How refreshing to hear you all accepting "other" roses into your old rose gardens! Harry I love your exuberant garden! (I NEED that Mandarin honeysuckle, tell me where you found it!) peplill, that Kordes 'Grandmaster' is incredible. I've never heard of it but it reminds me of something, I can't remember what just now. Olga, I've admitted to having a Knockout and a Blushing Knockout and, yes, they have their place and function. As a sidenote, I've wanted to SP KO for two years now and my DH has persuaded me to think otherwise. His logic is how can you want to dig out the most disease resistant, insect resistant, floriferous, most densly foliated, and hardiest rose in our garden? That's when I give it another chance until I can figure out another rose that has the same qualifications I can replace it with (when he's on a business trip!) Blushing KO is a more pleasing pink with bluish green foliage, better to blend with other roses so it stays. I also have Carefree Sunshine (thank you Jean!) which is new to me last year but is turning out to be sensational. It is a soft butter yellow and just as disease resistant as the KOs. Of course, most of the hybrid musks qualify, lots of shrubs, oh, Sally Holmes definitely, and rugosa hybrids, there are just too many to mention. I haven't had much luck with the floribundas I've tried, something about the wavy petal form that doesn't match, or color, or stiffness, I don't know what it is. Think about bloom form, color, and fragrance and try to match them to the antiques you love. It's fun! My new love - Autumn Sunset with goldflame honeysuckle

I'm still having trouble making a decision. I'm strongly considering DEVONIENSIS but worried about the color. In some pics it looks creamy (i.e. yellow) white. I need a pink toned white; the cooler the pink tones the better. CLIMBING CLOTILDE SOUPERT would work in that spot (I've grown her before and she is one of my favorites for repeat bloom, fragrance, beauty-of-flower, and disease resistance), but I'd like something with slightly larger flowers. I also don't know how mum will react to the balling. Not a problem for me but it might be for her. CLIMBING SOUVENIR DE LA MALMAISON is tempting but I'm worried about the repeat bloom. I've read some bad reports on that front. What about CLIMBING WHITE MAMON COCHET? It is definately a cool pink toned white and the fragrant nodding flowers would be a plus in a climber. Is the repeat bloom reliable? How good is the vigor (i.e. will mom have to to wait 5 years for it to mature; I don't even know if she is going to live that long)? And is CWMC resistant to black spot?

Great handle - luvmychids Since I don't have a greenhouse the majority of my "chids" :] I've chosen for similar temp and growth patterns, even if from different parts of the world, that fit my yard's microclimate in Los Angeles. Because they grow similarly, I feed them all the same stuff on the same schedule during Spring and Summer. The only ones that take particular consideration are the nobile type dendrobiums, the catasetums both requiring clear rest periods with little to no water and the vanda types which need misting every single day. They all get rainwater. One of the catasetums. Smells like cinnamon. Two of my acquisitions from the SB Orchid show.

I feel your pain, Rehka! Houston is a challenging rose climate. Hot and humid punctuated by surprise attacks of hail, Blue Northerns, hurricanes, floods and tornadoes! I grew up in Dallas but visited Houston off and on...(dramatic music)...in the summer. I also feel your husband's pain: Asian jasmine and trumpet vine in TX. A patch of neglected Asian jasmine once ripped off the bathroom window screen at my sister's house in Dallas! I think the hardy jasmine you mentioned might be Trachelospermum jasminoides, star jasmine? If so, I applaud you 100%! That's a great go-to fragrant vine for much of TX. I sent my mom a rooted cutting of Zeph for her Dallas garden, and it grew well there. I think Mom's rose lost about 50%-60% of its leaves during the hottest part of the year, but Zeph was pretty darn healthy (no spray except Safer fungicide) and grew fresh leaves when the temps cooled. Mom planted her Zeph in half day sun and grew a vine through the canes. Zeph rests for a longer summer stretch without blooming in TX, and your climate is getting hotter, so I agree that selecting a cultivar with more continuous bloom and foliage cover might be a wise choice for your preferences.. With training, Blush Noisette makes a charming, continuously blooming climber up to about 8' or so. It works well on an arch when 2 are planted, one on each side. The fragrance positively WAFTS in the evening. Humidity contributes to wafting so maybe BN is worth considering for Houston? For a large pergola, I'd plant a BN on one side and a yellow or white Lady Banks on the other. I'd train the Lady Banks up one side and across the top for a magnificent spring show with BN to carry on later in the season. Antique Rose Emporium sells both, but sometimes you have to jump in at the starting gate of restocking. They're popular! I'd call ARE and ask about blackspot tendencies in your area, and check on BN's resistance as well as inquiring about other Noisette possibilities. I'm a big fan of the fragrant, glorious Noisettes but only grow BN and MAC here in Portland. I've never grown Renae but have heard great things about it. I have a couple of baby Annie Laurie McDowells in my driveway pot nursery and am super excited about their inclusion in my garden! If you can get a ALM, and Kim Rupert gives it a thumbs up for your area and pergola, I'd absolutely hold out for her. The photos I've seen are breathtaking! Pure romance. Carol