I was mistaken!! To all (and sundry) who have given so much advice on pruning what I thought was a QE, I apologize! I DO have a glorious hybrid pink rose which did reach 8' this year! But! I realize now I don't know Who she is. I've looked at mine vs QE and there are too many differences. Some while ago, I began filling in a check list from the American Rose Society to see if it was a known rose but I've never gotten around to completing it. I've added a few photos to share with Pink Rose fans! I just don't have any recent ones showing her height this year and I've pruned back a bit after the first blooms faded .

I have grown Queen Elizabeth in Atlanta. Beautiful blossoms, bloom all summer. The black spot is the problem that gets them by the end of the summer. I don't use pesticides, so I try to control it by picking up leaves on the ground and occasionally using organic sprays. I have had two gardens and in the first one, it took a few years before the spot started. In my new garden, I have two plants and one just got spot and it is touching another plant, so it must have gotten more moisture. Even when the leaves fall off from the spot, you still have pretty flowers. I always have the climber New Dawn, which has better resistance (in my experience), and is easy. FYI: I have some photos at this link: http://web.me.com/kaylaenglelewis/Site_5/Roses.html

rosetom wrote: A 44" basal is not that unusual for QE. If it never blooms again, then it's the Climbing version. At first I thought that was pretty funny, until I went out and took another look at the bush. The canes I deadheaded weeks ago have no signs of new laterals developing, nothing whatsoever. I've never seen that happen on a rose before. I guess I got lucky with the climbing Peace because that photo was taken on a second flush of blooms. That might only be because it was almost completely defoliated earlier this year, by transplant shock. When the foliage came back, about every other leaflet produced a short stem with a bud on it. That's one of things that made me suspicious about it being climbing Peace. I have the bush version of Peace too, I agree it's a must have. What are your other top must haves? (That would be a better question for the general Rose forum maybe.)

FWIW: Many yrs. ago (30+ by now) when I was a student, several other students and I rented a small house in Anaheim, a couple or so miles from Disneyland. Part of the agreement with our landlady was that we would take care of the lawn or she would hire a gardener and add the cost to our rent. The yard was tiny and had several small flower beds outlined with a cement curb. One of my roommates decided that we could grow roses in the bed that got the most sun. So, we went to a hardware store and to K-Mart and bought several body bags of roses in every color (that we knew of). The pink one was Queen Elizabeth. As I recall, QE bloomed in cycles and was a good bloomer. She got to be tall and very upright, not a spreader. I don't think the blooms fried too badly but I also think that she may have taken a break during the hottest part of the summer to begin blooming again in September. None of us had a clue, yet all the roses grew and were blooming when the last of us moved out. QE must be a very forgiving rose or maybe just the right rose for the right place. Either way, she would probably do even better for you.