I also have a very old Peace rose. From where it was planted (alongside of the driveway, in a long row of various bush HTs planted, we think, in the late 1940s or early 1950s), I can only surmise that the original was the bush form. However, a gigantic pomegranite bush has arisen just behind it, and by the time I first saw the Peace rose it was definitely climbing. The bottom is in full shade from the bush. I hired a gardener once who unfortunately pruned it as a normal bush HT growing in full sun. Disaster. It put out tons of new growth, which immediately became covered in rust. I left it alone for a few years, and it started to climb again. I helped it up into the canopy of the pomegranite, and now the canes don't bloom until they get way up there into the sunlight (10-12 feet up). Then they produce the most amazingly huge (7-8 inches across) blooms. Luckily our bedroom window on the second floor faces exactly at this rose, so we can enjoy its beautiful bloom. Not much disease at all, except for this Spring when it has rained and rained and is still raining... I am glad I read this thread - I didn't realize that Peace had deteriorated in commerce over the years - I will definitely root some cuttings of this old one. Thanks for the info! Jackie

This thread makes me smile. Jackie, I love the fact that you are living and gardening in a place that holds so much history for your family. I have an own-root Peace in my garden, a virus-indexed plant that got from Vintage in 2008. It was originally planted in my Rose Field among similar HTs. Life happened, my Rose Field grew over with weeds and invasives and I didn't have what it took to keep it up at the time, and Peace seemed to be lost. Last spring, I waded through that section of the garden and discovered that Peace was still there ... small and scrawny, but very much alive. I carefully dug it up, and it is now planted in my front yard HT garden, with other own-root HTs, where it receives much better care and it is thriving. These HTs seem to need more in the way of nutrition, so it gets fed regularly. I do my best to be as good as I can about keeping to my twice-monthly fungicide schedule, too. In return for my care and attention, Peace is growing and doing very, very nicely ... producing the large, bright green foliage that I think of when I imagine Peace. My goal for this plant is to keep it healthy and vigorous and to bud a copy of it onto rootstock to see what a virus-free Peace can do when grown as it was originally intended to be. When the plant gets bigger (it's about a foot-and-a-half tall right now), I will propagate own-root plants and get them out of here into other homes who will also care for and preserve them. (The photo of Peace and her little bug friend was taken yesterday morning.)

Thanks to you all for your advice. Misterart has quite a selection of rub n buff products, and they are on sale. We are closing on our new house next week, and I am so excited to start "feathering my new nest" I can barely breathe! After Katrina I was able to find some of our old candlesticks, that were pretty beat up. I think I'm going to experiment the rub n buff on them. They can't look any worse!

Thank you My3dogs (this is my first post here so I am not sure if you will know I am replying to you.....the last time I looked at GardenWeb it was not part of Houzz...) I ADORE the Danby marble in my original post picture with the vintage sink. And I am not a 100% sold on Quartz/Quartzite but my concern is we have soapstone now and I am not pleased with it. A guest comes over and sets a casserole dish down and then pulls it out and it scratches. My "hard on equipment" husband unloads the dishwasher and drags a dish by the edge and it dings. I did like a white granite and thought it may be more durable than the soapstone but then researched the quartz or caesar stone and it seems bulletproof. The 'carrera" caesar stones look very marblesque. But I do love the look and feel of marble and so many on this forum have said it is NOT that hard to care for. Another dilemma! I believe I will have my husband make me a ply wood counter as funkycamper suggests....to try out the sink. I also need to research the faucets and get the sink resurfaced if I do decide on it (and I think I will always be sad if I don't..)