Thank you everyone! Jeri I love those found roses, especially De la Vina Mystery and Pulich Children--color is amazing! Wish they were cultivated for sale somewhere... Thank you for the encouragement Romogen, Boncrow and Virginia! I have been trying to be selective in the varieties I want to order. Asking questions on this forum and perusing great blogs like Hoovb's (a plus that her garden is near my zone) and other amazing blogs! BUT I do have zone envy. And being a beginner it's hard to gauge how bad all the negatives of a rose not-well-suited to my zone might be. I've never experienced rust, I have seen powdery mildew as tiny white smudges on a few leaves once this whole year, I DO know what black spot looks like on a HT that was planted by a previous owner of the house. But it only occurs on that one rose and doesn't cause defoliation. The roses I have chosen so far based on many positive reviews from this forum (Munstead Wood and Jubilee Celebration) have been great! Firefighter is just now starting to produce flowers that look as they should but the fragrance has been beautiful and last until the petals fall as Hoovb said. I think it's my inexperience that keeps me dreaming and wishing. And gosh darn it those blogs with amazingly beautiful photos of countless roses; especially some from Japan. I remember reading one of Ingrid's posts where she asked about a rose variety and after finding out it was not well-suited for her hot garden, she moved on (reminded me of a scene from Finding Nemo, when Marlin and Dory snap-out of the trance of the Anglerfish). At this point I am timid to try roses that may do poorly or eek out a few flowers annually. Though I am very very curious to try out roses on Romogen's list. I will have to ask at Roger's about Lavender Lady does well here... Thank you everyone for your guidance, advice, sharing and encouragement. It's really a wonderful experience to receive such help. Hopefully one day I can post some photos of my rose garden...and some advice from my own trials!

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful responses. Sheila, since they're 1st year I'm letting them be for now, but it's hard not to cut them back, they're so gangly Halloblondie, our climates are indeed very different, I can't imagine having to prune down to the ground...but good to know they spring back and look OK. Carol, I'm with you, not very fond of sprawling roses. If they continue being so gangly, several of them will get the shovel. Ben Britten and Gertie are very likely to go . Jude has been excellent in habit and bloom. Evelyn is somewhat promising, looks better with maturity. I understand Golden Celebration gets really big,so mine probably needs more time. Dizzylizzy, good to know a few varieties are well behaved, your climate is probably most similar to mine. I've had my eye on Falstaff, I've read its very good in heat. I'll probably start shaping more severly next sping.

Nosometer- What an absolutely gorgeous rose ! You must have the ideal ground and right spot, that is one sublimely happy Bishop's Castle . Those photos should be in David Austins handbook, could there be any better paragon of a pink rose ? Somehow I forgot about it in the shuffle of dozens of roses i wanted. I'm grateful you brought up this thread again just before the David Austin roses come in at the local nursery in Coeur d'Alene. I do need to order another rose from Northland Rosarium to meet the shipping requirement to box up with my Marianne rose. I was considering Young Lycidas until I noticed your post. Thanks again for more persuasion, think I'll just hop over to Northland's site and take a look. The lavender cast of Bishops Castle is a color I don't have yet.

It's not an Austin, but my 'Clotilde Soupert' was getting floppy when it was beyond a certain height. The first year it gained some size, I just lightly trimmed it in Spring, and the first flush was down in the mulch. I've since learned that it does best cut back hard at first, then a little less hard each year. That way, the canes are getting thicker at the base because they're a few years old, and the new growth on top -- being more floppy -- is less of the total height of the plant. To me, it's OK if only the top 25% or so is floppy, since at most that means arching down to the center of the plant. But if a 24" plant is floppy for the top 18", that means blooms hang in the mulch. When you give a rose support, it starts growing like a climber -- canes grow more in length and less in substance than when free-standing. Propping up floppy roses provides an immediate fix, but unless you're OK with that look for the longer term, it's better to just cut it back to where it doesn't flop, and let it mature. My "Nouveau Monde -- in commerce as" is a Hybrid China that's growing like a Rambler because it's supported by a raised deck railing -- and is now going into the repeatedly cut-back Callery pear near it. I don't think it would have canes reaching twenty feet in length if it was growing free-standing, but with the support it has here, it does. That's just my opinion. :-) ~Christopher