Hope springs eternal. My Eden was decimated by voles early this spring after putting on significant growth in it first season last year. I planted loads of euphorbia around the rose to discourage the voles...and hoped. The canes withered, but alas, no signs of voles around this rose anymore!...Now, from the lower parts of the canes that were far less withered are some new healthy Eden sprouts...not Dr. Huey! I'm very excited too. Also, another small victory. I hope I didn't hijack your thread.. I've not seen a bloom on my Eden yet. Robert

Hello Karima and mistymorn. I found this site, yes! Did I post to the American equivalent Mistymorn? I guess I did. On David Austin's, Graham Thomas: I've grown it twice, once in Sydney, where it is cooler than where I am now, and here. It failed here, just west of Tweed Heads, NSW; too hot, I'd say, afterall, it is an English rose. Graham Thomas is a nice strong rose but really more suitable to cooler climates than where I am or further north. Ok, as far north as Sydney it's fine but doubtful it would/will succeed in the sub-tropics. David himself once said he was surprised when commenting on a specimen growing in South Africa that it was so big it assumed climbing proportions. On blackspot: Am I a sinner? I have to admit I use a systemic fungicide, Triphorine, and I very much doubt it has any effect on frogs, bees, or any other native creature (if it killed cane-toads though, I wouldn't complain). Blackspot is a fungus, and Triphorine is a fungicide and ladies (seems only ladies talk about roses) if you want roses, or azaleas, in the warmer climates you have to use fungicides/insecticides or don't bother growing them at all, and hey, today's deterents - fungicides and (selected) insecticides are a hell of a lot safer than than the old DDTs, whatever. Look, if you 'spray-can' a recommended lime-sulphur mix - both natural products - over your roses in mid winter after you prune you'll rarely need to use a fungicide. Insecticides - really, to minimise aphid attack, and blackspot plant your roses into the wind and space them a metre apart - I use maybe only 2, 3 or 4 times a year, that's all I need. If I can't use them I'll dig up my rose garden and abandon roses and azaleas altogether (what looks more ugly than an azalea's leaves grey from azalea lace-bug?) By the way, many of the the old heritage roses are more beautiful than the hyrids and are immune from aphids, fungus deseases, etc. The picture attached is of the gorgeous climber, Dublin Bay, a McReady rose from New Zealand, daughter of Altissimo and the full pink, Galway Bay. It's a thriving here and is fairly desease free.

Very lovely, as usual Hoang Ton:-) Your roses are always so healthy! I think we talked last year about how shocked I was that my Molineux was so very tall. I was expecting Molineux to be a smaller plant. I do love it, even though it’s bigger that expected and the blooms don’t make good cut flowers. BenT, mine is in bloom right now and it’s very colorful each bloom is saturated with colors. I do sometimes get that pale yellow, but I enjoy seeing what Molineux will do each flush. Life of the Party has been one that I’ve been eyeing for a while. It’s just that I don’t trust it to stay compact. It probably really would be the “Life of the Party“ in my garden. With my climate it would probably grow enormous and its new name would be something like “Raging Wild Party”. Thanks for the pictures and videos! I do enjoy them so. Lisa

Hello Hoang Ton, how is your beautiful Double Easy Orange doing for you this spring? Could we have some more gorgeous photos? What is the width of your rose now? HMF says 2 feet wide, but I think it gets wider than that. Have you tried growing DEO in the ground yet? Thanks, Diane