Hi, just wanted to be sure to thank everyone!!! for their time and thoughtfulness about alternate roses, vendors, etc. Curlydoc thanks very much for the extra effort and for your Hortico pics... If I was an experienced gardener, I'd rush out and get the Hortico, but am thinking that because I am a first-time gardener I really need to make sure I can do a decent job with my 2 tree roses, the 2 Lincolns and the 2 Special Occasion first so indeed 2010 I will be making a full blast to 3! Sutter's Gold roses to add to the collection for next year... Roses Unlimited says that indeed they can hold the order and since I have heard so many terrific things about them, I will go ahead and wait for the 3. If Special Occasion does indeed flourish I will update everyone on what I think about the fragrance. According to Heirloom rose and a few other American growers it is "one of the most fragrant hybrid teas" but a bit too belatedly I found some U.K. sites that only listed it as moderate so we shall wait and see. It's a Fryer rose...

The hybrid teas are usually the long stemmed florist type blooms. BUT that's not a hard and fast rule as it depends a lot on the individual variety of rose. In your zone hybrid teas will generally be more winter tender and will need to be well protected to survive a WI winter but it can be done. And there again there are some varieties that are more winter hardy than others. Some varieties, both hybrid teas and floribundas, that have been hardy for me (even this winter, and remember I'm a zone warmer than you) are: Red Crimson Bouquet, good health for me Veterans' Honor, will black spot Oklahoma, does black spot Mauve Angel Face, always black spots Paradise, fairly good resistance Love Song, good disease resistance for me Peach/Apricot/Orange Sisters at Heart, fairly healthy Tuscan Sun, good resistance for me Granada, will black spot English Sonnet, fairly healthy If you're interested in a yellow my favorite is Julia Child. She's very vigorous and healthy and blooms ALL the time. I make no guarantees about disease resistance because that seems to vary a great deal from place to place. You might want to check out some of the Griffith Buck roses as well as the Canadian Explorers series as these roses were bred for colder climates.

Thank you so much for the message, I'd forgotten to have follow-ups emailed! And gosh, I really think you nailed it. The photos on HMF look EXACTLY like my rose, I even did a double-take thinking that I'd taken one of them. :D This is wonderful information to have, because I was going to prune it like a hybrid tea next spring! Now instead I just have to figure out how I want to train it. Thanks again!!

That is so awesome, Paul. (Awesome collection; not awesome that a lot of plants died, although I agree with the decision not to spray) Is there a way for you to post a list of (a) the complete collection and (b) the ones that have survived? The results of your experiment could be really helpful to others especially in the PNW. I don't spray and have generally had few problems, but I'm in a pretty dry climate compared to the rest of PNW. I think my biggest disease problem so far has been Ardoisee de Lyon; I'm waiting to let the plant mature before making a final determination about whether to keep her. Glad for the info about Tiffany, she's been on my list and this moves her up a few notches in priority. And I guess I'll add Sutter's Gold to the list!