Olga, do hope these roses go to a good home! One of the members of the local rose club brings his SP's to meetings and they go out as door prizes. I became the reluctant owner of two minis that way... Had you thought about posting them on Craig's List or freecycle? Those are probably higher traffic sites than this one.

Hi, Jo - Haven't heard from you for a while. Glad to see you posting here, but sorry that you're having a problem with one of my favorite roses. Some roses outgrow the balling problem. Only laziness kept me from taking out Souv de la Malmaison, which finally stopped balling after it was at least six years old. Definitely avoid the Cochet roses. Those big egg-shaped blooms will ball and rot for you, I'm afraid. I think it's likely that Mons Tillier would do ok for you. I share Jeri's thought that Lady Hillingdon might be good. Le Vesuve might be ok, too. Comtesse du Cayla, which sometimes seems like a tea to me, and sometimes like a china, would probably love your climate. Definitely avoid anything that mildews, like Duchesse de Brabant and Mme Lombard. You don't get hot enough to drive the mildew to dormancy. Anita

I grow all of the roses on your list. Almost all of them will be bald by mid-summer without support from fungicide. The lone exception seems to be Ralph Moore's OGR. This is its first real year here in the garden and it is one of the few roses that shows no sign of disease so far. No flowers yet, it appears to be one of those late-season bloomers, but the foliage is fabulous. Your decision to go no-spray with your roses is going to have to be paired with a decision on how much defoliation and blackspot to accept. Hybrid Perpetuals, many Bourbons, and most Hybrid Teas will suffer considerably. Will they die from it? Probably not ... but they'll sure look like snort. You're not too far away. Come see me in the garden one weekend, and we'll talk. Connie

I am sorry. The fact that some roses produce tiny flowers in the heat of the summer, came as a surprise to me when I first saw it. Coming to the Mediterranean from England, lots of things are different and after 11 years I am still learning. I suppose it seems daft to you all that I didn't know. The thing is that apart from Archduke Joseph and to a lesser extent, Archduc Charles, not one of my other roses do it. Lady Emma Hamilton does tend to produce more semi- double blooms in the heat, but Firefighter, Perdita, Marechal Niel, Jude the Obscure, Blush Noisette, Sombrieul, Teasing Georgia, Pretty Jessica, The New Dawn, William Shakespeare 2000, Colombian Climbing, Munstead Wood, Annie Laurie McDowell, Aimee Vibert, Mme Alfred Carriere, Pat Austin, Jubilee Celebration, Papa Meilland, Oklahoma and Augusta Louise all continue to produce full sized, fully petalled, blooms throughout the summer. The rest of the roses, (with the exception of some new ones, of which it's too soon to say,) simply stop flowering during the summer. The thing is that 3 years ago , when I started this thread, I was still able to run up and down those steps to Archduke Joseph all the time. Now, things have changed, it is not so easy. It still surprises me that my body is no longer obeying my head, but there you go. I need to bring down to the lower level, La Reine Victoria and Penelope and replace them with a large growing rose that I can see from below. Sheila, your garden and your roses are more than gorgeous. Thank-you for those photos.