I think you just answered my question - What may be BN has a bloom on it this morning....buds are pinkish but open white, has a nice scent. Its growing next to a pillar, is tall, almost wrapped around the pillar. What may be NN is growing in partial shade and is a shorter, broader bush. No blooms yet - but I recall it as being a pale pink. Both have the same kind of buds, in a cluster form. How are they to root? Easy? Hard? I would like to have more of these - they are easy care, bloom lots. Also, these are in partial shade - would they tolerate being in full sun in our blistering Texas sun or would they do better [IF I get any to root] in more shade? Thanks for the info!! Judith

Hi Marcia :-)) According to the Hebe Society, a shearing after the bloom cycle will encourage the plant to become bushier/denser and can promote (but not guarantee) a rebloom. With a mid to late summer bloomer like Nichola's Blush, I'd think your chances for more flowers is pretty good.

In light of drought across the state - even here in the normally damp SF Bay Area, we only got an inch or two of rain between October and February - I should consider heat/drought tolerance. Does Autumn Damask get by there, on its own roots? Centifolias? When I brought Portland breeding up towards the end of May, the thread grew to 25 posts in the first day, but since it's been just us and the sound of crickets in this thread, I'm guessing I'll be continuing this as a solo project. I'll probably post updates every 6-12 months, depending on how interesting the offspring are looking. And since no thread on breeding is complete without a picture of a seedling, here's a dinky moss. Disease free despite having never been sprayed, but that's all I can say at this point.

oh, white roses - my favourites. How to choose though. Would have to start with the fabulous Nevada - like a stately galleon, sailing across the grass/weed patch. Like Mariannese, i must put in a vote for the charming double white. As a rule, single roses have always stole my heart but these dainty cupped blossoms, alomg with the delicious ferny leaves, fit brilliantly amongst the untidy vegetable profusion of the allotment. Because I have many timber supports in the raised beds (there are currently 23 of these beds) I grow more climbers and ramblers than shrubs or bushes. Much as I would like great swathes of Wedding Day, Seagull et al, I have to be content with just a couple of large white roses so have chosen R.soulieana, R.helenae and the gorgeously fragrant, if a tad touchy in the famously nippy easterly winds, Nastarana. Finally, another vote for a Pemberton classic, Moonlight. One of his earliest and imo, one of his best hybrid musks. It is still throwing out bloom clusters, arching out and up, entangling with an unruly Snowgoose (a surprise Austin addition to the list) Red......hmmm, not my fave colour although a 10 year old moyesii is truly fabulous, underplanted with stooled purple filberts and an equally vivid tanacetum - yay. I do not have Souv.de Dr.Jamain although I have planted several for customers. A lovely rose but Etoile d'Hollande is still my favourite velvet red. Lastly, a simple 'cottagey' rose I do have is Paul's Scarlet climber - always fresh, bright and easier to site in a rambling allotment, than most reds (which always seem more formal and 'grown up' for my garden style).