I have a large arbor that is built on the foundation of an old farm building. It is filled with what are supposed to be climbers. Most don't climb that well. In fact oldroser was visiting my garden a few years ago, saw the arbor and said something about the fact that there weren't any climbers. I was about to suggest Baltimore Belle but it is too big and a once bloomer. It is however a marvelous rose. Fragrant, floriferous, vigorous and although a once bloomer the bloom period is long. And BS free and JB free. There are tons of pink climbers but sadly I don't as yet have one that qualifies. Well I have a new Rosarium Uetersen that may get there. It has wonderful flowers.

Not sure what you're referring to as "plant events" but there's the Cincinnati Civic Garden Center Spring sale in late April or early May, The Cincinnati Flower show in late April at Coney Island, Boone County Arboretum has a Spring Sale in May(you should find info on all these using Google)And the Cincinnati Home and Garden show at the convention center downtown in early March. Kousa dogwood do well in your area and I would recommend a site that provides afternoon shade and routinely moist soil. They will tolerate some drought conditions, but they don't like that situation. Here's some nurseries and garden centers in the Cincinnati area I have been to and recommend Natorps is good and the KY facility will have about everything the Ohio one has. Lakeview GC & Nursery on Rt 127 north of I-275. White Oak GC at 3579 Blue Rock Road. Delhi GC on Northwood near Tri-County Mall. Sharon Nursery out by Kings Island and along I-71. There's a couple greenhouses on Gray St along the northeast side of Spring Grove Cemetery. Rahn's is one of them. And be sure to drive through the cemetery while you're there. Go in the spring(mid-May) when the pink dogwoods are blooming. More Specialty Plants on Mckeever Rd. Take Rt 32 east form the east side of Cincinnati out past Williamsburg, go across a river and McKeever is the next right. They have a lot of unusual plants. There used to be a Franks Store on Rt 18 across from the Florence Mall that always had decent plants, but they may not be in business anymore

Hi, Here are some photo's of my Cherries N Cream. I really like this rose. This is only my second year with it. It survived last winter with just a tad of tip die back. It is an easy rose to grow with no disease problems at all but I spray my roses every now and then just to keep major disease away so that I my roses don't go into winter weak from struggling with blackspot. My bush is about 3 1/2 ft tall by 3 ft wide this year but it's early yet so I expect that it will continue to fill out. It did prune it this spring so that it would be bushier rather than tall. I may have to move this bush next spring because it's getting too large for the space that it's in. I though it would be a smaller. It flowered in flushes last summer for the most part but also had a few flowers here and there in between the flushes. The bloom has more white edging and is fuller in the spring then during the high heat of summer. The bush is totally covered with blooms in the spring and fall. Here are a few photos taken yesterday: Cherries N Cream Here is one taken later in season last year. Blooms are darker and less full. Last year I had one cane that kept producing half and half blooms. I was going to try to root this cane but unfortunately a family emergency kept me away from home for 6 months and I missed the opportunity to do it. None of the roses are looking like this this year so either I pruned out this cane or it was just a one season thing with this rose. Cherries N Cream - half N half

I've never heard of 'Checkmate' rose, although I note there are a couple of roses under that name but not red roses. Maybe this is one unique to Australia, but in any case you cannot grow it from seed, only from cuttings. Roses like these don't come true from seeds... There are lots of nice red roses out there, how about trying another that's better known generally..? Local Australian members might be able to advise you further.. I'm delighted to hear of your weight loss, that's quite a bit... I'm 63kg and would like to get down to 61kg, but at my age you'd be surprised just how difficult that seems to be... ..best of luck... I had a fabulous holiday in Sydney and Brisbane some years ago... a bit too hot though, and in Adelaide it was over 40 Celsius... I couldn't go out in it..