I have two different colored ones that I received in a trade in the fall of '06. Much to my surprise, they are still going strong. Both are the size of small shrubs and they bloom profusely every year. My soil has lots of clay and when planting them, we dug a nice sized hole and amended the soil. Both plants have definitely outgrown the original hole by now and don't seem to mind what they are growing in. One has started to gift me with several seedlings every year, which I try to find homes for since it's so hardy and such a wonderful plant. Definitely the seeds from this one are fertile. I have never found seedlings around the other one though. And I do heavily mulch both sights. I only trim off the dead ends when the plants leaf out in the spring. That's really all I do for them. Linda

Yes, the garage is best for wintering them. You want to wait until you are sure they are dormant and then move them inside the garage. They don't need to be in a window or anything but do put them up on something to get them off the concrete. And water them all winter. It doesn't need to be a lot of water and maybe only once a month but make sure they get some water over the winter. You can put a shovel of snow on the top of the pot every time you shovel or pour a gallon of water on the pot once a month. Just remember to water them and they'll do much better. In the spring when it starts to warm up put them back outside. You may need to take them in and out a few times depending on the weather but they should make it through.

I will definitely write about the experience of everywhere we visit this weekend, if the weather holds out. : ( I already visited the rose garden in Richmond, In last year so I'm looking forward to seeing something new. . We're starting out visiting OARDC's Garden of Roses of Legend and Romance in Wooster on Saturday, then heading up for Peter Schneider's Open House which is beyond exciting. On the way back Monday, we'll visit the OGR section of the Columbus Park Roses ie. The Heritage Garden which is the former site of The ARS. LINK I'll be sure to post about it all. I went to CPoR last year and was ranting how they had torn out the OGR roses, not realizing there's entire section devoted to them beyond the modern plantings. We just missed the entrance. I had to eat my words on that one!

Thanks gardengal! Since I just planted it last autumn it only grew about a foot maybe before winter. I checked on it today and found some healthy leaf axils on each stem and cut to those. Can't wait to see her in action! I already saw some green growth happening under the mulch! Yippee! Spring is coming soon!