I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try countryrosegirl. I know our yard wouldn't look like it does if the 2 of us didn't work as a team to make it so. Be aware that Deb says I am sexy and I know she is just saying that to be kind to an old man :) Pauline, I couldn't believe how Deb had been treated when we met. One of my proudest moments was when her 5 year old son asked her why she didn't cry all the time anymore :) I should note that I have received much more than I have given in our relationship. I consider myself (know I am) the lucky one. Leslie, I was just teasing Harry. I knew what he meant :) Funny thing is.... I knew when I met Deb that she would find someone better for her and get tired of putting up with my ornery, uuhhh, self. I knew I was shooting myself in the foot giving her ego a boost. Advertising how wonderful she was would make that happen faster but she deserved so much more than the treatment she was getting. Had to do the right thing by her even though it would cost me. Could not imagine her putting up with me a year. 23 years should qualify her for sainthood LOL. Florence, the more self confident she becomes.... the more attractive she is :) Princess Debbie, I like the sound of that. Thank you Seil, Deb says Hot Romance looks great.... I think you got me in trouble :) She says Sweet Arlene is a sexy rose. I was told that I agree with her when I rolled my eyes. What have I done? digger

I tend to group the once-blooming roses of European origin together, and the warm-climate roses together. In the case of hybridized classes--Hybrid Perpetuals in particular--it depends on which side of their ancestry they lean towards. Portlands look very much like the Europeans, with their rough matte foliage, as do such HPs as 'Reine des Violettes' and 'Marchesa Boccella', and so they go with the Gallicas, Albas, Damasks, and so on. An upright smooth-foliaged HP like 'Baron Girod de l'Ain', on the other hand, that bears a distinct resemblance to a Hybrid Tea, I could place with either group. Hybrid Musks and English roses, with their smooth stems and leaves, look best with Teas, Chinas, and most ramblers and climbers. So I like best to keep foliage types together, but mix different habits (upright, arching, thicket-forming) and colors. Whether a rose is once-blooming or repeat blooming doesn't matter that much to me. Oh, yes: I think your Polyanthas would go well with Teas--I place mine together. Like Ingrid, I like to mix different bloom types, singles, doubles, and semidoubles. I like to mix colors, though I tend to dislike hard contrasts, and of course not all colors go with all other colors. People have different tastes in color, so I can't say anything about putting red roses next to white ones or combining yellow and pink, but there are a couple of things I have found out. One is that combining roses of the "same" color is risky: there are many different reds, for example, and two red roses side by side have an excellent chance of clashing horribly. And too many roses of rich hues together give an unpleasantly heavy effect. I found this out when I planted a line of Gallicas, with leaden results. This is elementary, but I could see myself making this mistake: keep your smaller roses in front of your taller ones, and place small roses where they won't be overwhelmed, visually or physically, by the behemoths. I adore the once-blooming roses and have a lot of them. I can't think of many of them, if any, that could be comfortably grown in pots. For seasonal interest I rely partly on companion planting, such as bulbs in spring, perennials for texture and variety of flower. I always found that I loved the whole cycle of growth of the once-blooming roses: the new growth in spring, the development of the buds, which are often fragrant in their own right, the ripening of hips and a certain modest fall color afterward, the naked canes in winter. These are plants to be appreciated as shrubs, and not only for their flowers.

I checked your list against the 2007 CRL. The only differences are: Lady Roberts - Available in both Australia and New Zealand. Mme de Watteville - Available Mme Jean Dupuy - Not available Souv d'un Ami - British nurseries sell a diff. rose than those in France. At least two different in commerce being sold under this name. The CRL doesn't know about some of the "only at Jill's house" things, and doesn't list Souv. de S.A. Prince since Sangerhausen isn't a commercial outlet.

Cindy, My Arctic Queens are in their second year, so I can't say how tall it will get for sure. The one that has been thriving from the beginning is probably about 5-6 ft tall right now (and has a ton of buds on it!). The second almost did not survive its first year, but is very healthy this year but shorter as a result--maybe 3 ft tall. I would expect the taller one to grow another foot or two as the season progresses--which would put it in the 6-8 ft range listed at helpmefind.com. It really is a gorgeous clem--the kind that makes people stop and ask what is it. Kate Here is a link that might be useful: Arctic Queen at helpmefind.com