I feel the same about Robusta, I am sure they heard me swearing next door where the Presbyterian Minister lives right next to the chuch.. but I got stuck under Robusta and I could not get out.. He is also gotten completely out of control. Not like Mermaid, but large and with huge thorns. I would forget about Mermaid and put her far away from the house. I have mine between us and the ministers house.. hoping it will grow up and over.. I have a wonderful Soaring Flight from Heirloom roses. They seem to be out now but will hopefully have more coming in.. She is absolutley lovely. She is a everblooming rambler with semidouble pink and yellow blend flowers and they flower profusely. Mine is about 6 years old and covers a 12 x 12 ft area on the side of my house. She will need support to hold her up but she is a lovely rose. Someone mentioned Lady Banks as being a problem. I have her on the fence between our two properties and she is a perfect Lady without the thorns. She only blooms once a year which is really a negative since she is so beautiful.. The are so many roses to choose from. Zepherine Droughin has beautiful pink flowers, and is suppose to be a great climber. Dortmund it a beautiful red climber that will climb fast and is very noticeable from far away.. she just keeps blooming those large since red roses with yellow stamens that are very attractive. They have thorns but the are manageable. William Baffin is very nice rose but is also just full of thorns. I would put William Baffin and Robusta under windows to keep you from getting broken into. Just don't put them under a window you may need to get out of..

Susan, About passalong plants in general: I don't know whether you're already doing this, but most of the enthusiastic gardeners I know are generous with cuttings to propagate from and with plants they've propagated. Learn how to propagate plants if you don't know how, and then look out for occasions to swap. Many plants in my garden were given to me by gardeners who propagated them or I grew them from cuttings I was given. Many plants are easy to propagate and many roses are easy. The rule is to propagate only old and older roses reproduction rights of which aren't protected. It's easy to mail cuttings. My old HT 'Mme. Jules Bouche' has reached six feet in height and is covered with buds, though they probably won't open before the cold comes next week. I grew her from cuttings I asked my neighbor for, and it's a rose that you see here and there locally, often neglected but always hanging on, and ready to be beautiful at the drop of a hat. It has traveled all over Italy by way of cuttings passed from gardener to gardener.

Kathy; can't say enough for your beautiful roses,and then clematis.Just GORGEOUS. I lost my best Clematis recently.I kept waiting to see leaves popping out,and didn't see any so went and looking for why not..and found it was dead.either chewed off at the ground,or it rotted off,and so far its not coming back out,so guess I will be hunting a replacement.I have 2 just starting to bloom with huge blooms.haven't took any photos yet.I don't see my big double white one either.so Might have to replace several of them.Went to Home Depot a couple days ago looking for some but they don't have any yet,or wal mart either. Ok, will be watching for more of these beautiful photos. Jean

Thank you all very much for the advice. I had SO hoped to be able to post here last night, saying that my Jeri Jennings was in the ground. I ran out of energy and daylight before I could finish. This evening I should be able to complete the job. I’ve dug my hole,(with my wonderful pink “lady shovel”). I honestly couldn’t do without my pink shovel anymore. It’s just perfect for me. Anyway, I prepared the hole as usual by adding gypsum to the very bottom and then mixing compost, a bit of acid mix, and my native clay. I just need to do the actual planting part this evening. It should be easy, as the hard part is done. I DID think about adding Ironite, Mohavemaria. In fact, I’m embarrassed to say that I can’t remember with certainty that I haven’t already added a bit to her when I added the potting mix a few weeks ago. I know I thought about adding a bit, but my memory is sometimes so bad, that I don’t remember if I actually did something or just thought about it. You’re definitely right about alkaline conditions causing some of that. My soil and water are both alkaline, so I’ve had to add iron before to other plants. I’ve just never had a rose get leaves like the ones on ‘Jeri Jennings’! They were practically white in a few places. I think the advice to plant her out is probably best, because I never see such things on my roses planted in the ground. My soil must have plenty of nutrients for roses. I did wonder if ‘Jeri Jennings’ liked a more acidic soil than some roses, since she’s a hybrid musk. I do add some acid to ‘Felicia’ , ‘The Lovely Fairy’, and ‘Bubble Bath’, because they’re all hybrid musks (at least I think ‘The Lovely Fairy’ is, too). That bed is also right against the house foundation and has lots of cement nearby. That adds to the alkalinity on top of my soil and water. They’ve never shown any signs of being deficient in anything, though. It did make me wonder if ‘Jeri Jennings’ might be particularly sensitive to alkaline conditions, when I saw those whitish leaves. No one has mentioned that she needs very acidic soil, so I think she had just depleted that small amount of soil in her container. Hopefully, I’ll be posting tonight that she’s all tucked into the ground. Thanks everyone. Lisa