Thank you, Kim, I'll debud her and move her to full-sun once the risk of frost is gone. I'll move my GRAFTED Pat Austin to that clay "swimming pool". I'll bury her 6" deep to ensure the death of Dr. Huey and the growth of own-root. I want to slow down her growth, so her thorns don't get larger. I already took pictures of Pat's thorns, to see if the future-own-root version would improve. Own-root chlorosis on alkaline clay doesn't inferfere with flowering. Christopher Marlowe will always be pale, but he has at least 20 buds compared to Grafted-Pat's 6 buds. He gets much less sun than Pat. Question: Once Pat is moved, I have a full sun, next to the house, southern exposure, sheltered from wind. Should I get own-root Yves Piaget this year for that spot, or should I wait until next year for a grafted Yves Piaget? I don't know how well Yves Piaget does as own-root in alkaline clay. He's low in thorns. Thank you for any info.

Most of the 36 roses in my DA garden are on their own roots ... now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure they all are. Anyway, as of yesterday, there are some pretty stellar performers that aren't talked about much. The star of the show is 'Sir Clough'. It reminds me of 'Carefree Beauty' somewhat, but the foliage is better, the habit is better, and the flowers are a warmer, more pleasing shade of hot pink. Visitors rarely fail to mention that "wonderful dark pink rose in your Austin Garden." 'Comte de Champagne' is beside 'Sir Clough'. It's a soft yellow (similar to Buff Beauty's color), low petal count, cupped flowers, very disease resistant. 'Bow Bells' was planted directly into the garden as a band in October 2011. It is now 5' tall, dense, and super vigorous and healthy. 'Marinette' was planted in 2012, also as a band without nursing it in a pot. Rooted it myself from a cutting. It is doing beautifully. Those are the ones that I can remember off the top of my head. Sometimes, the only way to know that a rose will work for you in your garden under your growing conditions is to just buy it and see what happens. This is how some of my most favorite lucky accidents have happened. Congratulations on your new home!

Lots of very good questions. The mushrooms seem to be growing out of the roots to me. These mushrooms don't seem to have stems. Some are growing in the leaf mulch but I had assumed the roots were right under them. There are 25 or so mushrooms only on one side of the tree. I have never seen them before this year. We also have not had so much rain as this though. It rained 13 inches in June alone. We do not mow around this tree since no grass grows there, It is too shady. It is surrounded on two sides by a privacy fence, and one side by the house. It is in the side yard. One fence is our backyard fence and the other is the neighbor's side fence. When we have a bit of sun, some of these mushrooms tend to dry up or rot. We are in suburb land so I have not seen any rouge cows trampling my tree. One of the mushrooms is about 6 inches from the trunk, and the furthest one out is about 10 feet out. Not sure about the wound question. It does not appear so, but it could be that they are damaged. Many of the roots seem to be growing on the surface. The roots tend to criss cross each other. Yes this tree has been pruned. Its branches get stuck on the side of the house or fence, so some of the lower branches have been removed. Maybe 10-15 feet up. I see no seepage of any kind. This is our largest tree. Its spread is about 20-25 feet. I do not see bugs either. We have clay soil but under this tree it is as if either all the clay has been washed away, due to no plants growing under the tree to hold the soil, or the tree is using up all the hummus to survive. The soil is dry and sandy. Some of the leaves appear a little dried up around the edges, but seems worse on the side with the mushrooms. The tree has this very large gurdling root what goes halfway around the tree. It may be strangling the tree. The mushrooms are growing where there is more sun, and an the opposite side of the gurdling root. The arborist, that cut down a cotton wood tree for us, said that the root should have been clipped off when it was planted. He says this happens at the nursery. The tree's roots get pot bound and start to circle around the pot. He said this root would one day kill the tree. As a side note, he said all our trees looked like telephone poles, meaning they all were planted too deep. There is little to no flare to any of our tree trunks. I know they are not growing as fast and healthy as they should but, I would hate to chop them down, just because one day they may die due to lack of oxygen. This rainy year is testing their ability to survive with limited oxygen. On the leaves that are brown, there is this white substance. I would think from the looks of it, a bug or bacteria or something is making the leave dry up. Most of the trees leaves look fine though. Maybe the tree is stressed from all this rain we have been having? I guess it is silly of me to think without seeing the tree or a picture of it, anyone could figure out what is happening. By the time I took a picture of the tree, and got the pictures developed, and figure out out how to scan the picture, the tree might already be dead. Thanks for any help you can give me.

Personally I dont' think it's talked about enough - the vigor of a rose. By that I mean the amount of basil breaks or major cane offshoots a rose puts out (Austin Octopus arms I don't consider a desireable trait). I've grown an own root Tamora in a pot since 91' and it's never displayed an overwhelming amount of vigor. It just sort of keeps up the pace. Other things may help a rose live up to its genetic potential, but in the end its the variety of rose itself that plays a key part into how much new growth you will have.