Anita, the Catherine Mermet at the Stagecoach Inn hits close to 7 ft. tall, and easily 5 ft. wide. And it does get pruned, annually. Of course, it was planted in 1994. It gets a touch of mildew from time-to-time, but that is probably its worst flaw. Jeri

She was one of the first big florists roses, because she did that slow swirl-open thang that you crave in an HT. She IS good as a cut-flower, tho because the petals are delicate, I would condition the blooms well. In my climate, she mildews some, off and on, and that negates her cut-flower value for me, but that should not be a problem in your climate. I find her color "blah," and like 'Bridesmaid' a lot better (but Bridesmaid does not much like it here). In our current push to lower our numbers, both will soon leave us. But a GOOD Catherine Mermet really is a nice thing, if the color works for you. Jeri

It is so good to read messages from all my old rose friends. It is amazing on this forum how you really feel a friendship with people you have never seen. Of course, it was a pleasure when I did get to meet some of you. I really enjoyed going to the rose gatherings. I never made it to California to meet any of that group, but have always wanted to make the trip. Okay, let me see if I can remember what happened to some of these roses. Remember, I was having an anit-rose season last year so I was acting like the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland with her, "Off with their heads" comments and actions. As an excuse for my behavior I was hyper-thyroid on synthroid, I got a bad deal out of the overseas order, then I got a bunch of mislabeled roses from my favorite vender who admited I got roses bought from a second vender and probably were mislabeled but never appeared too concerned. Some of the roses came in a late fall (November) shipment and didn't get established before winter. Then to top all that off, we had a lousy spring and summer for roses. Patricia, I never though about nematodes because the roses all seemed to have different circumstances and roses next door to them did well. I will do some reading to make sure I haven't missed watching for nematodes in a rose with a problem. At least 50% of my loss is likely my fault. I took the approach that I wanted only roses that grew with little care and frankly would have turned the garden back to pasture grass except for DH. How glad I am he sided with the rose garden because the roses that survived my brutal treatment are looking great this spring. Angels Camp Tea --grew to about four feet, but got severe winter damage. Alexander Hill Gray---maybe lack of water and care Alliance Franco Russe ---maybe lack of water and care Antoine Rebe died as a band Arcadia Louisiana---beautiful, but couldn't handle the winter Blumenschmidt---healthy, but had green centers and I needed the space Catherine Mermet----just looked puny compared to neighbors Clementian Carbonieri--moved and probably didn't get water Comtesse Emmeline de Guigne---don't remember--just died young Devoniensis---pampered and died anyway Etoile de Lyon---didn't handle winter Frances Grates Tea---didn't handle winter--blackspot Freiherr Von Marschal --just slow an puny Isabella Sprunt ----too much blackspot La Pactole---pampered and died anyway La Sylphide---I had two one white blooms and one pink--blackspot proned, didn't know real name--just removed them Lady Hillington---a band that just never got more than a foot tall, had winter damage Miss Atwood---loved this rose, got too much winter damage Mme de Sombreuil-- loved this rose, got too much winter damage Mme. De Tartas ---never got started Perle des Jardin---never got started Rosette Delizy ---never got started Safrano --blackspot Second Street Tea ----too much winter dead Souvenir de Victor Hugo ---don't remember Susan Louise --winter died, came back from roots never took off, may have been mislabeled. Thomasville Old Gold---winter damage Tipsy Imperial Cocumbine---moved and died

I did. Thanks Diane. You should get this rose, you shall win every time at the show since not people knows about it. :-) Good luck to your shows!