Many of the ones you bought I have just planted but I understnad Mrs. BR Cant, Maman Cochet and Mon. Tillier get huge - I planted mine by a fence in full sun behind my horse barn where they can get as large as they like. I have had Golden Celebration a few years - it seems a slow grower for me, but steady. This will be its 3rd year, maybe it will "leap". My SDLM is a free standing shrub and does fine. Mrs. Dudley Cross makes a lovely shrub. Abe Darby gets taller and aching - one of my very favorites!

Was anything blooming there? I am itching to go.....have had knee surgery, cant do much of anything, but as soon as I get the go ahead - I am on the road to Tyler!
Judith

My garden is not mature and I don't have most of the roses you mention (great group, by the way), but Glamis Castle I believe will stay compact. Mine was bought as a 5-gallon and has not grown too much although it's very healthy and blooms a lot. Rather thorny though. I would guess at the most it would be 4-5 feet even in a warm climate. I'm sure someone with a more mature specimen will correct me if I'm wrong.

I completely applaud your decision to have only roses in your garden that you really love. Life is indeed too short to grow ugly roses. You want to be thrilled when you go out in your garden and not have to avert your eyes from the not so great ones. Hopefully we'll see pictures later when all your new roses are settled in.

Ingrid

Judith, they had a few blooms and lots of buds. All of the roses are in greenhouses so blooms are possible! The cold weather meant that only the most fragrant ones smelled like anything. It was nice to see some blooms though!

I can only comment on a few of the ones you mentioned in regards to mature size.

My SDLM is around 3.5 X 3.5. I've had her for I think 5 years. I do very little pruning--just cutting back a few wayward pieces. I love the naturally rounded shape--very graceful. She's one of my best roses.

Abe Darby for me has topped out at around 6 feet by 5 feet. I've heard he can get much bigger but last year I pruned him pretty hard. I wanted to get rid of a lot of the black spot and try for a start fresh. It sort of helped... He needs spray, as do any Austins I've ever seen in Atl. He's worth the trouble, though.

Sharifa Asma is about 4 years old. This one is own root that came as a tiny little thing. She is about 4.5 X 3.5 I'm hoping she'll get a little larger but not much larger. I love the blooms and the fragrance. Makes me sigh just to think about it. Worth the BS trouble, too, I think.

I grow some of your other roses but they are still small so I can't comment on mature size. (Actually, I only feel really confident in SdlM.)

Enjoy your new roses. It sounds like you've got a good group.

It's never occurred to me that the climbing form of SdlM might work as a free-standing shrub. Hmmm . . . Perhaps with early training and very thoughtful pruning it might work, but I'd hesitate to try it here because it's so vigorous for me. Repeat on the climber isn't nearly as good as it is on the bush form, and the climber's flowering in general is better on canes that are grown laterally. Perhaps if grown free-standing it might be a good subject for pegging. I don't know tho . . . Climbing SdlM as a shrub is a concept I'd have to think long & hard about. If you decide to grow it that way, please report back here on how it does, okay?

Your 'haul' sounds pretty terrific! 'Glamis Castle' is one of the few Austins I've tried -- and that for sentimental reasons. It was very BS-prone in my garden and thrips loved it above all other roses. I kind of miss having it around, and hope you have better luck with it.

cweathersby, why didn't you go for an even 20??? Just kidding! My goodness, you hit the jackpot. What a beautiful selection. My roses are still young, and I'm in a zone with a longer season so nothing much that I say will be relevant, I guess. I have:

Mrs. BR Cant - she's 3 yrs old and on Fortuniana so I won't bother to say anything but I'm really liking her since I pruned her (first time) last month. She's got buds! Her pruned size is about 5x5+. I'm very excited about her this year.
Monsieur Tillier - Between planting in March, 2008 and the end of the year he shot up to 5'. He hasn't gotten much taller but he's gotten wider. Right now he has a few big basal breaks that you can almost watch grow - and flower buds.
Climbing SDLM (can it be free standing??) - I just put my 1-gallon plant in the ground last Sept. It's got a new basal break so I guess it's happy. I planned to grow it on a pillar - very horizontally. It never occurred to me to grow it as a bush. I have the bush planted very nearby plus I planted clematis Henryii on the other side of the post to fill in with flowers during SdlM's flowerless times.
Mrs. Dudley Cross - This rose starts out slowly growth-wise and bloom-wise plus I found her flowers to look nothing like the photos (she's a year old now). Linda at Rose Petals Nursery said hers did the same thing. I think she'll be 5' tall or less.
Maman Cochet - Mine is about 1-1/2 yrs old and not real big yet, but she looks like she's filling out. Be patient with your teas. Many of them will look gangly - and ugly - for a good while.

Your garden is going to be lovely for sure. Take before and after photos, OK?

Sherry

cweathersby, I am where you are at, in the process of relocating those that don't float my boat. Life IS too short to live with ugly roses, even if they are 5-star and popular to others' gardens.

I have a few on your list that have reached maturity:
Monsieur Tillier, Heritage---5'x3', upright vase shape. very graceful.
Cl. SdlM---I would not recommend as free-standing, has no form without support.

I have Mrs. BR Cant and Georgetown Tea, both acquired as bands spring 2009 and growing great guns.

William Shakespeare did not last but a couple of years in my garden, but most Austins are duds here.

And I did not know Chamblee's offered Maman Cochet, I have one coming from RU.

Chamblees had it in the boneyard. So I guess they aren't offering it right now. They had some awesome roses in the boneyard. But I already had the best ones.

What a great haul.......you must have brought your pickup, large van or trailer :)

I have Mrs. B.R. Cant - a great, great rose and plant. Beautiful, sumptuous blooms and a very healthy plant. I only have one but keep thinking that I would like to get another. Mine is probably around 4-5 years old and much wider than tall. I do prune it some in the spring and the pruned size, right now is probably 4' tall x 5' wide. Left unpruned, I think it would be much larger.

I also have Georgetown Tea and Evelyn but they were planted last year so are still relatively young shrubs. My first impression is that they are both going to do very well. (as a matter of fact, my poor Georgetown Tea spent the better part of the year last year buried under a ginormous planting of zinnias that had taken over and gotten twice as tall as I expected. I would go out and part the zinnias and give it some sun and air, and it was always fine, just sitting there - but fine. This year (out of the darkness!) it is thriving.

Evelyn produced a nice flush of beautiful, fragrant blooms so I'm hopeful that this year it will be even better. (I liked it so much that I went and bought another to put beside it!)

I am still working on the mental aspect of replacing roses that don't thrill me as much as they should. I have a hard time digging up perfectly healthy plants but I really would like to change things in certain areas. I have so many good roses in my pot ghetto that need a home!

Lynn

Mrs. BR Cant - as big as a Tea can get, one of the the two largest, fastest in my garden. Soft, lush red wood.
Monsieur Tillier - really big, really thorny. Wonderful, same colors as Mme Lambard, different form.
Georgetown Tea - they sent me Mme Lambard labeled as Mme Lambard, so really big
Maman Cochet - really big, kinda broomstick, stiff basals

I meant to post a picture or two of Mrs. B.R. Cant in my previous post but was rushing out the door. Here are two from last year:
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I'm wondering whether Mons Tillier or Mrs B R Cant would look best next to Cramosi Sup? C S is such a cherry red and I don't like putting 2 reds together, but both M T and Mrs B R are described as dark pink. Which of those are the least red?

My Georgetown Tea is about 10 years old and is easily 8 feet x 6...it is a lovely rose.

I have grown Heritage and Abe for over 10 years. I prune as little as possible so you may want to take that in to account.

Heritage is about 7'x 5' and Abe (own root) is about 8' x 4' .

Mrs Dudley Cross gets huge, too.