Thanks for the info harryshoe. I have also had lots of Rose de Rescht suckers from a plant I bought 16 years ago that turned into a 4' x8' colony. It was magnificent but a few years ago voles or some type of root-eating animal chewed up the entire area. Fortunately they didn't eat all the roots but I now have about 20 little plants. I also had deer eat the foliage which didn't help. They are now fenced out and I applied something to discourage the voles so hopefully they will make a comeback. I am also in eastern PA. and would be interested in any of your favorite antique roses.

Marigold, I hope your roses exceed your wildest dreams. Regarding Linda Campbell, several years ago I dedicated my one and only 8'x18' rose bed to old garden roses, primarily hybrid rugosas, which Linda Campbell is. I tried in the neighborhood of 30 or so hybrid rugosas, homing in on the best of them to be the bedrock of the rose bed. I always passed on trying Linda Campbell for a number of reasons. No fragrance was one of them. Hybrid rugosas are famous for their fragrance, and for one to have no fragrance is a big disappointment. Secondly, whenever I saw a Linda Campbell for sale in a nursery it looked sloppy, leggy in growth habit, and the foliage looked chlorotic. The flower itself was, "EH!, so what." I hope your Linda Campbell shows an improvement, and starts satisfying you. Just to fill you in, my favorite three hybrid rugosas are, hands down: 1.) Roseraie de l' Hay, 4-5' tall, abundant blooms and rebloom with one of the best shaped and fragrant, 4", blooms; 2.) Schneekoppe, aka. Snow Pavement* (*Pavement meaning 'carpet,' not street surface!), 3", exquisite cupped pale lilac blooms, 3' tall bushy growth, continuous blooming; and finally, 3.) Henry Hudson (incorrectly originally posted as William Baffin, a brute of a climber!), 2.5" tightly packed petaled blooms, pinkish in bud, but pure white when fully open, in abundance all season long, with a nice tidy shaped, 2' tall bush growth habit. Study up on these three hybrid rugosas, and maybe give them a try. You will not be disappointed. Moses

Yes Sarena, Amara is a snuggler, but she kicks like a mule when she's having a good dream. I wish Amara was a talker , she is strangely silent most of the time. We have only heard a few deep barks , but she screams bloody murder when she sees neighbor dogs on their walk and can't join them to play. I think Amara would be great waving from a parade float. When she leaps at bugs or her toys, all you see is a streak of flying gloves , her dark coat makes the rest of her really well camouflaged. How did we get such perfect Puppers to love, and be loved by ! I think you are going to be captivated by your new Spirit of Freedom, such a poignant name for a time like this. I hope you get to see some blooms before winter. Maybe because mine was so expensive and took so long to obtain, I am fascinated by every little nuance - the color, fragrance , shape... I wish summer could last to observe the roses longer. There is one more little bud forming . .

OMG we need a perfume thread!! To me, that's part of creating a pleasant environment for yourself. I used to do a lot more with scent, creating pot pourris and mixing essential oils for perfumes, scented candles, etc. but I sort of got out of it. A lot of it started to be clutter as I almost never remembered to burn the scented candles and the pot pourris needed constant upkeep to keep their room scenting power and real pot pourri is not easy to find or make . . . Scented powders, soaps and shampoos that are natural are expensive. I used to be able to get a jasmine scented cornstarch powder at my local natural foods joint but they stopped making that. I know there are lots more cottage businesses out there now offering perfumed products but as I have mentioned in other threads, I've become very frugal and bare bones in a lot of areas of my life . . . unlike Iris, lol! I really didn't start to focus on creating my own style until I got my own home, and by that time I was in my 40s. But I did start to think about how colors and visual stuff and arrangements affected the ease or disease I felt living my life. I started reading up on it as I tried to figure out how to decorate my own home. It was around that time that I started participating in Gardenweb. I learned a lot. I must say however, that the book "Use What You Have Decorating" was a huge impact on me for the positive. It made me realize that it wasn't just the stuff you had but how you arranged it that made a room pleasing. I am not a natural at that. My aforementioned landlady is. I also had no idea about color theory (still suck at it) and how to find a color palette. It's still a struggle but I haven't faced that lately. Even things like how to arrange and hang pictures I have to work on. My landlady again, she helped me with some of that in my current home. Even how to orient an area rug . . . This is pretty important for work spaces and productivity. Lighting is an unsung hero of comfort and ease . . . I also think I was helped immensely by the book "Color Me Beautiful." It's rather formulaic, but for the color tone deaf, it is helpful. Also talks about developing a style and what goes into that. Does not mean you can't break the rules, but if you know what the lines are and what they mean, it helps to provide a framework for coloring outside the lines. It sure helped me when clothes shopping, knowing what colors to avoid or how to use them selectively, how to create an integrated wardrobe, what style and shapes and lines compliment my figure, etc., something I still struggle with. But also I vividly remember being a "Spring" and "Ingenue" when I was in my late teens and early twenties, and how the book discussed that a spring ingenue might age into a "Winter" bold style. At the time I didn't like what was given as examples of the "bold classic" style (very Joan Collins, shoulder pads, Halston at the time) so I thought, pft, not me! But that's exactly what has happened as my skin and hair have faded. The pastels of the ingenue wash me out, and the delicate lines get lost against a larger frame and bolder colors. I can still wear the pale stuff but I need clear cool color up by my face or I look sickly. I went full on spring ingenue for my wedding at 58, but the dress styles were simple, uncomplicated outlines. The pattern was just "spring" though, since it was spring flowers against a white background. But that was a whole lot better than a dreadful solid white or cream or even light pink at my age then. Iris Apfel is definitely channeling a bold classic style in an older woman. Does not have to be super boxy. Of course my personal version in the house and other areas of my life also includes a lot of natural earthy and bohemian aspects. Eclectic but I know now better what will work being paired than I did when I was younger and just put stuff together with zero thought. I also learned a lot from really thinking about what I had around me and getting rid of what wasn't necessary or useful and didn't "spark joy" which is also something Apfel mentions. I like a lush home full of color and interesting things, but that style is called "curated" for a reason. Knowing what to keep and what to get rid of, or how to find just the right piece you envision is a real struggle. As we often discuss here!!