Wow! As usual here in my area we are up and down. Supposed to have a cold few days this weekend, possible frost. I'll be covering up all the blooming plants again. Looking ahead, seems like this might be our last frost. This is our "dogwood winter". My dogwoods are looking so pretty!!

If there is even ONE mutiflora rose in the vicinity, the chances of any seedling you find NOT being multiflora are about 10,000 to one, lol. Every mature multiflora will have at least thousands of seeds, and unfortunately they are a favorite of the birds. I know....ugh. EDIT: As for ID-ing the pest, I completely forgot to mention that the stipules of R. multiflora have "hairy" extensions. Down near the base of the leaf, the wider wings will have several green "hairs" (wider than hairs, but the proper name escapes me!). It's a definitive characteristic of multiflora and its hybrids. Hairy stipules of R. multiflora

The office staff gets handblown/art glass tree ornaments every year. They have told me they don't want me to do anything different. One family I started giving them something, a print or piece that is their initial, kind of like Mary Tyler Moore's M. They are all different sorts of things and qualities, and if they are relatively inexpensive then they get a gift card to a restaurant or something. But they said they still look forward to them. Now it's getting harder to find something unique, and a few people have about 20, which is a lot.

You can do any color you like; both you show look good. You can upload a pic of your house and paint it on any number of paint company websites. Does the brick extend onto other sides of the house? Can you just remove it? If not, I'd definitely paint or stain it the same color as the siding to make it disappear as much as possible. Do your research about painting brick and be sure to use something formulated for it. I would repost your question also on the Design Dilemma board and Home Decorating, too, for more help. Maybe also the Landscape design to see if anyone has ideas to improve it with your landscaping choices.