I don't know about the pith of an OGR, but with roses in general, if you leave a cane with brown pith, that cane may survive and bloom and even re-bloom, but usually not with the same energy and vigor and stamina that a white-pithed cane would. There is also the chance that the brown-pithed cane will sooner or later run out of energy and slowly start dying. One problem those of us in Zone 6 have to face is that early spring weather often includes wide swings in temperatures and sometimes some late hard freezes after the roses have already begun their spring growth. All this is very hard on canes. After a later hard freeze some years ago, I had to do lots of pruning back to white pith to allow those roses to get back to their former energy levels. In fact, it took me two years of pruning to get the roses back to "normal"--I just couldn't believe at first that that much pruning was necessary, but by the second year I realized I needed to be a bit ruthless in cutting back to good pith. The remarkable change in some of my roses that were now growing from completely white pithed canes would almost have to be seen to be believed. The abundance of bloom and vigorous growth resulting astounded me! Unless you get specific instructions otherwise for OGRs, I'd urge you to cut back to white pith. Kate

Hey all, Thanks for the input! As for BS, normally, itâÂÂs only the spindly HTâÂÂs that get it with any vengeance in my garden. This year has been sooooo rainy, though, and Charlotte is getting some BS. @zaphod42, thatâÂÂs good to know, itâÂÂs def a damp, wet spring/summer here! Good to know Ascot is doing well in this weather. @Diane, itâÂÂs funny, I saw zaphodâÂÂs post only after I posted mine, lol. But IâÂÂve been following it too for some good info! Funny we both talked about MW, too. @predfern, thanks for the info on CdM, it noticed that in the drawings VG had on itâÂÂs website for CdMâÂÂs habit. Do you know about the health or anything else? Are the suckers hard to control?

Brightstar, Thinking some more about your plans, I feel your best option might be to contact Heritage Roses in Australia Inc., who have groups all over Australia with a number of regional groups around NSW, including one in Sydney. Because this is such a challenging/borderline possible situation, I feel what you need is some very specialised advice from locals with both expertise in the sort of roses you want to grow, and the local climate/conditions. From there, you could discuss the microclimate of your particular location and those spots you're planning to put your roses. I would think they would be able to tell you more reliably than we can how they would be likely to do, and/or suggest more suitable alternatives. I'm not sure if there are any Antique Roses forum members here from NSW - is billyteabag from there maybe, and some others? There may also be a few in Victoria around, and we have Adam in WA, but they may not have detailed knowledge of your sub-tropical Sydney conditions. And a lot of people do 'lurk' without participating much. There may well be many in areas of the US whose conditions would be fairly similar to yours, but since you're planning on quite a large investment here, of time and effort as well as just financial, I think you need to be very sure before you plunge in. The website for Heritage Roses in Australia is: heritage.rose.org.au and I see there that the co-ordinator for the Sydney group is a lady called Glennis... can't remember her last name. Please do let us know how you get on, and don't hesitate to pick our brains again here or on the ARF. I hope you'll find some great solutions for your garden, and be able to post us some gorgeous pictures one day! Comtesse :¬)

Vaporvac, I'm not a lover of red roses, never have been. I am trying hard to think outside my box, though, and right now I have two reds (sometimes I think...two reds too many), Firefighter and Dame de Coeur. They are nice roses, but they glare at me (I am tempted to glare back, but for my neighbors), unlike the pink, lavender, yellow, white and apricot blooms that dominate my garden. I much prefer light colored rose blooms because of their clean, elegant, and soothing visual effect, and also because of how they glow at dusk, and sparkle at sunrise. Years ago I maintained an OGR only rose garden in which I grew Rose de Rescht, really a pink/mauve rose for me in my garden, and thereby formed my opinion on it. Moses