Hi everyone! I wanted to tell all of you THANK YOU for reading my post and letting me know that you enjoyed it. My passion and appreciation of roses is enhanced by sharing it with others. It always brings me great pleasure to hear all of your thoughts as well. I always love your feedback and even though it would take too long to respond individually to each of you, I read each & every one and enjoyed your input. I am going to post more of the other roses I love & miss, since I felt bad leaving some of the others out...and Eric kind of encouraged me...lol. I hope you all enjoy that post as well. To answer a few questions posed to me: jumbojimmy....Reports of Charles de Mills fragrance vary. I have read that it has no fragrance, mild fragrance, and lots of fragrance....I have no fewer than 50 rose books and none of them can agree on whether Charles is fragrant or not! When I visited the Montreal Botanical Garden I could not detect fragrance on their Charles de Mills. However, my Charles is VERY fragrant. I guess all noses pick up scents differently and maybe it even varies according to soil, temps., etc... I guess you will have to find out for yourself if he is or isn't! organicgardendreams....I can't vouch for whether Yolande would do well in CA....hopefully the many posters from there will help you out w/ your question. She certainly doesn't need the cold to bloom, like the Albas & Gallicas so I would think she would do splendid in warmer climates unless certain diseases might be an issue. Jean....Felicite will get fairly big, but not usually as huge as her Alba sisters. Albas do need space; they are not small bushes. But you can prune her a little to keep her in bounds. Somewhere in the 4-5 foot tall range. Some Albas can top 7 feet and my Belle Amours have shot up to over 8 feet! Here in zone 4 there really aren't any roses that are as impressive in size as the Albas. Next to our puny hybrid teas that die back every year, the Albas look like Jolly Green Giants! Thats another reason why I love them. She really IS worth it to have in your garden even if she is your only once-bloomer. She will be done blooming by the time the Japanese Beetles start up and she stays quite healthy the rest of the summer so you won't have to fuss with her. And that fragrance will win you over. She is such a beautiful, feminine rose that I couldn't imagine not enjoying the pleasure of her, even if only once a year. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter.... only come once a year, but we still look forward to them, right? Thanks again, rose friends! Celeste Charles de Mills, my blooming machine....

I went out yesterday with the camera to see how the rose blooms had done after four or five days of drizzle, cold and rain. Not many of the roses are blooming, but these I thought had done really well and still looked good. More rain is forecast so I'll check again later. Clair Matin Heritage Marie Pavie Portland from Glendora Lauren Madame Alfred Carriere Excellenz von Schubert (I agree about this rose, Diane) Polareis Duplex Verde Cornelia Till Uhlenspiegel, a hybrid rubiginosa In worst shape was the floribunda, Blue for You. A little bedraggled was Baptiste La Faye, but not really too bad. Faith Whittlesey was in pretty good shape, as was Wasagaming. Overall, these roses seem to be good for my mild climate, wet gardening area. I hope the GH does well for you, Diane. Keep us posted! Gean Clair Matin after four or five days of rain Cornelia Marie Pavie This post was edited by harborrose on Thu, May 30, 13 at 21:06

Interesting how some things change while others stay the same. Avalon: My Vets Honor gets a fair amount of morning sun. I have to say that it is a heavy feeder and performs best when fertilized consistantly. Belinda's Dream is a work-horse in my garden where I have almost as many of it as I do of Elina. I recently purchased two Pope John Paul II after being pleasantly surprised by the growth of one that I ordered from J&P in the Fall on own-root. I was able to find it at a nursery in Miami. Appearantly a nursery up in Central Florida has begun to take up the slack left behind from MerryGro and is selling J&P roses on Fortuniana rootstock under the name of Armstrong Roses. I've spotted a few of these roses at my local Home Depot in Pembroke Pines. Well, bottom line, and a return from my tangent, PJP II is creating quiet a sensation in my garden. Peggy: My hat goes off to you. I can't get into OGRs. I can just imagine that they're huge in their pots. I was just up to the Cool Roses farm this weekend and Geoff echoed what has been a growing problem in my garden, regular thrips. He said that the weather is keeping the Chilli Thrips at bay but that the regular thrips are reaking havoc everywhere. I was warned against overly using ConserveSC and to stock up if I found any for sale as it has become restricted due to nurseries over-using it to combat Chilli Thrips. In other news: My raised beds project is 40% complete and coming along nicely. I hope to post pics some time in the future. Enjoy our Spring while it lasts Florida!!! Adrian.

Wow, Jackie - that's exactly the sort of pairing of clematis I was picturing in my gardens, particularly the Graham Thomas and purple clematis. That combination is to die for, and the rose and clematis are happily (and gorgeously) supporting each other. I can only dream of Graham Thomas getting that big and lush in my zone, even though Austins typically like my climate. Mine has never cleared 3 feet tall in 4 years, and even wimpy clematis like Nelly Moser would mow him down in a minute. It's good to hear the contrast of clematis being borderline in places like CA (not that I would wish it on you, but it's good to know). I thought tulips and once-blooming OGRs were the only flowers that didn't like California. Who woulda thunk it? Although frankly, your clematis look very happy just not thuggish. Harry, that is a terrific shot of the evolution of clematis-rose detente, and jaw-dropping wonderful clematis to boot. I hope Betty Corning was given new life in another spot, since she is breathtaking in her lush profusion. Ditto for Westerland, since I can only dream of my Westerland looking that terrific in the spot I have it. I'm glad to see you label Venosa Violacea, since I'm pretty sure that's the clematis I have creeping up on my hammock, but it barely reaches 6-8 feet so far and doesn't have that amazing explosion of color yet. Clearly it needs more sun and territory to conquer - I love the white star effect in the center. Beautiful pictures and fun observations everyone! Cynthia