So, check out the roses in the Romantica series. I love most of them, and many are reported winter hardy - this helps even if you keep them in a greenhouse in the winter. I could not link "Romantica" on HMF as I used to because this search didn't v come up. Here are some I have been growing for many years Frederic Mistral - very fragrant, excellent for cutting ( I know that you don't care much about fragrance but maybe your wife love to have a few fragrant bouquet in the house) Rouge Royale (Caruso) extremely fragrant and if you cut it in bud stage it lasts for a week in a vase; very Austin- like flowers except that Austins are not good cut g flowers and Caruso is a very good cut flower Bolero - low growing, very fragrant, quite healthy Johan Strauss - great cut flower, blooms a lot, green apple scent; can have thrip problems Traviata - perfect foliage, very tall, no scent Eden shrubby climber but I am not sure that it is feasible in pot Tschaikovski - accoring to my husband, it is our most fragrant rose; I doubt that but it is beautiful, tall and narrow; not a good cut flower Yves Piaget - looks like a peony; low growing so it is suitable for pot culture; very fragrant Johann Strauss Not Romanticas but Meillands that worth checking out: Pink Peace- this in my hot climate is actually better for cutting than leaving blooms on the bush; flowers last much longer in the house Jardins de Bagatelle Papa Meilland - the best red I ever smelled. ---- Tantau Augusta Louise should be a rose you could like but I just planted in January so I didn't see any blooms yet. It is a HT from Tantau's "Nostalgie' series, bloom looks like petal packed and should be fragrant. Mcgleason or Beth could tell you more. Beth have pictures of this rose. And, !!! Check aout Caramel Antike - that should be a perfect rose for you. By all means do check at Palatine Kordes Freelandeer HT-s -they are florist roses bred for garden use. Nobody knows more about them than Rene, owner of Palatine. OK, I must run

Lovely rose as always, Jeri. If anyone is looking for this rose, Heirloom also sells it and mine really took off after planting this spring. Usually I disbud all my small bands in their first year, but mine not only put on some substantial growth already this year (not common in the "old" Heirloom) it also put out two huge blooms. Mine have reddened up more on the edges in our heat, but it's definitely a keeper. I wish mine would show more of the contrast in your photo, but she's still a baby and there's time! Cynthia

The problem is that tacsonia group and passiflora group are generally incompatible. Like you said look at all the hybrids that there are... or aren't. P. Umbilicata is in a different group--tacsonioides I believe--and as such could be used as a bridge species to make hybrids between the groups, as has been done with the one hybrid. You also see hybrids of umbilicata with grop passiflora, so in theory you could cross the tacs-umb hybrid with a pass-umb hybrid and get an entirely new mix of genes. Supposedly p. manicata could be used similarly, but I haven't seen many hybrids of that either. At least no one has registered any hybrids. By the way, I'm looking for some manicata--if someone has some let me know! -Ethan

How could I forget Wedding Bells? Its great..healthiest bush I have, not a speck of BS or mildew on it, although it might not be as upright as you want...mine seems to want to be more shrubby and spread out a bit. Sadly I don't get any smell out of it so far. ( two years old here, grafted). Deelish seems to be pretty healthy and a good grower so far (only bought it last year) The colour is a bit bright and garish if you really want the mid to light pink, but I took one sniff of a potted one and snapped it up immediately, because it smells wonderful; was happy to see it does fade off a bit (here at least) to quite a pretty colour after a couple of days as it opens up. I will put Mrs John on the list for next year then!