Thanks for the article, orchidtrader. Just a precision. Rosemary Harkness had 2 flushes, Tamora had a short break, but was constantly in bloom. Bare in mind, that this experience, is based on one year roses. When I was in orange/apricot rose search I came upon two roses, one is Westerland, a climbing, fragrant and recurrent rose. http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.6065&tab=1 Another one, which I found really beautifully but unfortunately not very fragrant is a miniature climbing rose called work of art. Not an Austin though. Here is a link that might be useful: Work of Art

Thanks Kate--I guess I've been very much on the fence about whether they'll tolerate the cold here, will just have to see I think. The flowers look so gorgeous I think I have to try anyway, so I was going to put in 4-5 and see. I'm essentially zone 6 in the backyard, so maybe I'll have success with them if you have. Do you winter protect? My neighbor did lose some HTs from year to year but he planted the bud union above ground and didn't winter protect. My Austins always seem significantly hardier and I was hoping these, although marketed as HTs, were more mixed lineage and would be hardier too. The beds are a bit elevated, which hurts cold-tolerance but helps keep things well-drained. But I can bury the bud unions and throw on some bark mulch or leaves in the fall, which may help. Okay, Peter is officially on the list, and I think I MUST have Liv and Yves Piaget--the flowers look too wonderful to pass up. Every weekend the ground stays workable I keep fixing up the beds to accommodate more roses...so now I have room for another order from Roses Unlimited!

Delgardner, I have had great success with Sweet Woodruff. It is a low growing ground cover, looks delicate but is tuff as nails. It grows like a mat covering and choking out weeds. It is easy to transplant, each year dig out chunks and press into loose soil. Looks beautiful and gets tiny white flowers in the spring. Extremly low maintnence. May have to pull some weeds when it is getting established but after that it comes back every year with a vengance. Attatched a link with a good picture of the plant. Also for dry shade try ribbon grass, the english ivy, creeping myrtle vinca, varigated vinca, lily of the valley, with "caution" bishop weed, and also with "caution" crown vetch. Ground covers seem slow at first but once established look out!........Good Luck.........Dianne Here is a link that might be useful: Sweet Woodruff

@Sara Malone. I'm not disputing the existence of roof rats or the problems they cause. Ivy like many other plants is one convenience that they take advantage of simply because of it's being there. Where roof rats are discovered to be, a homeowner should remove any plant that scales his house walls or is too near it, or any dense vegetation in which rats could hide -- honeysuckle, star jasmine and blackberries being on the list, too. Better yet, they would discover the food source that keeps rats coming and eradicate it. I can definitely get on board with taking those steps to resolve the problem. My son lives near the west coast, in Oregon. Near his house, the next door neighbor has stand of bamboo that has crept into his yard. Since he and his wife liked the look of it, and because there was a concrete structure that limited how far it could spread, they didn't mind it being that close. But some time later, they discovered roof rats had infested their attic. They cut the bamboo back considerably, in a addition to trapping and eradicating all the rats. Later, they would have the same difficulty with a family of racoons that used a nearby tree to access the upper floors of their house, where they set up housekeeping for an extended period. (They would do it again, later, for a second time.) It wasn't until the son and DIL set up permanent camera surveillance that they were able to see the extent of the problem and do something about it. It's the case that humans don't want any wild animals invading and living in their homes. It's also the case that many of the wild animals who will and do invade homes, use plants as an aid in gaining access to the structures. It's a matter of practicality that every homeowner is aware of this and takes steps to make sure that, at their property, plants are not situated in a way to aid the wild animals in gaining access to the home. This problem is really not limited to rats and ivy but actually includes all homes, all animals capable of invading a home and all plants capable of enabling the animal to invade the home or remain undetected in it. To say that this should lead to eradication of all the species of plants which can possibly be used by animals, is without question a case of trying to shoot fleas with an elephant gun! If that logic were followed, we would be getting rid of bamboo, honeysuckle, star jasmine, palms, blackberries (to speak of just the plants mentioned in this discussion) and on and on ad infinitum, as surely there are countless that aid animals in accessing houses in some way. If you, yourself, Sara Malone, don't have vermin or any wild animals invading your own home, isn't it because you've made sure they don't have access? As someone who is aware of the problem it seems like that's what you'd do in order to take due diligence and protect your home from animal invaders. Why wouldn't it be sensible for other homeowners to do likewise? And I'll have to add that in my own experience, that's what they do. If a homeowner has any suspicion that an unwanted animal species is entering, or could enter their home by the aid of a plant, they take steps to make sure it doesn't happen, without lobbying that all the potentially "helpful" plants be eradicated and prohibited. I can't get to where we get to pin this problem on a single plant species.