Mary, no, I got all of my Pink Gruss an Aachen roses from Chamblees. I have six Gruss roses and all came from there (5 are Pink and 1 is original Gruss). But, sadly, they don't carry it any more, as they seem to be moving toward carrying more modern roses. And although ARE has carried original Gruss for a long time, they don't carry the pink sport. I think both Vintage & Roses Unlimited carry it now. I'm not sure if Ashdowns carries it. Carol, this yellow iris definitely came from your garden. I remember planting it separate from the others, because its rhizome looked different from all the others, and it also looked different from any rhizome I've ever seen on a bearded iris. Its rhizome grows closer to the surface than the Louisiana iris, but its bloom is definitely not bearded iris. The foliage is a lot shorter than the LA iris and kind of fans out, rather than going straight up. Hopefully it will open up another bloom tomorrow while I'm off work so I can snap a photo. Hamp, that's great that your PGaA's are both doing well. Yes, 'Sinfonietta' is a beauty. I look forward to seeing more of your La iris as their blooms open up. Deb, I bet your Pink Gruss and Francis Dubreuil make a great pair. I really like both those roses. I agree about Souvenir de la Malmaison, I like its wide stance too, and it performs so well here. organic, in another part of the garden, I have an "original" Gruss an Aachen that grows next to a mature Yaupon Holly tree and they co-exist perfectly. I love that tree as much as the rose. Very high-quality little tree, and it casts just enough dappled shade on Gruss that the rose has taken on an open, graceful shape. Kaye, I talked to Mom yesterday, just north of you, and she also said her garden was still a couple of weeks away from really breaking loose. Her gardens areas are not large, but very well planned out (unlike mine) with interesting natural rocks in the planting areas, in the Arkansas tradition. Peonies, hellebores, roses, azaleas, ferns, daylilies, ornamental grasses, just really beautiful in late April and beyond. P.S. I dreamed a tornado hit my house last night. It seemed so very real. I must have had Hilda on my mind. I hope she and her family are doing okay. Randy

I treated myself to my own Mother's Day Gift this morning. I've been wanting another clematis and last week I saw a table full of beautiful clemaits at Harris Teeter..like a soft periwinkle color and while DH was in for p.t. session this morning, I went back to Harris Teeter to see if they still had any of those beauties left. Sure enough they still had about 6 left and I picked over them for the best. It already has a lot of growth on it. I didn't know which variety it was till I got it home and went to water it and found the cardboard plant marker saying it was H.F. Young. Didn't know which group it was in but was hoping for Group#3 but it is in group#2 . I fed it MG liquid solution and sat it in saucer with water and out of the sun till I can get it planted. Just went to HD for the wrought iron trellis I wanted. Many years agoI had a formal gown the color of this clematis bloom and I fell in love with that color.

Kate...nice to see ya..and knowing you are a rose lover..YES!!..Prune off those silky hairy thingys called "Seedheads"..just like you do on your roses hon remove them..so your vine will focus on producing more vines and more blooms for your late Summer/early Fall blooms Your "H.F.Young" is a pruning group 2 which means it will bloom again..on both the old and new vines..don't forget to fertilize again since your bloom cycle is done ...Jeanne ps..did I ever tell you because of you..I bought and planted climbing rosa "DublinBay"??..And it is one of my fav roses..thanks again for introducing me to such a wonderful rose...I have clematis "TieDye" planted with her!!

Randy, although you don't have to prune HF Young, you may find in your hotter zone that it will get severely browned out in the middle of the summer regardless of how much water you give it. If this happens, then you can cut it back by at least half, keep it watered and fertilized and you will more than likely get a totally new flush of blooms late in the summer. Last year, with the drought in the southeast, most of my type II clematis, which the President falls into, were severely browned out by the end of the summer. In January, when I prune my clematis, I treated all of my type IIs as IIIs and cut them back almost to the ground. They all came back up and bloomed just wonderfully for me this spring. Clematis don't read books and often do things that defy the rules about pruning that are written about them. Use your common sense and learn to experiment with your clematis and you might be surprised to find how many times you can get your type II clematis to rebloom. I know that Jeanne who lives in Texas and does this can support this idea!