Ok I don't know where to start...lol... But anyhow I made an unwise choice when I moved Thomas affleck this past April. The location floods easy from a situation that is out of my control but is suppose to be fixed in the future by our local railroad company. The location only gets 5-6 hours of sunlight and Thomas Affleck seems to do better here with more sunlight than that...I was going to wait until next Spring and move him to a better location but after thinking about it and the fact I was bored today I moved Thomas Affleck to his NEW location today instead of waiting... All in all Thomas Affleck has done well this year...He has grown well! No disease! Only drawback is he did not bloom well and when he did bloom the blooms only lasted 24-48 hours on the bush... Note: I want to note that Thomas Affleck does have some thorns and they are like needles so gloves still need to be worn... Thomas in his new location... I promise he will NOT be moved again....lol Thomas does have some thorns.... I will give more updates on Thomas next year... Poor rose bush...lol

Gee, those pictures make me want to hang onto mine. It isn't doing a thing, didn't winter protect it, well compost and a little leaf mulch, was spindly from ARE and is not putting out any new growth and one puny bloom, a bud on it now. Didn't get to that bed to feed any this year. It's in with 2 Gruss (not doing anything either, barely hanging on), large Veilchenblau, some companion plantings, lamium (doing too well), artemesia (not doing much), 2 Blue Waterfall campanlula. So some things are happy there. I should move it to a sunnier spot or get it out from having to compete with too many other things. I don't have any good place to move it later. Maybe I'll figure something out where the color will work in, nice specimen plant all by itself actually. Those are beautiful photos and what I had hoped the blooms would eventually be. Zone shouldn't be a problem then and would like a couple more but no sense in that at this point. They're all on the east side of the house in the bed by the chimney and sheltered and probably robbed by an enormous double flowering pink crab tree. Actually, the only rose from ARE that is thriving is Veilchenblau. All those others I named plus Graham Thomas plus 2 Reine des Violettes I bought from them, none in ideal growing conditions for them, tried to improve the soil some where I can. Will be lucky if they ever amount to anything except V and even that could be better, I suppose. RDV came w/black spot and was starting to get something that starts with a, seems to have abated, now just hoping they pull through and pick up.

I wrap mine around a tripod of 8' poles. Rebloom is scant. The canes are so stiff that they tend to snap when I try to put them into place. It's darned thorny, too. Getting the canes more horizontal does improve the production of laterals and overall bloom, and makes a tidier bush. I have a friend who cuts hers back hard after every bloom, and her plant is sturdy and blooms more than mine. It's in full sun, while mine is on a East-facing wall. I keep thinking of trying her pruning technique - and if it doesn't work, taking the danged thing out. Too much plant - too much work - too little bloom. Anita

You know what I really hate. This was a great saga for a rose and it wasn't supposed to end this way. I have followed this from the beginning as have others. Its like a movie that you have been watching then suddenly the character that you like the most dies or it ends without an ending.