Sara, you may want to adopt the general rule that a number of us follow--namely, give a rose three years to show its stuff before deciding to get rid of it. And if its a climber that might be, give the climber 3-5 years . . . . With exceptions, of course. If I really dislike the rose, I wouldn't wait around for it. Or if you suspect that it isn't planted in a good spot and that is part of the problem, then dig it up and give it 3 years in the new spot. But don't go crazy and transplant it several times each season---you'll never get a decent rose out that that! On the other hand, I do have 1 or 2 roses that I suspect aren't planted in the best spots--but no place to move them to--so there they are 5 years later still in the not-so-good spot--but suddenly making some new vigorous growth they never exhibited before. Which takes us to another handy rule for the garden: you never know for sure! : ) Your sister's rose looks healthy and promising. Kate

Hello all, I've been growing a dwarf gardenia in a very large pot for the last two years. It had some blooms when I first bought it, but they quickly disappeared when I transplanted it into a larger pot. Last year it stayed green all winter and this spring was much larger & looked really healthy. I gave it some epsom salts & coffee grounds (a hint a Florida friend passed on). It had a couple of blossoms early in the spring, but not a lot. All summer the plant has been growing and growing and has beautiful leaves. It looks incredibly healty. Now I see many buds, but they seem to be taking forever to get fat. They still aren't ready to open. I'm wondering if there is anything I could do to jump start their opening their buds? Also will the coller weather make the plant stop budding? I live in TN. It's still very hot here in the daytime, but gets down to the low 60's in the night. I love gardenias. I had tons on old bushes in front of my house when I lived in Florida. I'm dying to see this plant in full bloom! Any suggestions?

Those are beautiful pictures you took. Mike

Thanks everybody!! Serena, Cliff doesn't put all the roses' info on the website. I believe he actually mentions looking the roses up on HMF. It will give more info. Altho Ingrid's suggestion of emailing him about specific roses is a good idea. Cliff's really nice and I'm sure he can give you ideas about what roses might be what you're looking for. Thanks so much Carla! Sometimes I feel like I'm just not going to be able to keep up with all these roses, but I do my best to get out there. This yr the weather has been a hinderance. And yes, Cliff's roses are fabulous! I think I ordered about 15 from him this last time. Yikes! Bustopher, that shot of BLUE FOR YOU certainly doesn't do it justice. And yes, it does look very close colorwise to RIB. They'd be wonderful together.