The original poster is in NW Mississippi and a great rose resource is just up the road, north of Memphis in Brighton TN. Whit Wells lives there. He hybridizes really wonderful roses with bloom sizes from mini, through miniflora up to Hybrid Teas. When we visited him, I was really impressed with his huge greenhouse as well as the roses growing outdoors- just to see the sizes. He does sell plants and you would so love to walk through his greenhouse with him and just listen to him and to appreciate the plants he makes. His email is (last year) Wellswhit@bellsouth.net and he is listed in the phone book.

Trailrunner, I get my roses from heirloom, Vintage, Antique Roses Unlimited, and I have some Austins on order from Chamblees. You can't beat Vintage for the quality of their bands. ARE has 2 gallon plants, so they are off and running. Heirloom's bands have to be planted and allowed to grow some before you put them in the garden, but the roses in the first and last photos were all tiny bands from Heirloom (three years ago). The blooms are 5 to 6 inches on them...I've never had blooms like that til now. Most roses in the second and third photos are from Vintage except one is from ARE...they have been planted much less than one year. Chamblees are supposed to be one gallon. I like own-root roses. The iris are from Schreiners. I spray with fungicides, but not insecticides...I use alfalfa, Rosetone, and composted manure...and lots of water. On the Antique rose forum, I have read that water is the best fertilizer for roses, and I believe. it. Lavender-lass Don't give up, Spring is coming. Thanks Rita, me too, but it's a forlorn hope. Plantmaven...your rain sounds like ours for a couple of years...none. I hope that turns around quickly for you. But, I would think a long time before I planted iris and daylilies next to each other. That may indeed work in California, the land where everything seems to grow, but the water needs for those two plants are different here. My iris would rot if they got as much water as the daylilies need. Thank you all for such sweet comments...I am obsessed with my garden. kay

Rita - Those sound like good butterfly attracting plants. I have two butterfly bushes in my island bed and purple coneflowers in one of my borders. I have grown zinnias and cosmos before, and they were excellent butterfly attractors. Here's what I've put in the new bed: Turn Of The Century hardy hibiscus (1) A new lantana that is hardy to my area called Chapel Hill Yellow(3) Rajun Cajun ruella(2), a red hummingbird attractor - a tender perennial that is supposed to overwinter in my zone. Garden phoxes Bright Eyes and David (3) Becky Shasta daisy (1) Rudebeckia goldstrum (1) Homestead purple verbena (2) Aster Viking Star (1) I would like to add some sedum, cosmos and zinnias, but I'm already running out of room for daylilies!!! I'll have to post some photos of the new bed when I get it all planted. Debra

Jolana, Sorry to hear about your ROS. It sounds like it could be cotton root rot. My next door neighbor lost a ROS to some kind of fungus and she thought it was cotton root rot. It didn't die all of a sudden. Her's was growing in full sun and it seemed to get stressed in the heat. It also had mushrooms growing out of it. I have one that is has done wonderfully for me, but it is in the shade. Also, my neighbor had 3 japanese yews all next to each other. Two of them suddenly died and one of them didn't get effected. It is not unusual for cotton root rot to do that. Not only are some species more suspectible, but plants in the same species in the same location. Texas Mt. Laurel is supposed to have a fairly high resistant to cotton root rot, but it can also get it. I don't believe cotton was ever grown in our neighborhood. I don't know if this is a possibility, but I wonder if it is borers? I know that ROS can have brittle wood. You may want to call your county extension agent about this.