Hi Caroll, this is from Carol! :) I'm surprised Molineux had come back for you (even protected against the house). Had it lost any vigor? Mine survived in a raised area over one winter, but it was obviously not suited to its environemnt. It only regained two canes and had one flower. On the other hand, these should do very well for you. 1. Brother Cadfael - great if you have dry summers (you probably don't). It got tons of buds which were beautiful and large. The bush got up to 3 1/2 feet for me. It was quite floriferous!!! Only problem was that it balled quite a bit in the 3 summers before I moved. We had 3 years of tons of rain. With protection and in an exposed area it had about 1 1/2 feet of green cane for me. Although, under your eaves, it probably wouldn't get too much rain. In that case this would be a fantastic rose for you to get!! Can't remember if there's fragrance. I think there was. This is a great rose! 2. L.D Braithwaite - wonderful fragrance. Gorgeous flowers. Tons of flowers. Same area as Brother Cadfael. This one doesn't ball. The blooms last FOREVER. Get this rose!! My fav. 3. Eglantyne - very hardy - can't say much about it because I planted it in the fall, then it overwintered (really well) and then we moved. 4. Golden Celebration - my only rose to get a little bit of BS. But I love this rose!!! I bought it again for this house because the shape of the plant is arching - great for pots which I'm now using. Gorgeous flower, scent. Lots of blooms. Wow!! About 1/2 foot of green cane in an exposed area, but winter protected. 5. Mary Rose got about 6" of live cane - but very exposed area - planted in a huge raised bed right against the wall. It didn't get many flowers. I think it needed more time and a better location. 6. A Shropshire Lad. - survived its first winter with about 2 1/2 inches of live cane. Didn't even get to see a flower since we moved. But it did get large. 7. Abraham Darby - progressively got smaller and smaller after every winter until it didn't come back. But heavenly scent and gorgeous roses!!! But IMHO, if Molineux has good vigor for you, year after year - then you could try any Austin. Good luck!! I love pushing the zones too! Carol

I think you can plant them anytime after the Forsythia blooms in your area... at that point the ground should be workable and warm for plant growth. Spring rain should also follow to keep them watered for you. You can prune if you want to but wait to see signs of life first to know where there is good or bad wood. Pruning encourages growth in roses so it is generally considered good practice with a few exceptions. Just don't prune severely! No need to get drastic. Since you overwintered them in your garage I'd expect them to be alive to the tips but you never know. As for first time tips? Well, make sure they are well fed and planted in good soil. I'm more of an organic grower now, piling tons of compost on the soil when I plant and using a slow release fertilizer only for the first year as I wait for the compost to start releasing nutrients into the soil. After that I am done with fertilizing. Since you already planted roses before, just remember that the David Austin roses are still roses so the same rules of giving them a good growing environment apply. If you live in an area with high pressure of fungal diseases then you need to figure out how you'd like to handle it because those roses you have are not disease resistant, definitely not resistant to black spot as far as I know (based on what I have read, I have grown none of them). Also your Knock Out rose can't be 20 years old as those were released in 1999/2000, if you are sure it is a 20 year old rose bush then perhaps it is something else other than a Knock Out? Good luck and enjoy!

@Ann Marie, I have a few climbers and ramblers on a trellis and my best advice is to make sure your rose is hardy for your climate by choosing ones that are atleast one or two hardiness zones below yours. That’s the best way to ensure cane survival through winter (right plant, right place). If the rose is near a wall that retains and reflect heat, then I do zone push and have had success with climbers my zone or one zone above. For example, I’m in zone 4b and I have no problems with New Dawn and James Galway surviving winter without protection on a northwest and southwest wall, respectively. As for training the rose, my approach is to tie the canes tight against the support so that it is secure and doesn’t whip around or rub. I do this in the late winter / early spring when the rose is dormant along with pruning so that I can see the rose’s framework. It also means that I’m working with only hardened canes (I never tie soft or semi-hard canes). I use simple garden twine and tie tight double knots. I don’t skimp and make sure the final rose frame work absolutely does not move. I tie the largest, most established canes to the support first, then the rest. I may even tie smaller canes to the bigger ones. Yes, it’s “crossing branches” but so long as they are tied tight and not rubbing, I find it’s totally fine. Key is no movement of any of those framework canes. I intentionally use twine because it blends in, is cheap, and will eventually degrade (since I do this all over again every winter/spring). If the rose cane is really old and has a tough bark and I know it’s not going to expand, then I tie into the support with black zip ties (gasp!). I’ll also mention that optimal blooms form on canes that are positioned between horizontal and 45 degrees. Here’s a pic of my William Baffin climber last year on a wooden trellis.

I have 20 year old David Austen bushes only the lavender variety didn't do well the rest are great! I didn't keep the tags but I had 10 different bushes, nine of which are doing well.