What time of year is it ok to trim them up? I know doing anything serious stresses a plant, esp in the heat of summer. I would have to really do some serious trimming to bring them back to a shrub shape. I figured the GA heat would be too much for them if I did it now. Yes/no? Do I do a little bit at a time? My spouse wants to rip them out of the ground they are so unsightly, but I'm going for the calmer approach. I keep saying... "Hey they are about the only thing that survived from the original landscaping". (BTW the "Landscaper" did EVERYTHING wrong. He prepared all the beds by laying landscape cloth over the clay the builder left when they raised the lot and then threw 2 inches of top soil down over the landscape cloth. Topped it all off with about 1/4 inch of pine straw and called it done. Dung a hole the size of the plant's pot dropped it in the clay hole and turned on a sprinkler. WOW! And people wonder why the only beds doing well are the ones we made and redid!) Thanks again!

I have been really good this season. I just moved from NC this past winter and I'm still trying to adjust. I have only bought things which had been on my 'must have' list, no annuals... yet. I was at Keller's Flea Market in Savannah and found a Brugmansia, my first, and a variagated abutilon pictum 'Thomsonii'. The abutilon was never on my list, since I had never seen it, but I was struck by the variagation. It looks like the digital camoflage the military is using! I was given an agapanthus... I've been after one forever. I bought a euonymus fortunei 'Wolong Ghost' because I'd wanted it forever too. I found it half off at Lowes along with a pink clematis, which I can't remember the name of right now. ---Keith

Lots of lovely whites here--I especially like the ones that get a soft, sheer glaze of pink or yellow across the center--like suebelle's Bolero and Beth's Ginger Hill, Victorian Lace, and White Gene Boerner. And I love full shapes like Suebelle's Bianca and Pat's Kronprinzessin Victoria--but I also love the poised shapely ones like Pat's Secret's Out--and Seil, I think your photo of the shapely Ivory Tower is one of the most beautiful photos you have ever shown us on this forum! And those delicate shades glowing softly on those blooms! I don't seem to have any special pics of whites--must work on that next summer. Couple stalwarts I rely on, however. Memoire (or Ice Cream)--nice white, fairly disease resistant, but nothing special, unfortunately. Popcorn Gourmet--this is that tough survivor we were discussing on another thread. Cutie too. Green Ice--This is a pic from several years ago--this mini sprawls a lot more now. I think that is about it. I do have a couple roses that bleach out nearly white in the hot summer sun, but I don't consider them real whites. Kate This post was edited by dublinbay on Fri, Feb 21, 14 at 9:30

I've discarded a lot more than I ever kept, some to my dismay now. Cottage Rose: It's quite a good rose although a bit thorny. I took mine out because they were planted where it was too hot and dry. With afternoon shade in a hot climate I think it's still worth growing. It needs to be pruned every year to produce well. Charmian: Unlike mcnastarana, this rose did not "charm" me, nothing wrong with it that I can remember, but the flowers just didn't do anything for me. Sister Elizabeth: A little finicky in that it doesn't like too much shade or too much sun in my climate, but I'm on my second one now because I adore the beautiful lilac-pink flowers, exquisite in color and shape. Potter and Moore: One of my favorites of the old Austins, this rose is very much in the old rose mold in terms of its beautiful pink flowers. My own-root rose stays on the small side, which I like. I know not everyone does well with this rose, but in a good location in a warm and drier climate it is lovely. Queen Nefertiti: Pretty flowers but my bush was very lanky, spiky and unattractive. Janet: Very lovely flowers but bush planted in an area that was too hot and dry. I do remember someone saying here that as it matured the bush became unattractive and lanky, but mine never got to that stage. Harlow Carr: Very pretty but did not do well in my heat and was soon gone. Charles Darwin: A lovely rose that deteriorated quickly, great the first year and then awful. I'm trying it again because the soft golden color goes well with my mainly pink old roses where other yellows often don't. Glamis Castle: This is the one Austin I really hate, extremely thorny, an ungainly bush and flowers that smell in an unpleasant way. Yanking it out was a huge relief. Wife of Bath: A dainty small rose with very pretty silvery pink flowers that deserved much better care than it got. Carding Mill: I think Austin still has this one. It's a great rose in the heat but does a lot better grafted. I stupidly got rid of my first one that was grafted because I thought the color was "wrong" for my garden. I now have an own-root one which is growing at a glacial pace and I hope I live long enough to see it bloom. It blooms a lot though.