Nik, I know that Americans farther South than my zone 6a do plant in the Fall but I have had no personal experience with warmer zones. However, from my zone North (and that's a lot of territory), Fall planting is not a viable option. In August it is too hot to plant, getting in the high 80s and then the first frosts come about the first or second week in October. Four to five weeks is not enough time for the roses to get established and prepare for the hard frosts soon to come. Our last frost date is May 15, so that is about 7 months. Usually we have snow cover then it melts, then more snow cover and on and on through the winter. This is especially bad because repeated freezing and thawing cycles heave plants out of the ground. A constant snow cover, which we do not have, would prevent that and in addition would be protective insulation, keeping the plants near 32 F instead of the -10F air temperatures normal for this zone. It may be difficult for most Europeans to sense the degree and duration of cold that we experience, Scandinavian countries and Scotland excepted. When I read English gardening books that say a plant is cold hardy, I have to remember they mean that it will survive in a zone much warmer than mine. Most of England is zone 8! Compare the Hardiness Zone maps on Garden Web of Europe versus The United States. The color of the zones give a more intuitive feel for the difference in climate. Cath

ut you last post is the stressed part. You or anyone can not make that assumption of who is more stressed. You do not know their life. When I had breast cancer, my garden was my outlet for stress more than any other time in my life. I wintersowed very slowly because I could hardly do it, but it gave me a sense of purpose and things to come in the spring. I dreamed through the catalogs of what to buy believing I would be there to live to see them bloom. I tended my plants best I could in spring. I'm sorry I'm getting teary eyed now. I'm sorry. I know what cancer is like. My dad had chemical based leukemia, 14% chance of survival.. he didn't. Treatment was horrible, he did a clinical trial, I have to say that what he went through in the month plus that he was doing the clinical trial, I don't know why anyone would fight that particular cancer. Back to the garden & plants. When he came out of the hospital he was greeted by plants. My hubby, son & I worked really hard to plant his vegetable garden at his new house (it closed a week after being diagnosed) plus I duplicated my gardens at his house. We'd dug up a few of his roses, plus I bought more. I even bought a daylily that was not common, which I now call Matty for him. He was speechless when he came home. We used to like to sit on his porch & watch the butterflies & hummingbirds. While he wasn't allowed near the plants due to his particular type of cancer, he could sit there and enjoy it. He wasn't allowed to eat his veggies either until he went into remission a few months later. His guardian angel gave us really warm weather until November, we were able to have his Hungarian peppers in my stuffing for Thanksgiving. Through his whole nightmare, gardening & plants brightened the time he was out of the hospital. I'm not able to buy a lot of plants any more due to my back problems. There's a reason why I haven't added many photos to helpmefind, I'm not able to walk around the garden like I used to. I do want to buy a few roses next year & will probably be buying from David Austin. Since I'll use a regular credit card, I doubt I'll have issues and so far have not had a bad experience the last time we ordered. I'd ordered a Benjamin Britten rose, it was horrible, a phone call or email with no questions asked and they replaced it.

rose_chalic - your Gertrude Jekyll looks very impressive. Is that only one bush? The problem with pruning too hard is, it takes a while for the rose to become big again. Right now, in the middle of Summer, my Gertrude Jekyll has been pruned hard with all the leaves removed and it looks like a stick now. I just contacted David Austin, and one of the reps told me that they will only release ONE David Austin rose in Australia (Munstead Wood). It's so unfair! Roses that never make it to our shore and that I like include: - Claire Austin - Princess Alexandra of Kent - Spirit of Freedom - Generous Gardener - Gentle Hermoine - Harlow Carr - Sister Elizabeth...and plenty more. Not fair :(

Well, doesn't look like there is any viable part to this rose: I sent photos to DA and they are replacing it in the fall. They agree that it looks like it got heat damaged in transit and want to wait until the weather cools down. Unfortunately that means more waiting. But then isn't gardening called the slowest of all the performance arts? I suppose I need to be patient. Matt, I did break it up and there were 3 cuttings in the pot just as you said. Unfortunately not one survived. At least I already have one Munstead Wood. Sheila, thanks for your positive attitude. I am used to receiving small bands, and you are right, the variety of plants from on-line/mail order vendors makes it worth it even if it is more expensive for a smaller plant. Own-root plants are not available locally for me. This experience will not make me shy away from ordering more roses by mail (I just wanted to know if others had the same or similar experience with the 2 qt. Austin product)! I'm bummed that I missed the ARE sale. Or rather, I didn't miss it, I just don't have room for more plants! The first bare-root plants I received from DA a few years ago were 3 Bishop's Castle, and these were huge plants, with many 2-1/2 foot long roots, so I was disappointed that this year's shipment didn't compare to those. When I planted that Abe, it looked like this: Now it looks like this:It's still much smaller than yours, Diane, but it is growing!