I ordered to many, but it will be alright. I will say what I've just received from Burlington looking awesome! Smith parish denise cassegrain lullaby margo's baby mrs. charles bell mrs. herbert stevens souv. de brod sunshine tip top yvonne rabier calpoly carmela gourmet popcorn grace seward scarlet moss stars and stripes x-rated capitaine basroger mme. abel chatney mutabilis If anyone would like to comment on how any of these do for you I would love top hear it! High Country roses Minnie Pearl Mountain Mignonette Goethe Ferdinand Pichard Varieta di Bologna Hope everyone's orders are doing well!!! Still to receive From Linda at Long Ago roses I will be receiving next month or so Cardinal de Richelieu Indigo William Lobb Henri Martin Rogue Valley, which I believe ships out next week Duchesse de Montebello Louis Gimard Dainty Bess Pandemonium Plus my mystery and free rose which I chose Incantation a Paul Barden rose. I also have three coming from Roses Unlimited, maybe more, if I have the resource's to order more, she's rooting two for me, and one wouldn't be ready until August. They were: Occhi di Fata Edith de Murat ( ready in August) and for the life of me I can't remember the name of the other I will have to call :)

Desertgarden, it still is "hot" here in October with temps ranging from 90--100 or so. It doesn't start to cool off until towards the end of October. October is what I call our up and down season. Nice weather one day and then the next it is hot. Then bam, come November 1st, it cools off dramatically. Usually by the end of November is it cold (cold being a relative term for me). We can have nights below freezing by the end of November and daytime highs in the 50's. Oh, and of course, our lovely fog season starts then. Can't see your hand in front of your face. That is when we have our 100-200 car pile ups on the freeways as people drive like they can see in the fog--which they can't. This year, we shall see how La Nina hits us. Last time we had a La Nina, we had snow for a couple of days with temps not above 28 degrees. Really bad on the citrus we grow here. Not looking forward to that again. Went to bed last night about 9:15 and it was still 94 degrees outside. After a week of 109--113, we are supposed to cool off to the low 100's. I think it is only going to be 103 today and they may be right since at 5 am this morning it is only 76 degrees. Roses are still pumping out blooms. Pretty Jessica, Blue for You, Eyes for You, Peppermint Parfait, Occhi di Fata, Candice, Wedding Cake (those blooms last forever on the bush) and Midnight Blue.

This one isn't quite as tough for me as the modern list, since fewer categories of OGRs thrive in zone 5 that have individually lovely blooms (as opposed to say the Hybrid musks), except ramblers and Albas/Gallicas and the like that are too much the large once-bloomer for my garden space. I'll throw in some pictures to state my case more effectively than my words. Apricot: Carding Mill - a lovely dark to light apricot even in the sun. Bicolor: I'll go for subtlety here rather than the more garish stripes of things like Variegata di Bolognia, not to mention the much better rebloom of this Vick's Caprice. Mauve: A rose that introduced me to the Austins with a bang and is still among the more "purple" of his roses for me, William Shakespeare 2000. Orange: Hmm, not a color that abounds in OGRs outside of apricots, but I'll go with Gertrude Jekyll, who's at least on the coral side of the color scheme. Light/warm Pink: The Austins have all the fun among OGRs in this category for me, but they also get plenty of glory, so I'll go with the unsung hero of a tea who's brave enough to bloom and survive for years in zone 5, in this case Mrs. BR Cant: Dark/cool pinks: Both for scent and sheer exuberance of bloom, I'm going with Madame Isaac Periere. Red: Another winner in the scent department, but the blooms are much lovelier than this poor picture shows, even though Frances Dubreuil is only an honorary OGR with a secret identity as mild-mannered cub reporter Barcelona. White: Definitely Mme Alfred Carriere, for exuberance as well as beauty. Yellow: I would never presume to come between Patrick and Kate in their equally convincing arguments for the loveliness of Molineux and GC, so I'll side step it with a lighter yellow and go with Teasing Georgia. Other: Most beautiful hybrid Musk - Francesca. I said these hybrid musks aren't usually beautiful individual flowers but better en masse, but I think Francesca can hold her own on the flower side of things too. Cynthia

I was also looking for SUMMER SONG last year. I was surprised that it was not in the Austin catalogue given its release date in the UK and was only available in North America through Pickering and Palantine. Pickering and Palantine had both sold out early. I tried to ordred this rose from Pickering on the first day they were taking orders and was told that they could not sell it to those in the US. I called the Austin headquarters in Tyler, TX and was told that this rose does NOT perform well in the US and that they had made the business decision NOT to introduce it here. I found this very odd and disppointing. I am aware that a few decades ago, they almost discarded some of the earlier Austin varieties (Tamora comes to mind) because they did not perform well in the UK and perhaps other European trial locations. Fortunately, they were planted at the Huntington Library gardens in southern CA, where they performed very well and these varieties are now available to us to grow. I was able to obtain a SUMMER SONG plant from someone in the midwest who had ordered it from one of the Canadian suppliers. It is now planted in my garden and it is already starting to show signs of growth. I am glad to hear that it is doing well for you, Beth. I am very much looking forward to seeing how it does well in central CA.