Muscovyduckling, I did get a Souvenir de la Malmaison climber, and have great hope it'll be a beautiful rose. I got it bare root at the same time I got my bare root Austins, but it hasn't started blooming yet. If it does well, it should be the perfect color for the fountain trellis. Rosefolly, you're absolutely right. I'm judging a rose -- Crepuscule -- that I've never seen except in pictures. I'm excited to have it, and hope I fall head over heels once I see it blooming. Ingrid, you were the one who inspired me to get Duchesse de Brabant, and I'm so grateful. Will you be getting your new one now or in autumn? Mine is doing well so far, and I hope yours does too. Molineux, this little Duchesse has been blooming continuously since I received it, and the blooms are elegant deep cups -- just lovely. All the roses in this new garden are being trialed, and those that do best will get a permanent spot, with multiples of each of the few selected. Duchesse is certainly in the running, and your description of the shrub is a big help. Mendocino rose, I feel so fortunate to be engulfed in such incredible beauty. I would never even have known about many of these roses, except for the great help I got on this forum. Do you think Heritage will do well in a hot climate? I don't need the trellis to be smothered in roses. A simple tracery with a few roses would be quite lovely. Some people say heritage blows quickly; do you find that to be the case? People also say that about Claire Austin, but mine almost always has blooms, and they last long enough to keep me happy. Michaelg, I wish I was still in the rust belt, enjoying the ocean breezes and dozing off to the hypnotic repetitive crashing waves. No, the issue will be whether Heritage performs in dry heat if given good soil and water. jannike

Josh, I ordered Ambridge Rose and Charlotte from Chamblees around 3 years ago. There were 5 rooted cuttings of AR in a single gallon pot and 2 rooted cuttings of Charlotte in the other. We have found that many plant propagators in Texas put more than a single rooted cuttings into their pots. We removed the rootball from the pot and soaked them in a 5 gallon bucket of water and swished them around a bit. We were able to separate the individual plants and put each of the (5 AR and 2 C) into their own one-gallon pots. We let them remain in their pots for around 2 months then transplanted them into the garden. Plants of both varieties have done very well in our garden. The AR grew into bushy plants around 3 feet high and 2 feet across. If you prune only lightly in spring, you can coax the the plant to grow up to 5 feet high in my area. The flowers are very fragrant and are around 3.5 inches across. The color seems to vary from pink to apricot depending on temperature. The plants of Charlotte are larger, perhaps 4 feet x 4 feet, but again, if you prune the plant only lightly, you can get it to grow taller. The flowers are pale yellow and fade to nearly white in the strong summer sun. I have only minor disease problems with these 2 roses if we have a rainy late spring.

WOW! Chamblee's must have the most comprehensive selection of Buck roses of any vendor on the planet! I've never heard of some of the varieties they list. The only one I'm looking for that's not listed is 'Paloma Blanca'. I read somewhere that PB can be difficult to propagate, so perhaps that explains its absence -- otherwise, Chamblee's lineup of Bucks contains all kinds of new possibilities for my garden (just when I thought my lists for 2010 were complete).

Hi Melva,,,, I don't believe ya do. Maybe your camera and a hat.