My Mme. de Sombreuil came from Vintage in March, 2013. However, my rose has never had the overall flesh pink tone of the rose that you show, Jeri, from the Sacramento Cemetery Garden. It looks more like the rose "Legacy of the Richardson Family, which seems to be more of a shaded white. Of course location can make a difference, or temperature, so all three may be the same. It's a pity that Diane never posted a picture of her rose so that I could compare it to mine. In fact, I don't recall her having posted at all lately, which is a pity.

Thank you so much Jeannie -- We live not far from the water but up on a hill not too far from the Verazzano Narrows. I so feel sorry for the poor people in Staten Island and on the Jersey and Long Island barrier islands who lost everything. And also downtown Manhattan. The darkened skyline was so very sad looking, when we walked down to the pier to look. It reminded me of 9/11. There was noticeable debris -- chairs, and wooden boards washed up on the rocks, but people were fishing and jogging unconcernedly. Another walk -- to Sunset Park in the other direction --revealed the same unearthly sight of a darkened skyline and Statue of Liberty. But even there there were children on swings, as usual. Nor was Halloween affected. For our part, we didn't lose power and our basement miraculously didn't flood. We had cleaned out the gutters, filled the bath tub, made chili and brownies and brought the houseplants plants inside. My shrubs and perennials in containers (many slated to be gifts for friends) stayed outside and weren't affected. An exception was my little plastic greenhouse that blew up to the top of the retaining wall, despite the cement block I had put in it to keep it down. Otherwise, our garden, an eternal work in progress, appreciated the rain very much. Starting Tuesday, Verizon took away our cell-phone and internet for 48 hours. I suppose they needed the interchanges for other people. And there is no gas -- it was like a zombie movie. But one doesn't need a car here. For the most part it was not the wind but the tidal surge in low areas and then the gas shortage that have been disruptive. The gas stations are still closed, but most subway lines are running. There is a nip in the air, though, and tomorrow we are going to have another storm.

Yup, my experience is the same as above. Grown in a bit of shade (from a line of shrubs south of it), it can mildew. My second plant in full all day sun is much healthier. It is a bushy climber, the kind that is good growing up against a fenceline, but not necessarily tied or pruned. Mine doesn't repeat all that much, but then it has....never once been fertilized, which may be the reason. I can't remember the fragrance, but it lives at the bottom fenceline, far from my nose.

When I ordered Blush Noisette 10years ago, I had to pot it, as the garden wasn't ready for it straight away. When it started flowering, it's scent was so strong and wonderful, I used to walk backwards and forwards past it all the time just to have that glorious scent wafting at me. Since I have planted it out in the garden, it has grown and flowered really well. It is always healthy, it is nearly always flowering, it is evergreen, BUT, it has lost it's scent. Why I don't know. It has made a lot of difference to how I think about it. If I were to lose it it would not break my heart. If however it were still perfumed, it would break my heart to lose it. Daisy