximize your blooming from various plants for a minimum of effort, I'd probably interplant the daffodils and tulips among drought-hardy perennials like agastache or lavender or russian sage or salvia or all those types of plants. They're tall enough to hide the dying foliage but dry enough to co-exist happily with bulbs. However, I like roses too much not to put them in every bed, so even though I have all the above perennials I can't resist mixing in roses as well. They duke it out and seem to manage Ok. Hope that helps! Cynthia

Hi Alana, I appreciate being welcomed and yes, you did explain that very well. Gagal, Hi to you and glad to know that SdlM roots like a weed - this will be great for my very damaged ego after my recent disasters. Do you grow Zeffy? I am looking to put in a line of Madame Isaac Pereire, Sharifa Asma, SdlM and Grandmother's Hat right under the windows on the front side of my house. The idea is that as long we keep the windows open, the front rooms are fragrant, hopefully 9-10 months of the year. I live in 6a/6b, and I need a rose that, as another poster said about Benjamin Britten, blooms like a fool. Still chuckling about that one. Much regards and thank you for being so willing to share your knowledge and network with me. Nancy