My 2 yr. old, own root Grand Dame was not cane hardy this year, however, this was one of the worst winters we've had. She had black canes to the ground. I pruned her so severely (literally to the ground) that I wasn't expecting her to come back. It took awhile, but she's back, still small, but has buds and looks healthy - deep green, glossy, perfect foliage. I think with normal z5 winters, she will be fine. I will add that I usually lose hybrid teas to winter, but sometimes, you just gotta try. This is a rose I'm willing to pamper and coddle and do whatever it takes to make her happy. Carol, I've never seen a Grand Dame as perfectly shaped as yours. Desertgarden, those are magnificent blooms! It must be a challenge growing roses in Las Vegas.

I have Grande Dame and Buxom Beauty as first year bare root roses from Palantine. Both smell wonderful. BB has a better fragrance so far. But GD has BB beat for amount of blooms. Mine don't nod, but YMMV. Last I counted there were 32 buds on my GD. They've just started to open. Sorry, I haven't downloaded my pictures yet (too tired to go that far to get the camera. I'll try tomorrow. Whereas BB has had maybe 4 blooms this year. I think that GD blooms are more beautiful so far. And the sheer amount of flowers on GD is amazing!! Carol

Thanks Denise :) Beth, sound like you have been busy with your 2 jobs. I know how hard it is working full time and trying to take care of the home and garden too. For me, usually "the home" gets put off until last, unless I know I am going to have company. Still can't seem to get all of my gardening done because I have more than I can take care of, but I still keep getting more. Renee, I really am not crazy about white irises, but that one is really beautiful. Iris Gal, sorry to hear about your gophers. There was a thread on the "other forum" a little while back about the same subject. Luckily no gophers here, but we do have a lot of moles. Shadow

Mantis, I love Inquire Within. I do not have it in the best spot and it's performance is comparable to others in that part of the garden. I actually have it in a spot that gets quite a bit of shade. I do this to increase my success of setting seeds. The ones I plan on using to mainly hybridize with, wind up in this spot of the garden. So far Heman has been performing as pictured. I will monitor it as the season moves along. That picture is the first bloom on this year's scape and not one that was going to show itself last year, but the cold stopped it. Magic Lace is one of my many favorites. It is hard to believe that one of its parents is a purple. David