Thanks for stirring memories. For anyone who loves roses, it's a wonderful place to visit. I came up on a "rose rustling" tour from the Huntington some years ago and had a love time. Another place well worth a side tour for anyone putting this on their list is the Empire Mine State Park, including its gardens. And then there are the old roses found in many of the old cemeteries in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, final resting places for people who long ago spent their new Gold Rush riches on roses brought in from around the Horn.

I know this has nothing to do with noisettes (ah unless you count that they are from Charleston)so I hope you don't mind but since Jeff made his choice I thought I would just piggyback on what Aimee said for future visitors...if you are interested in seeing some pictures from Charleston I have a bunch on my blog www.hennypennyrosecottage.blogspot.com I have to say I disagree though Amiee in the bbq area (though Sticky Fingers is good mind you)unless you don't like southern style as it's a sweeter mustard base (and mmm mmm good!) but Bessingers, Maurices, and Melvin's (they are all related) serves true South Carolina BBQ and is the best there is imho anyway. ;O) Chick Fil A there waffle fries oh my! I feel for ya if you don't have one of those! lol Middleton is a beautiful plantation and yes it is full of azaleas a sight to behold at its peak it truly is, but my favorite plantation that we get memberships to every year is Magnolia just the next plantaion over. Middleton is very formal and beautiful and does have a small barn/stable area that kids would love they also let the cows and sheep graze on the green (careful though I was charged by a cow when I was 8 months pregnant!). But Magnolia has so much more, formal gardens and informal gardens that wind around beautiful ponds and old rice patties, miles of paved trails for walking or bike riding through the woods, around the Ashley River and old rice fields full of gators, boat tours, tram tours, a house though not original (it was destroyed in the civil war), a very large Audubon Swamp garden too that is very quiet and beautiful to walk and a huge petting zoo area that kids would love. They also boast I think the largest collection or at least have some of the oldest Camellias in the south. If you can try to visit both if you ever get a chance to visit Charleston and give yourself a whole day. Actually, it's the flying teeth as we call them that drive you out of your gourd down that way! I would love to live closer but flying teeth no thank you!

I am sorry for your the loss of the boy in your family. It is such a great sadness to loose one so young. White seems to me, to be the color of purity and to me, nothing living seems more pure and sweet than a child. about roses for Stockton: I would second all of Jeri's suggestions except with one caveat about the health of "White Pearl in Dragons Mouth" during a few weeks in spring when the air was moist and the temperatures in the 60's,(and again in autumn when it rained) it suffered so badly from powdery mildew we had to get rid of it. I would add two roses for fragrance, both white. although these are not known to have been used for childrens' memorial roses they are old roses, and each has - a distinct charm -are fragrant -rapid re-bloom -are no-spray roses in my garden near Oakland, Ca -easy to care for -few prickles. "Westside Road Cream Tea" a white Old Garden Tea rosebush It matures at c. 4 and 1/2 feet tall. Large graceful rose blossoms, white touched with cream, bushy attractive and healthy foliage. when mature it is c. 4 and 1/2 feet tall by c. the same width. both vintagegardens.com and roguevalleyroses.com sell this rose. "Nastarana" a Noisette. small white blooms that show golden stamens, a darling of a rose and a good rosebush for a mixed planting. It blooms in great masses of blossom and the fragrance can carry several feet from a mature plant. Each stem can makes a darling and fragrant white rose bouquet. The bush matures at c. 5-6 feet tall, by c. 3 and 1/2 feet wide. Though it is a Noisette this re-blooms as rapidly as a China rose. Blessings to you and your family, Luxrosa

My daughter's house backs up to a national cemetery - a VERY small national cemetery, in which a long-ago KY native President is buried. The entire neighborhood was once part of his family farm, Springfield. The family home (now privately owned) is around the corner from DD's house. The cemetery is surrounded on three sides by houses, and on the 4th by a busy road. On all sides, there is a beautiful old stone wall that is about 4 1/2 ft tall and 2 ft thick. What a gift! A wall like that would cost a fortune today! In a national cemetery, all the headstones are the same simple marble markers. To see rows and rows of these, is very lovely and very moving. My grandsons have always played in the cemetery, climbing over the wall. When they were little, my daughter had Easter egg hunts there. She asked me if I thought it was disrespectful, and I said if I were buried there, I could think of nothing lovelier than happy children, gleefully hunting eggs on Easter. None of the houses surrounding this small cemetery have ever been hard to sell. Most people adore the stone wall, and like the quiet as well. Kind of nice to not have noisy neighbors behind one!