HI Robin. I'm no expert, but I do have 2 cl. cecile brunners and I like the spot that is away from the house. The rose gets HUGE in my zone 7. It's 3 years old and has 20 feet canes going to the left and right. It's such a sight in full bloom. Also, which ever spot gets the most sun would be good for the plant.

Hi Robin: I'm your Gig Harbor friend that asked you a ? on eBay a while back. I have a Cecile Brunner that covers the whole back of our shop. It is a monster, house-eater here where we live! I have to seriously whack it every year. It gets HUGE! Put it somewhere with lots of room. What kind do you have? I have the once-bloomer. I also have a band I got last year from Heirloom, that claims to be an everblooming climber, we'll see. It's in my Pot Ghetto. I was curious to see how much repeat it really does. I am going to plant her to climb into a tree. My once-bloomer is just starting to bloom now.

Robin, your home is very beautiful!

And the Pink Hawthorn tree...I've never seen such a thing. Wonderful!

My thoughts. Cecile Brunner does very well with less than full sun, so the "house" location shouldn't be a problem on that level. But she does want to get BIG! (about 20/25ft tall 15/20 ft wide here in sunny California).

She will want to eat up the windows, and not saying it couldn't be done, but training and pruning around them would be a task. If you did it it woud be stunning.

BUT...the big problem (as I see it) for this location is that you say this side of your house requires the most upkeep. Just know that you could forget about ever getting behind the rose to paint or otherwise maintain the house after just a few years. This is not a "mannerly" climber you just pull back and get behind to do maintenance work.

Once semi-mature, this is a tough rose to penetrate. Even getting inside her to remove dead-wood is not easy. I guess you could try to keep her more "laced out" but that is not her nature. She gets big and full.

The other spot is interesting, but unless I'm misjudging height and scale, it looks to me as if the Cecile Brunner (when mature) would be almost the size of the Pink Hawthorn tree. At least the way they grow here.

I understand in Washington they are likely to say smaller, but here I'd expect Cecile Brunner could fill the whole area where those smaller trees are (and the little gap) and get nearly size as the Pink Hawthorn.

Growing "side-by-side" these two look like they would be an amazingly beautiful pair. But growing up and into the tree...I'd be worried the tree would get "eaten".. In your words, I think you are "grossly underestimating Cecile Brunner's potential".

Still, Cecile Brunner is a beautiful, beautiful rose. I just posted in this forum days ago how much I love mine. Handsome, disease free, vibrantly healthy, long-lived, undemanding rose.

Good luck,
Bill

Thanks, all - DH and I are pondering...

Irish Rose Grower, if it gets that big in your zone 7, I am skeered what it'll do in my zone!

Pacnwgrdngirl, why don't you come out and visit one of these days? Perhaps you'll come up with a better idea if you see the place, lol. I don't know for sure whether mine is the once-bloomer or remontant (don't remember where I got it) so I'm assuming it's the once-bloomer and perhaps I'll wind up pleasantly surprised. All my other trees already have roses in them - the hawthorn is all that's left.

Bill, thank you for the compliment. Actually, that photo is the "ugly side" of the house, lol. I didn't realize until fairly recently that the pink hawthorns are much less common - I do so love that tree! It's pretty big for it's type, at least in these parts - I wish I knew how old it is.

OK, the house wall is out. I'll plant something more amenable there. :-)

The hawthorn is at least 20 feet tall and at least 15 feet wide, and once the hollies and quince (to the right of the hawthorn in the photo) are gone I'm not worried about room. However, I am concerned that the bulk of the rose would obscure the tree, which is so very beautiful when it's in bloom.

Probably a silly question, but would it likely grow too large to put on a 20x20 2-car garage, even if it gets the whole structure to eat? It would be planted on the north side (had r. mulligani there, but it got too frostbit and we moved it) but would have full sun once it reached the roof. It could grow up the side and over the roof, and we could prune anything that wanted to grow down over the doors or onto my greenhouse next to the garage. Or... would we rue the day we ever did such a damn fool thing?

As an aside, I though you all would enjoy this story. My anal-retentive neighbor across the street has a Cecile Brunner Cl. (a runty, virused, grafted plant) and she complains every year when it blooms that "it has too many blossoms - I can't see the foliage!" Ain't that a gas?

***As an aside, I though you all would enjoy this story. My anal-retentive neighbor across the street has a Cecile Brunner Cl. (a runty, virused, grafted plant) and she complains every year when it blooms that "it has too many blossoms - I can't see the foliage!" Ain't that a gas?***

Yes...but.

I started to mention in my prevous post...but cut it...that we went to Descanso Gardens here in LA over the week-end. They have thousands of roses of all classes, really beautiful plantings. But when we got home, I went out and looked at our Cecile Brunner and I thought...I saw many wonderful roses today...but I don't think I saw one whose foliage exceeed (or matched) the loveliness of Cecile Brunner. Very remarkable plant.

Oh...and I was just thumbing through Peater Beales' "Classic Roses" and he recommends Cecile Brunner Cl. for growing into trees. I personally still wonder if that's a good idea???

But next to the Pink Hawthorn you could create a structure for her to grow on. I set redwood 4x4 posts with 2x4s crossing diagonally when the neighbors tore down the garage ours was eating and that has worked well.

Plus, as Jeri's picture (in another recent thread) shows, once Cecile Brunner builds up a little wood, she supports herself to a large extent. I still like having her on a structure...but it some ways she's as much like a "tree" as a rose "bush".

A 20x20 Garage would be a perfect size. Just remember if you don't plant her away from the wall with a stout trellis...it will be unlikely you will ever paint the Garage wall again. Can you live with that? This rose tends to live a very very long time. Would it get it get enough light? Mine gets a fair amount of shade from a decidious tree on our patio and does very well. But a North wall...I dunno.

Bill

Thanks for taking the time to help me puzzle this through, Bill - I really, really appreciate it.

As for the garage, the rose would have northern light until it hits the roof, then it would get much more. Also, once those holly trees are down it would get morning sun as well. The other roses in that bed do very well. There is already stout trellising on that wall (angles from the roof overhang to the bottom of the wall) as well as trellising on the north slope of the roof. It sounds like once she's on the roof we won't need to climb up there and tie her to the roof trellis - I imagine (read "desperately hope" that she'd be able to grab onto it herself... right?

As for "never painting the garage again" - yes, we can live with that very, very easily. We're assuming that we'd never see it again! ;-)

"I was just thumbing through Peater Beales' "Classic Roses" and he recommends Cecile Brunner Cl. for growing into trees. I personally still wonder if that's a good idea???"

Yeah, I read that too. I seem to recall that he also mentioned something along the lines of using climbers to dress up ugly trees, rather than planting them in beautiful specimens... might not have been Beales I got that from, though.

I have several trees with roses. Three Golden Chains - the first with 'Mme. Alfred Carriere' and a pink sport of 'Marechal Niel', the second with a large 'New Dawn', and a third with 'E. Veyrat Hermanos' and 'Souv. de Mme. Leonie Vienot'. In the back yard is a huge old Italian Prune with 'Seagull' and 'Old Blush, Cl.' in it. I even grow 'Phyllis Bide' into a big old lilac. But none of these roses are hefty monsters and they don't/won't obscure the trees too much. I wouldn't hesitate to plant a big, bushy rose like Cecile in an ugly tree, but I'm afraid to sic it on my beloved pink hawthorn. I expect it'll get a climbing Tea or two in good time, though. :-)

Are you kidding Robin? I would LOVE to see your incredible garden sometime. I visited it at your site - DROOL. It is just amazing. I am in awe. I would especially like to come when it is in full bloom. Even your house is cool, I just love old bungalows. I am a fellow Roseaholic too, just not quite at your level yet. :o)

I wish my husband would allow me to have my climbers on the house. It really gives it that "Cottage Feel." It is a very big issue for him. He must be able to paint. Oh well. Cecile on the huge trellis on our shop gets whacked good every year. It's not allowed to touch.... We have acreage out here in the harbor with many trees, some ugly, I don't mind siccing Cecile on one of them. I want to able to let some roses go crazy out here in our lawn edge into trees.

Robin, I am glad that you have gotten some input from "local-zoners". I would hate to steer anyone wrong when my zone 8b here in east Texas is probably very different than your 8b up there!

But for what it's worth, climbing Cecile is a barn-eater down here. Not a good choice for a house where you need to be able to do the occasional maintenance work! And, I could forsee it eating that lovely tree you have pictured. And I would never consider keeping it in a big pot. If you could see the five year old multiple trunks our specimen has: each trunk is larger in diameter than my fist, and it has six or seven of these.... you would then understand this is a rose for a wild spot, to help camoflage the less attractive spots, or to romance a stately elm, or.... anything less domestic than your home! But one rose that would be lovely trained on that wall would be Madame Alfred Carriere. It frames windows on a few manor homes and small castles in England and Ireland with stunning effect!

Allison

this is a rose for a wild spot, to help camoflage the less attractive spots, or to romance a stately elm, or....

*** Well-said Allison.

Jeri

I think planting it near the garage is a great idea. I have my 2 growing up each side of a huge garage. It's old and was painted white, but is very aged. It looks great not being painted new, kind of like an antique look.

I have climbers on my house, and when we had it painted last year we detached the trellising with the roses still attached and lay the works over, with platforms of scrap wood keeping them off the other roses. Between that and all the bushes it made things fun for the painters - they only showed up in shorts once, lol - but it worked. There was a lot less damage to the roses than I expected.

pacnwgrdngirl, June would be the best time. Usually the bloom is farther along, but the roses are late this year. In about 3 weeks there should be a lot going on. I will warn you though - my garden looks far more impressive in photos than in person. I don't photograph the warts. And this time of year, my house looks like a tornado blew through it. Housework is a strictly seasonal activity. :-)

As for Cecile, I'm actually contemplating having the metalworker across the street fabricate a very large umbrella trellis for her. I'm picturing an umbrella trellis about 15' tall and 6' wide at the top - she'd resemble another tree on the strip. She'd have to live in a large tree pot for about 2 years (it'll take time to save up to get those trees down, the stumps removed, the holes filled, graded, the structure fabricated, etc.) but then we would move her to her permanent spot. I'd have to cut her back to move her, and it'll take a crew to rassle the pot, but I'll bet she'd view that as a dare. Do you think that might work?

I have to agree with everyone else. Cl Cecile Brunner is a house eater. It would also eat up your trees. I would select a spot with more space to let it spread.It will crush any trellis with time. If space is a premium, it makes a great trade for a less aggressive climber like Seven Sisters, Cl Clothilde Soupert or even New Dawn. My Cecile Brunner has 20 foot canes in part sun summer/full sun winter in a very hot and humid climate. It is starting to gobble my neighbor's hideous Ligusrums. My Fortuniana is less dense than the Cecile Brunner and has gobbled up a tree and is threating my neighbor's Banana. By the way, keep the trees and prune them a bit. They fit in with your environment.

Well, I'm not sure I wanted you all to talk me out of my latest hair-brained idea, lol! Oh well, someone has to provide the voice of reason. Perhaps I'd be better off finding this monster a home in the country... or see if my best friend wants her house eaten.

Those hollies are going to go though - I need that space for roses, and I hate pulling holly seedlings. Plus, they are getting uncomfortably close to some overhead wires. I'm keeping the pink hawthorn and an immense old lilac (plus my three mature Golden Chain trees, of course) and that's it.

Best of luck Robin! Your pink hawthorn is so pretty, I had never seen one before!

There are so many wonderful smaller climbers to choose from that would be ideal for your location on your home or by the hawthorn... shall we enable???

By all means, enable away! I should, however, list those I already grow as I'd want something different.

Should I start a new thread?

"But one rose that would be lovely trained on that wall would be Madame Alfred Carriere. It frames windows on a few manor homes and small castles in England and Ireland with stunning effect!"

O Allison! My home may not be a castle but boy is it starting to look romantic with 3 big trellises of Madame Alfred Carriere covering the front of our home. So beautiful!

The MAC was just planted last spring (I was fortunate to find a local grower who had her own root in 5 gallons) and my goodness is she getting big. One more season (two at most) and I'll be regretting I don't have a two-story home ;-)

The effect of this rose could not be more perfect (for what my wife and I had in mind). I also just put 2 Sombreuil on trellises in front around our bedroom bay windows, and have a "modern" New Dawm seedling called "Penny Lane" getting ready to wrap around the porch pillar. I love the transformation these climbers are making.

Back on point. Robin, good you were talked out of an umbrella (for this rose. HOWEVER...let me try to talk you back into the spot near (well not too near) the Pink Hawthorn.

If, once the trees you ae planing to remove, you could set posts (with bracing and wire) and let Cecile Brunner form a "wall" that would just touch...but not grow over...the Pink Hawthorn. Our grows this way "naturally", and is basically full from top to bottom. I don't tightly clip her (so I won't call it a "hedge") buy basically it serves that function.

Imagine the two (PH &CB) in full bloom together. WOW!!!

People could come from miles around to see the spring display.

The rest of the year CB is a very handsome plant, which requires amazingly little tending.

Your friendly "Devil's Advocate",

Bill

Since you are taking suggestions for other climbers for the house...allow me to suggest Ghislaine de Féligonde. (CAVEAT...I don't have this rambler--yet--so I've no person experience growing her).

If someone said thay were going to recommend a rose whose flowers range from almost white blush, to yellow, to apricot, to almost orangey, I thik I'd squint, and tell them: "You clearly don't understand my taste in roses".

HOWEVER, Ghislaine de Féligonde almost has to be seen to be believed. Photos don't really do the trick...especially when no two flowers ever look quite the same.

At Descanso Gardens, they have this growing on a "Cottage" on rebar trellis. They keep it laced out like a rose espallier. Just amazing (as anyone on the forum who has seen it can confirm. The beauty of this rose comes from "the whole thing" working together. Foliage, lax trainable canes, and flowers (which judging bu photos alone might appear either so-so...or horror of horror even too gaudy in coloration) all come together in an amazing effect.

If you kept this trained out, you could have a beautiful climber (it really is stunning) and the lax "ramblers" canes ought to make maintenance somewhat easier (still be nice to find a "cheap way" to keep it directly on the house.

Anyway just an idea to plant in your mind. I don't see this rose mentioned often, but it sure has captured my imagination.

Cheers,
Bill

Wow, Bill - thanks! I'd about resigned myself to sending my big baby Cecile to my friend's house to eat her chicken coop. What a waste. This posts-and-wire "rose wall" thing sounds inexpensive and stunning! How far apart would the posts have to be? How tall? I've got about 30' from just-touching-the-tree to the back alley. I could plant roses on either side of her (sidewalk side and street side), right? The parking strip is 15' wide. Or at least on the street side? I tend to plant fairly closely because I'm constantly pruning to take cuttings (pleasepleaseplease give me some good news, lol!)

For the house: I love MAC, but I already grow her and I think the flowers would get lost against the butter yellow of the house. I would want something with more colorful flowers and darker foliage. Ghislaine de Féligonde sounds pretty near ideal - I like the pics on HelpMeFind. If the blooms tend to be a bit brighter than those pics, that's all to the good. I hope someone has her in stock. :-)

"still be nice to find a "cheap way" to keep it directly on the house"

Here's how we do it. We take 2x2's, affix blocks of 2x2 to the ends for spacers, paint them the same color as the house and screw them to the wall. They visually disappear, and it's easy to tie the roses because of the spacers.

Here's a photo of an area that has trellising, but no rose yet:
{{gwi:264615}}

It's cheap, easy to make and can be added as needed.

The posts for my "rose wall" structure were placed 14 feet apart. First I just had 2 posts (with diagonally crossed 2X4 for bracing) then I added a third post (and two more Xed 2x4s) when we moved a self-layered daughter plant into the spot. So the "wall" is 28 feet long (and she is growing even beyond it.

The longest redwood 4x4's I could find (and transport home) were 20ft. Almost 3 ft went underground...after being coated first with a non-toxic creasote replacement made by Wolmans (sp?) called "Creacoat". Then I wrapped with this heavy plastic wrapping that has sticky glue stuff on it when you peel off the back..I believe this is used for roof flashing). Then they were cemented in. The no-mix conrete mix you can put in the hole dry and then water in...while 3 times the price...was worth it!

I did have the advantage of having a solid low brick wall behind it, which I drilled though and set carriage bolts through. I also used carriage bolts (with nuts and washers) to attach the 2x4s to the 4x4s. Where the 2x4s crossed, I makered the backs with a pencil and used a putty knife to notch out the backs so they'd fit together nicely (also bolted at the cross). Sounds advanced (or it did to me) but it was quite easy. Then large eye-screws and braided wire. It was not to hard. I wasn't know as a "handy-man" around here...my reputation, however, has soared...and that's causing me all kinds of trouble ;-).

I'm planning another "rose wall" structure on the other side of my back property line, and I have nothing to tie-into for front to back strenght...I'm not an engineer-type, so I'm hoping this works in a "free-standing" fashion as well. Counsult someone smarter in this area than yours truely.

Also with a metal-worker neighbor, perhaps there are attractive metal posts that could be drilled to hold rings and wire. While CB does get big, and strong, and don't believe she will likely push over a secure structure. As she builds wood she's rather self-supporting.

Whew!

Oh..Vintage carries GdF. And the colors of the rose (colors is the right word) have an amazing quality to work with almost anything. And I think would look great with the house color.

Peace,
Bill

Wow, Bill - thank you for taking the time to explain how you did this. Do you, by any chance, have a photo of it - especially in bloom?

Robin, I think the garage sounds ideal...
My CL Cecille was one of my very first roses...back in the days, when people would say to me,"But you don't even like roses!" I planted Cecille in a barrel, 10 years ago, and there she is to this day. She is about 15 tall and is in the process of eating my swing, climbing a Pine tree, and is on my side (and the neighbors side, too) of the fence. I was lamenting the fact that she is in a barrel, and was told not to worry about it, as she was no doubt, in the ground by now. I just love this rose! Mine has a major flush in the spring, and scattered blooms in the summer, with a small flush in the fall

Hi Melva,

My, I'm sure that's a sight to see!

I've decided to plant Mermaid on the garage, as per my original plan. If I planted Cecile, I'd have to start a "What on earth will I do with Mermaid?" thread. More efficient this way, lol!

Still scratching my head over Cecile though... I'm not entirely sold on the idea of devoting so much of my limited real estate to one rose. Now if it was really rare or something... I don't know.

These life-altering decisions are so dang hard ya know... When "where to plant a rose" is your biggest problem, you know life is good.

No opinions to offer here; I just wanted to add that a year and a half ago I strolled with a friend through her yard and we took rose cuttings, including two of Cl. CB. It appears that at least one of them took. It's growing at the edge of a scrubby fringe of elm wood, and the worst thing (that I can think of, anyway) is that it will encounter the climbing roses planted on the other side of the fringe. I think we have three 'Paul's Himalayan Musk's. Three (?) 'Alberic Barbier's. A couple of plants that may be 'Bobbie James'--I know that was one of the varieties. 'Kiftsgate'? Two 'Purezza's, though I'm hoping to give one of them away tomorrow. That elm wood's not going to know what hit it. My friend shares my taste for enormous climbers, obviously. Oh, and there may be some 'Leontine Gervais's, from another gardening friend. We need bigger trees. What everyone says about the tree-eating propensities of Cl. CB is very gratifying. I look forward to seeing her turn into a monster.

Melissa

Most interesting thread! I have many ramblers to plant and am trying to seriously consider each and it's location before I plant, but the more I 'think' the more I change my mind and the more time passes, thus, no one is planted yet..... Because Ramblers are very long living huge plants, if any of you have, or know of pictures of mature ramblers rambling, 'seeing' would be enormously helpful! I am an obsessive compulsive pruner, and if some ramblers can be controled, that's great for me, but I still do not want to create an impossible future nightmare, for my hubby or future owners, after I am gone. I would love guidelines - "Planting for the Future Generations". I am most interested to learn your thinking process, Robin, how you finally decide who will be planted where and why! I was so excited with my project, now I am So FURSTRATED! Best wishes for a perfectly breathtaking result!

Bodica, I think you might very well enjoy reading Stephen Scanniello's "A Year of Roses". Stephan is the curator of the Cranford Rose Garden (Brooklyn Botanical Gardens). He is an absolute master at the art of pruning.

The concept of the book is a master gardner (my term) takes you through a year as his partner in the rose garden. But it includes a wonderful section on how to train and prune rambles to use on such things as "festoons" (ramblers trained on wire or chain, and the like). I just read this book about a week ago. Wonderful, personal tone and alot of great information.

I just wish Stephen had an additional book purely aimed at sharing his talents for artistic pruning. Come to think of it...I'll write and beg him to do so :-)

Truth told, I hate pruning. Not because I'm lazy...I'll go out and dead-head till the cows come home...or happily remove deadwood...but cutting live rose canes is psychologically difficult for me. I've got too many monsters planted, or in pots building strength not to get over my pruning aversion...maybe part of what I like about my Cecile Brunner...I let her go. But his rambler ideas have inspired many thought for a new garden area that is just in process.

Robin...I'm pretty sure I don't have pics of this years flush. Real shame as it was spectacular! I'll try double check soon.

Peace all,
Bill

My most heartfelt gratitude to all of you who've thrown your hat into the ring on this thread. The "collective brain" on this forum is truly awe-inspiring.

After all the hand-wringing on my part I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but.....

......... I gave Cecile to my best friend today. She's going to "beeyooteefie" her chicken coop and hide the ugly corrugated metal roof on her back porch. It's a rather plebeian fate for her, compared to the living rose wall idea, but it gets her in the ground now and is one less thing for me to worry about. I can always root another cutting if I change my mind.

Bodica, I take plant size, bloom color, remontancy etc. into account when I decide what to plant, but I don't do it until after I've succumbed to fancy - in other words, I make what I have fit, rather than planning a planting area and then acquiring the plants. I usually grow plants on for at least a year after I get them (right now I have 50+ in my pot ghetto, ha) so I'm constantly juggling what's ready "now". I'm pretty much a spontaneous creature.

As for Cecile, I think that the main reason this was such a difficult decision for me is because I'm a bit of a "plunker" and Cecile really isn't "plunkable". I plant pretty closely because I like the look of intermingled roses. I don't "landscape", I "junglize". I propagate from my roses so they are kept somewhat in bounds through constant pruning, but I couldn't deal with as many cuttings as it would take to make Cecile fit comfortably on my city lot. And frankly, with everything else that is part and parcel of my life, I'm not sure when we'll actually get the trees removed and when we'd be able to build a fence for her. We say two years, but it could just as easily be five... and then where would we be?

I thought about giving Cecile the garage, but I have 'Mermaid' waiting in a 5-gallon pot for that spot, and she was the rose I've always envisioned there. In my mind, that's always been "The Mermaid Bed". The more I thought about it, consulted my inner wisdom, the more I realized that I just didn't want to give up that much space to one rose. There's so many I want to grow, and I'd rather use the space for several different plants. I'd pictured a forest of climbers and ramblers up tall poles, some weeping over at the top, with smaller ones beneath. Lots of different roses! When I make mistakes, at least it isn't a total disaster - there's always another rose to try.

As you can imagine, my garden isn't very "controlled" looking - it's more like a full-blown riot. But hey - that's me.

Well Robin, its been a really fun thread!

Such a pleasure getting to know you. Let us (me) know how Mermaid works out for you. I'm planning at least one more rose wall.

And I'm split between more Cecile Brunner...we have two more self-layered) daughter plants that will be ready to transplant this winter...or doing something different.

And...now that you give me cause to think about it...I also have a sweet little chicken coop...which has no climbing rose growing on it...but it could.

See what you'd started ;-)

Bill, the pleasure has been mine. I really appreciate all the time you (and everyone else as well, of course) took to help me puzzle this out. You can just bet that, in time, I will be posting pics of Mermaid eating my garage!

Thank you Bill, The book sounds most enjoyable and of great benifit to my style. I will check Amazon today! I appreciate your recomendation!
Robin, LOL, I want to see your garden! My mother and husband like a very rigid/tortured garden. Those are my discriptive words not theirs. I share your style, my roses weave through each other, allowed to climb and wander freely. I hear lots of complains about my jungle, but ignore because square plants are not and will not be my style! I love seeing my plants as happy laughing, free with the birds to live to their fullest abundance!
I have Mermaid also and think I want it to consume the white barn but want to be careful her thorns/canes won't kill anyone.
LOL, Victory Garden is showing a severely tortured topiery garden, cute but the plants look in pain to me.....
Looking forward to pictures of your lovelys!

Bill, A Year of Roses arrived last night and I am delighted! Thank you for mentioning Steven's book. Haven't read it all yet, but so far, I find it most enjoyable and am pleased to add it to my resources. Thanks again!

Bodica, I'm so pleased you are enjoying it.

Bill

I am loving this book! Lovely illustrations, very understandable instructions, and he has a wonderful expression of humor. He must be such a delight in person. You have made me a fan, thanks again!

I only know Stephen from communicating on-line, but his warmth and humor always comes through.

There is one bit of advice for warm weather gardeners (to hard prune and leaf-strip everblooming roses in January) which runs against what many of his dear friends consider "best practices".

That one point of controversy aside, this is a wonderful book. I know I was inspired to get an Alberic Barbier rambler to train across an arch, directly as a result of reading Stephen's book.

Also, if you ever see picture of a rose bush that has been pruned by Stephen (some have been posted here on Gardenweb)it is a sight one does not soon forget. The man is a genius!

Bill

That is interesting, I am in the California East Bay Area and have been pruning to my eye and leaf-strip often. Anything I do not like I remove. I am very new to the world of roses so every success is a lovely accident. I loved him saying to get intimate with your roses and learn their indivisuality. I have been feeling that more and more- what I do may not work but I begin to find what is better and continue in that direction. Maybe lots of us are afraid of growing roses because of all the 'rules' and they differ for each type, like computers, we fear some devastating catastrophy. The longer I share our land with roses the more I appreciate how forgiving of my mistakes they can be, and my pc simply forces me to learn more, nothing horrific, frustrating but learn and go on. I do not find his guidance fearful but more open to learn in your own garden. He makes instruction fun! And of course you already picked up that I am not roses in a row but love weaving them together. I'm surprised how the simple drawing are quicker to understand than photographs, no distractions from the idea expressed. Bill, I am so grateful for this excellent book and I paid for it so I can underline, highlight, get it dirty and let it live in my garden with me for quick reference and/or inspiration! I would love to watch him prune! I'm dyslexic and reading is work, you have given me my favorite book. Thanks.....

Bodica, funny story about the line drawing in Stephen's book. I have a little boy (William III) wo is not quite yet 3. He is my gardening buddy and just loves the roses.

Last night, when we were settling in for the evening, I suggested to him that we read a book, Usually it's "Harry the Dirty Dog" or some such thing. He picks.

So last night what does he select? Stephen Scanniello's "A Year of Roses" from my bedstand. And he's looking intently at the drawing. And I start quizing him. What are these William? "Petals" And these? "Leaves". And these? "Prickles".

And then he turns the page and squeals." Daddy, daddy...look an arbor". Too cute really.

Cheers,
Bill

I would say, if you thought the flowering quince was you haven't seen a mature Cl Cecile Brunner. It makes a great neigbor cover for neighbors you hate to see across the fence. It also makes a great child barrier for those annoying soccer kids. Dogs seem to avoid doing their business on it also. Best of all it makes a fantastic tresses demolition device. So give it a lot of room to roam and it will be a beautiful addition to your garden.