I grew a lot of Austins when I lived near the coast in San Clemente, so probably a bit more moderate than inland even a few miles. My experiences there: Heritage A wonderful rebloomer, nice (but not strong) scent. Two minuses: For me it turned into one of the jolly green giants, shooting out 8 foot canes like mad. I might have been my inexperience in how to correctly prune it, but I ended up having to move it to a spot on its own where it could just explode. My biggest surprise was that it by December it was covered in rust while most of my other roses were fine. I'd be tempted to grow it again, but I'm not sure I would. Cottage Rose: The other rose that shot out canes on me. The scent wasn't strong enough for my tastes, and the plant looked to ragged, I think there are a lot of other Austins I would buy before this one. Eglantyne: Eglantyne has gorgeous blooms, and a soft, nice scent. It wanted to be a big plant for me, around 5 feet. Queen of Sweden: I love the flowers on this rose, and indeed, they sit perfectly upright on the tops of the branches, almost like waterlillies floating in the air. Nice scent, soft. The Prince: I grew this in SoCal. Worth every minute waiting for the blooms on an unremarkable bush. The flowers are magnificent. Rich, royal purples that change colour every day on blooms that last well over a week, sometimes two. The most amazing, strong, luscious scent. Highly recommended. Evelyn: I really liked this rose in SoCal. They say you need to feed and baby her, and I guess I feed and baby all of my roses, so she didn't get any special treatment, but they all had lots of organic foods and manures throughout the year. I love the shades of pink and cream, a most romantic rose, with a delicious scent. Molineux: Molineux in my SoCal garden was in bloom a lot. I don't find the flowers to be very remarkable, but as a back bush with reliable colour I think it is hard to beat. It has a strong Tea scent that for me, smells just like tea!! I finally understood what the name meant!. I'd also recommend from my San Clemente garden: Sister Elizabeth: Lots of blooms, strong fabulous scent, very beautiful flowers verging on lilac colouring. Small plant, medium flowers. William Shakespeare 2000: Fantastic flowers on a nicely shaped shrub with strong, wonderful scent. One of Austin's best. Jude the Obscure: If there could be only one Austin, this might be it for me. Globular flowers with an amazing sweet fruity wine scent. I could stick my nose in it all day long. It grew really well for me, putting out new flowers constantly. Charles Darwin: Some people complain about the flower colour, for me it was always a rich mustardy yellow. Strong scent. Strong branches hold the flowers out. I really liked it. -- Here in England, I've started all over again, and I have a few additional recommendations, but I'm not sure how they will do for you in SoCal. Scepter d'isle: I just planted Scepter d'isle last year here in England, and I have to say I was very impressed with its first year. Lots of flowers, no disease at all, and a strong scent. Recommended. The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild: I love this underrated rose. I love the peony-shaped blooms and the incredible, sweet strong scent. In two seasons it has not been the fastest rebloomer, but there were several very good flushes and the flowers are absolutely worth the wait. The Huntington Rose/Alan Titchmarsh: This rose has had two seasons, and was almost constantly in bloom. I had complained at one point that the blooms were too heavy for the stems, but it ended up being a benefit similar to self-pegging where if I just left the plant alone it turned out to send up shoots all along the cane and I had dozens and dozens of blooms. A very good, medium scent. I hope this was helpful. Best wishes, robert

Both photos below from today. First are the bands of Alberic and the bigger one is Bleu Magenta. I could plant two together in front where I took Graham out (no pic handy). The arbor is the second photo. Jeanne La Joie is on either side of it now and not doing well. The side with the drainpipe gets waterlogged when it rains, and I haven't been able to cope with the problem tried to fill it in with lots of topsoil and built a little higher by the arbor. The odd thing is that on the right in the photo, it is drier and has to compete with roots from an apple tree close by, but that side does the best. I can pot Jeanne up in 5 gal pots and set in front against the brick wall in the recess there, west side facing east and south, where the new ones are sitting and see if she will do more that way. My daughter loves Jeanne and might like to take her if I get her going in pots, not quite ready to offer her on Freecycle, got her in bands 3 years ago, came late that year worse than what I got today with Alberic. The arbor needs to be straightened and secured somehow, one more thing to cope with, but I don't like the way it is starting to lean. But I'm worried about the water problem. I no longer have the strength to dig a runoff and the gutters are expensive and too much to get into. What does anybody think? Otherwise I have a spot left out of the photo on the left up by the foundation of the house where the dryer vents, haven't known what to put there. I don't use the dryer that much just for me so don't see where that would necessarily be a huge problem, have the vent turned a little to the south and not going strait out but still . . . I really appreciate this advice because it spins around in my head, and roses are difficult here as it is, would like to avoid an obvious mistake again.

Leander (Austin Rose) can easily reach 12 feet. It is a huge Austin Rose! BUT it does not rebloom well. Another Austin that is a little less vigorous but still will become big 7-10 feet and has a upright growth habit is Charles Austin.It reblooms much better. (probably 8-10 feet in your climate). It looks very similar to Leander. I do not know how these roses do in terms of disease resistance in YOUR area. Here they only get a little mildew. Heritage could be another good choice if it is a Austin rose you want.

I'd be a happy girl if my trees came out looking anything like that (on a smaller scale, of course!) I've ordered 30 Norway Spruce, 20 Colorado Spruce and one Crabapple to help with the kitchen window situation. I changed the plan a little, and will now be doing a large "L" of trees along the north and west sides of the lot, instead of just the north side. I am going to keep looking for a third variety that the road salt won't kill, but with just these 2 kinds, would you mix them up somehow or put all the Norways on the outside, or all the CBS on the outside? I have never planted anything more than one of those Christmas "plant in a box" things and really appreciate all the tips. Thanks!