In the peach to buff, to orange and red color range with pink; 'Anna Olivier' is the strongest scented Tea, that I have ever smelled and I've had the joy of smelling every Tea at Vintagegardens.com home garden and S.J.H.R.G.. Crepescule' trumps 'Perle d'or for fragrance, and in our garden is more resistant to disease. All year it is nearly clean. -Monsieur Tillier, which is very disease resistant in my garden where conditions favor p.m. over blackspot. I can only detect a light fragrance from the last two. I have loved Mlle. Cecille Brunner' longer than any other rose, both my grandmother and mother grew it and I have the original form, the spray form as well as the climbing form. The spray form does bloom far more than the climbers. I detect a strong fragrance, of damask rose with a tiny bit of black pepper as a scent note finish from all of them. except the white sport, which smells more like a floral blend with a touch of lemon. with 10 feet left of the spread, I would plant a 'Grandmothers Hat' for fragrance, it has a very resistance to disease, here. In cool weather this rose produces gorgeous lilac-pink blooms with the mauve tint being stronger. It has a long bloom season and the quickest re-bloom of any H.P. I've ever seen or grown. Oh what fun, to have so much room still available. I only water my mature Tea and Tea-Noisette roses c. twice a month in spring and autumn and 3 times a month in the hottest weeks of summer. I don't water them at all in winter, because we get a good amount of rain, usually, during that season. When they are mature sized plants, -the partial shade will lessen the amount of water you need to use. -adding 4"+ of mulch to the bed, (kept a couple inches away from the base of the canes, ) will also lessen the amount of water you use on rosebushes. I often forget to water my Teas and I've never seen their leaves droop, which would indecate dehydration. Lux. P.S. I placed a 'Mermaid' in my backyard against a fence where I have espaliered her size within bounds to where she will grow to be 4 and 1/2 feet from the fence outwards, and I've given her an allotment of 25' width. I adore this rose.

Lesley, thank you so much. Patience is important, and definitely something I struggle with. It's hard to plant something and know it's going to be a few years before it really wows you! I planted two Henri Martins this last summer and a Salet Moss and I'm dying for them to bloom. They are the first "old" roses I've planted and I am just antsy to see them. I was impressed with how much they grew in their first year though from little bands. I have removed New Dawn from my wishlist on ARE! Thank you for letting me know. I definitely don't want a monster of a rose covered in thorns. -------- iris_gal, thank you very much! Yikes... Sounds like a lot of people have had trouble with New Dawn. HMF is bookmarked on my computer. :o) I'm on there way more than I should probably admit! I saw Mme. Plantier gets about 5 feet wide. I don't know that I mind the pruning too much since its vigorous, hardy to zone 3, and near thornless. I dunno? I'm conflicted. -------- Trish, it's good to know I'm not alone! I do feel like I've learned a ton but there is SO much to learn. It always amazes me the stuff everyone knows here. Well I bet in the right place it might not be such a terrible idea! If you had it somewhere where it could get as big as it wanted and you didn't have to pass by it too closely. I don't think a place like that in my yard exists. Hopefully Jeri will come back and tell us what that beautiful rose is. :o) Michaela

I would love to visit Peter Schneider's nursery in lilac time. As far as General Sherman, there is a nursery that carries it nearer to me. It's the Lavender Lady Lilac Nursery in the Hudson Valley. I couldn't grow it myself. The only one I grow myself is Syringa × laciniata, which is a smaller one. Would have to persuade a friend with a bigger garden to try it. I learned about General Sherman last year while smelling the lilacs, as we do every year at the BBG, and this one, which I had never noticed before, smelled great. I wrote down the name and when I looked it up at home learned that Father Fiala in his Encyclopedia gave it very high praise. It is interesting that many of the most fragrant ones are doubles, but this is a single with a delicious perfume. I have to say that I am prejudiced toward everything antique, because I feel they need conserving, and also being closer to the species they are often most graceful, but some of the newer lilacs look pretty alluring also. We should be like the Japanese and have public festivals for many beloved varieties of flowers, Lilacs, Roses, Lindens, etc.

Thank you, Katyajini. Am pretty sure these are all spring pics. I think a lot of my plants are big, or you could say overgrown, because I'm usually not a very assertive pruner. I like big plants but I also like some degree of order and neatness and am pruning more and at any time I want, not just before spring. I cut back some one cane wonders really hard and for the most part it was a good decision. This year we are having so much rain and my early bloomers are starting on second flushes now. Some of them look as full of blooms as the first spring flush, and I think it's got to be because of the rain. That and letting in more light by tree removal and pruning. Our soil here is easy to dig, so it's easy for roots to spread out in. The bad thing is that it drains fast and in summer the soil can get awfully dry. But since the roots have spread out a lot, they take in whatever moisture they can find. But in a drought, I feel like my garden is way overextended...I can not keep it watered, we just depend on luck with the rain.